Inquiry-based and conceptually driven curriculum

The taught curriculum of the IB PYP is described as ‘inquiry-based and conceptually driven’ (http://www.ibo.org/pyp/taught/). Researchers observed strong evidence of this pedagogical approach in the programmes of S1, A1 and A2, but less so in S2. At the S1, A1 and A2 sites, the daily routines included whole group, small group and individual discussions where concepts and issues were explored, and questions and provocations posed for the children to think about and explore more deeply. These discussion were linked to projects and units of inquiry that children were working on, had worked on, or were about to start working on. Following are some examples of inquiry-based and conceptually driven pedagogy observed at the sites.

Example: S1

Observation Day 1: Invitation Committee (1)

This group (5 boys) had been working over a number of days on designing and producing the invitations for the Graduation Ceremony. In doing this, a number of questions and challenges would arise for the group. On the first day that the researcher was there, the group was grappling with questions of what

information was needed, and how that information would be presented.

The teacher posed questions, such as ‘What information do people need to have?”. The group worked out that invitation recipients would need information about place, time, date, etc. At that time, each boy appeared to be writing up their own version of the invitation. Questions about the spelling of words would arise, and teachers would assist the children to work out the correct spelling by sounding out the words. One boy was observed sounding out the word ‘library’

to himself, writing ‘librery’.

Observation Day 2: Invitation Committee (2)

Work on the invitations continued the second day that the researcher was at the preschool. Three boys sat a high table on stools with their teacher. The question arose about whether the invitations should be formatted vertically or horizontally, and a vote was taken by the three boys and the teacher. They were deadlocked on the issue (2 votes to 2), and the researcher was invited to provide the deciding vote. However, members of the group were not happy

with this, and decided to take children’s votes only, which came out 2 to 1 for vertical formatting. But, the group was still not happy, and decided to ‘ask everyone’. After discussion between themselves about how they could record the votes, they created a sheet on a clipboard, divided in two columns (one for vertical and one for horizontal formatting). They then went round asking children which format they preferred, and asking people to write their names down in the appropriate column.

The teacher commented that it was interesting that the processes of deciding this question about the formatting had become more important than the invitation itself. He further commented that he thought this could become the focus of an inquiry, as the children had been concerned recently with issues of fairness and equity. The teacher also commented that there had not so far been a lot of ‘primary sources’ for the current project on ‘Our World’.

Example: A1

The K4 group were doing a unit of inquiry on How the world works, focused on the key concepts of Form and Reflection. The central idea was ‘The properties of patterns help us to interpret the world’. The lines of inquiry were: the

properties of a pattern; where we find patterns; ways to make patterns.

As part of this unit of inquiry, children were asked to go and look for patterns in the natural and built environments. In their documentation, the educators noted that “Following on from our conversation yesterday about patterns, the children came to school bursting with ideas about where they had seen a pattern and where else you might find a pattern.”

As part of the unit, children also created their own patterns. As well as

documentation and displays of the patterns that children had created in various media, a triangular space had been created in the room, bounded on two sides by mirrors for children to create kaleidoscopes (see Photos 2 & 3) .

Photo 2. The kaleidoscope created in the mirrored space at A1

Photo 3. Children working on creating a kaleidoscope at A1

The researcher made the following notes:

Children are making kaleidoscope patterns. Teachers decided rather than making individual kaleidoscopes (too structured), they would make a big one with mirrors. Current pattern (see photo) is a work in progress, over a week or more. Note there is a sign up alerting other children that it is a work in progress, and the teacher says other children have respected that.

Example: A2

Some of the group were working on a long term project making nests. At one point in the morning, they gathered for a group meeting and the researcher noted the following discussion:

Children had made a ‘nest’ of chairs—“made it round”.

The teacher (T) asked “Are nests always round?”.

Child commented that one child was the mother bird and others were babies—“We had to crack out of our eggs”.

T .”How would you do that?”

The children talked of using beaks.

T. “What other creatures come out of eggs?”

Children identified turtles, sea dragons.

T. “If birds use beaks to come out of eggs, how do sea dragons crack out of eggs?” The children suggested they could use claws, scales, their heads.

T. I see some of you have ideas. How could we find out?”

Children’s responses include: “On the internet”, “We could research how do sea dragons hatch from their eggs”.

T. looks up on iPad, typing in search terms, asked children what would be the first letter of ‘sea dragons’. Some children said ‘c’.

T. “What else makes that sound—how about the sound in Siena?”

Children then responded “s”. T. noted that children had noted that sea dragons are also called sea monkeys. Children were excited to see a photo of ‘leafy sea dragons’ on the iPad.

T. reading from iPad: “…called leafy because their appendages—their legs and things—look like leaves”

One child mentioned sea horses.

T. “Are sea horses the same as sea dragons?”

T. “Why are they called sea dragons? Is it because they look like dragons? Do you think they look like dragons?”

After some further discussion the group broke up with a teacher working with four children, continuing to look at information on the iPad. The children then moved on to drawing sea monkeys based on pictures on the iPad.

Example: S2

As noted above, the researchers observed less evidence of inquiry-based and concept driven pedagogy in the S2 programme. The programme was run according to a timetable based on curriculum areas such as ‘Maths’ and

‘Chinese’. Researchers were also informed that at they time they were

observing the programme, it was a ‘revision’ week. At the time, researchers did not observe evidence of current units of inquiry, nor did they see the sort of inquiry-based group discussions or child-led activity that they observed in the other three programmes. Following is an example of a researcher’s notes of a

‘lesson’ type session observed at S2, involving the whole class. While the children showed good concentration during the hour-long session, and exhibited examples of cooperation amongst themselves, the activity was teacher-directed and focused on right and wrong answers. The children appeared as focused but passive most of the time.

Maths Lesson at S2

The focus of the lesson was on revision of telling the time. The lesson was conducted in the tiered bench area, and children stayed seated

there throughout. After preliminary revision on ‘minutes past’ and

‘minutes before’, the teacher held a large clock, and moved the hands to various times and asked the group to say what time it was (6.00; 6.30;

6.45; etc.). The teacher then asked them to go into groups of three, and gave each group a clock. The teacher then said various times, and each child in each group had a turn at turning the hands to the time said by the teacher. The other children in the group were asked to check if it was the right time, and to help each other get it right. Bonus points were to be awarded for children who helped each other. At the end of the lesson, the teacher set a problem: “If I go to the market and buy peaches for

$4.60, and bananas for $5.00, how much money have I spent?”. Some of the children answered correctly $9.60.