As part of the MYP program starting this fall, units are required to be framed by key and related concepts. There are 16 key concepts that span all of the disciplines with some overlap between different subject areas. In science, we have three key concepts: Change, Systems, and Relationships. I like to think of these three concepts like giant file drawers in the brain and every time you learn something new in science, you can think about the similarities, differences, themes, red threads, and big ideas of that topic and then put it in the mental drawer accordingly. Having these concepts requires learners (and teachers) to really think about the heart of each topic and to actually name and mentally unpack where it fits into a bigger scientific picture.
These three key concepts are still rather general and therefore, we have related concepts in order to really name the big ideas in a scientific way. When I plan units, using these related concepts allows me to truly decide what I want students to "take away" in the long term from our learning. I think of the related concepts as the files that actually go into the file drawers that have already been installed with the key concepts.
By combining one key concept and 2-3 related concepts, teachers create a sentence/statement that really sums up what we would want students to truly and deeply understand from a particular unit or topic. But, just coming up for this statement for teacher use doesn't take it far enough. Students need to be truly aware of what they should be "taking away" from the unit and this statement (Statement of Inquiry it is called) has become the centerpiece of my units and I have found lately that I actually can't teach well without having it explicitly written and displayed.
Today we started a new unit in sixth grade which means that we started today with a new Statement of Inquiry and new questions to investigate over the course of our unit. Not naming it before actually starting the unit now feels to me like getting in a car without a destination and just driving around randomly until you eventually figure out a destination. Since today was the first day of the unit, we spent some time to really examine the Statement of Inquiry together- what the words mean, what we already know about the statement, and what we are going to be trying to figure out about it over the course of the unit.
Having this statement (and the questions) to go back to constantly during class helps us to remember our destination and then also allows kids to add to their "file drawers" as we continue to use the same three key concepts and related concepts over the course of the 5-year program. Seeing these words/ideas over and over for five years will allow students to internalize them and to find connections between topics and how scientific ideas fit together because they will have the words to actually name those connections. If you have ever doubted how important naming things is in order to create deep thinking, please listen to this episode of the podcast Radio Lab. It really drove home for me the need to actually give students the words to name their thinking and understanding.
Today we started a new unit in sixth grade which means that we started today with a new Statement of Inquiry and new questions to investigate over the course of our unit. Not naming it before actually starting the unit now feels to me like getting in a car without a destination and just driving around randomly until you eventually figure out a destination. Since today was the first day of the unit, we spent some time to really examine the Statement of Inquiry together- what the words mean, what we already know about the statement, and what we are going to be trying to figure out about it over the course of the unit.
Having this statement (and the questions) to go back to constantly during class helps us to remember our destination and then also allows kids to add to their "file drawers" as we continue to use the same three key concepts and related concepts over the course of the 5-year program. Seeing these words/ideas over and over for five years will allow students to internalize them and to find connections between topics and how scientific ideas fit together because they will have the words to actually name those connections. If you have ever doubted how important naming things is in order to create deep thinking, please listen to this episode of the podcast Radio Lab. It really drove home for me the need to actually give students the words to name their thinking and understanding.
We began our double period today with a little sketch of a mountain and telling a few stories to each other about sledding (or sledging as the Brits say), snowboarding, skiing, or just slipping on wet grass as you walk down a hill in street shoes. We have learned previously about gravity and air resistance and so we drew a skier with some arrows to indicate the direction and size of the forces acting on that skier (we haven't learned about friction yet so we ignored that). We then drew new arrows to show what would have to happen for the skier to move up the hill backwards in terms of forces, and then for a skier to be not moving when the forces were equal.
By drawing these pictures, and discussing them at their tables in between, kids constructed for themselves the meaning of "unbalanced forces." We then went back to the SOI again and look at the word "change"- a word they already knew in a scientific context from another earlier SOI and the kids realized that the only thing changing between the three situations was that the skier was moving in a certain direction or not moving at all. They figured out and discussed in small groups that movement was actually a consequence (which they know as a vocabulary word from being pre-teens who have behavioral consequences to some of their "awesome" pre-teen decisions!) of the forces being unbalanced...and voilá- they had defined the Statement of Inquiry and were able to talk about what we were actually going to be trying to figure out during this unit.
By drawing these pictures, and discussing them at their tables in between, kids constructed for themselves the meaning of "unbalanced forces." We then went back to the SOI again and look at the word "change"- a word they already knew in a scientific context from another earlier SOI and the kids realized that the only thing changing between the three situations was that the skier was moving in a certain direction or not moving at all. They figured out and discussed in small groups that movement was actually a consequence (which they know as a vocabulary word from being pre-teens who have behavioral consequences to some of their "awesome" pre-teen decisions!) of the forces being unbalanced...and voilá- they had defined the Statement of Inquiry and were able to talk about what we were actually going to be trying to figure out during this unit.
We labeled the ski helmet on our skier sketch as "equipment" and they were off and running thinking about lots of "products" that scientists develop to protect people from collisions associated with unbalanced forces. I did virtually no direct explanation, nor did we need to use dictionaries to define these words- we used our background knowledge and some strategic questions, small/whole group discussions, and illustrations and every student was able to demonstrate their understanding of the vocabulary. I was able to walk around and look at their drawings/definitions (quick formative assessment) and a class with many English Language Learners was able to define three scientific concepts.
We will go back to these concepts over and over as they are foundational in understanding the scientific content. Spending the time in this way allows students to really "get it" and starts them on the pathway to a deeper understanding that is worth the time required today.
We will go back to these concepts over and over as they are foundational in understanding the scientific content. Spending the time in this way allows students to really "get it" and starts them on the pathway to a deeper understanding that is worth the time required today.