Planning the inquiry

1. What is our purpose?

1a) To inquire into the following:
transdisciplinary theme
An inquiry into the nature of the self; beliefs and values; personal, physical,
mental, social and spiritual health; human relationships including families,
friends, communities, and cultures; rights and responsibilities; what it means to
be human.

central idea
The effective interactions between human body systems contribute to health
and survival.
Class/grade: 4 Age group: 8 - 10
School: School code: 7800
Title: Body Systems
Teacher(s): Alfonso
Date: June-August 2013
Proposed duration: 12 meetings, 6 weeks


1b) Summative assessment task(s):
What are the possible ways of assessing students understanding of the central
idea? What evidence, including student-initiated actions, will we look for?

G - To talk about the different lifestyle choices and its impact on the different
body systems.
R - Doctors
A - School
S - You are a doctor attending an international medical convention where
you have to talk about your expertise on the human body systems and its
effects on the different lifestyle choices that one makes.
P - PowerPoint Presentation/movie
S- Able to determine how the systems interconnected/interdependent

2. What do we want to learn?
What are the key concepts (form, function, causation, change, connection,
perspective, responsibility, reflection) to be emphasized within this inqui ry?
Key Concepts
Function
Connection
Responsibility
What lines of inquiry will define the scope of the inquiry into the central idea?
Body systems and how they work
How body systems are interdependent
Impact of lifestyle choices on the body
What teacher questions/provocations will drive these inquiries?
What are the different body systems?
How do these body systems work?
What are the specific functions of the different body systems in the body?
What are our lifestyle choices?
How do these different choices affect our body?


International Baccalaureate Organization 2011
Planning the inquiry
3. How might we know what we have learned?
This column should be used in conjunction with How best might we learn?
What are the possible ways of assessing students prior knowledge and skills?
What evidence will we look for?
Using the human body template, students identify the systems of their body and
label them with their functions and diseases related to the systems. Students explain
how systems of the body are interconnected/interdependent.

What are the possible ways of assessing student learning in the context of the lines
of inquiry? What evidence will we look for?
See Attachment B: Assessment Opportunities

4. How best might we learn?
What are the learning experiences suggested by the teacher and/or students to
encourage the students to engage with the inquiries and address the driving
questions?
(Use attachment C: Learning Engagements chart)
What opportunities will occur for transdisciplinary skills development and for the
development of the attributes of the learner profile?
Communication skills - students will be able to present their findings through
different presentations and be asked to collaborate with members of their group.
Thinking skills - students will make use of their thinking skills to apply, compare and
analyze different information and use it to come up with different ways to show their
understanding of the unit.
Research skills - students will make use of different resources in order to be able to
collect data and facts about their unit. They will formulate questions to use for
interview and they will use these to analyze and present.
Self-management skills - students will exhibit showing self-management skills by
applying what they have learned in order to come up with informed choices in order
to live a healthy lifestyle.
Social skills - students will have the opportunity to show their social skills by
working in groups and as pairs to drive their inquiry further.

5. What resources need to be gathered?
What people, places, audio-visual materials, related literature, music, art, computer software, etc, will be available?
Nurse (Nurse McDaryl Pedro and Nurse Carolyn Mallari)
Doctor (Dr. Paolo Prado and Dr. Raymund Mallari)
World Health Organization (WHO) - Manila
Videos on the different body systems and its functions
http://kidshealth.org/kid/htbw/brain.html
http://kidshealth.org/kid/htbw/
human body mind map
http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0774536.html
http://science.lotsoflessons.com/humanbody/systems.html
http://www.sedl.org/scimath/pasopartners/pdfs/body.pdf
http://msfacine.weebly.com/human-body.html
http://www.softschools.com/science/human_body/diagram/
http://www.softschools.com/science/human_body/
http://www.kbteachers.com/human-anatomy/skeletal-system-diagram.html
http://warriors.warren.k12.il.us/dburke/ bodyindex.htm
http://www.sad67.k12.me.us/curriculum/Content_standards/Supplement al%20Pages/Wellness/The%20Human%20Body%20Systems.pdf
http://worksheetplace.com/index.php?function=Displ ayCategory&links=2&id=372&li nk1=241&link2=372
International Baccalaureate Organization 2011

Reflecting on the inquiry
6. To what extent did we achieve our purpose?
Assess the outcome of the inquiry by providing evidence of students understanding
of the central idea. The reflections of all teachers involved in the planning and
teaching of the inquiry should be included.

Students understood that the dif f erent body systems have dif ferent parts and have distinct f unctions. The
ref lections of the students is an evidence that they understood the connection of the systems of the body.
They also acknowledge the importance of their choices in attaining a healthy and sound body. They also
understood that all the systems work together and if one part is not f unctioning, the entire body is
af f ected.

How you could improve on the assessment task(s) so that you would have a more
accurate picture of each students understanding of the central idea.

The assessments including their homework showed their understanding of the dif f erent lines of inquiry.
The models that they have created showed how they understood the lines of inquiry; the connection maps
revealed how deep their understanding is. However, the summative became weak in showing what they
understood because they f ocused too much on the lines of inquiry. The entire class f orgot to go back to
the central idea to use it as a f ilter in showing their understanding. The teachers could have led them
instead. It should have been better if students were not boxed with their roles as doctors so that they
could have thought of better ways in presenting their understanding aside f rom PowerPoint presentation.
It would have been more appealing to the audience (Grade 1 and 2).

What was the evidence that connections were made between the central idea and
the transdisciplinary theme?

Students were able to conclude that their choices ref lect who they are as a person, and their choices
contribute to their well being personally, physically, mentally and socially. They became more cautious of
what they take in as their f ood and started good health habits like brushing their teeth af ter eating lunch.
They were able to recognize their own responsibility to inf orm the people around them, starting with their
relatives to stop the bad habits.
7. To what extent did we include the elements of the PYP?
What were the learning experiences that enabled students to:
develop an understanding of the concepts identified in What do we want to
learn?
Function The students were able to identif y and be f amiliar with the f unctions of the parts of the
systems of the body and how these systems work together contributing to a f unctional and
healthy body. They were able to acknowledge the importance of having healthy habits and its
impact to their well being.
Connection Students were able to understand the interconnectedness of each system to one
another. They generalized that the survival of the human body relies on each of these systems
working together.
Responsibility The students were able to apply the good and bad habits that were taught to
them and also create their own way of ensuring that these good and bad habits are understood
by their schoolmates through the use of a presentation.
demonstrate the learning and application of particular transdisciplinary skills?
Communication skills - students collaborated as a group during the f inding out process of the
unit. They also shared their understanding of the entire unit through the PPT presentation
Thinking skills - students used their skills in analyzing the inf ormation that they gathered f rom
dif f erent sources. They summarized and synthesized as well.
Research skills - students used dif ferent resources to collect data and f acts about their expert
topic.
Self-management skills - students tried their best in behaving well during the f ieldtrip that they
had. They also came up with decisions that contributed to their well being.
Social skills - students exhibited their social skills by working in groups and as pairs to drive
their inquiry f urther.
develop particular attributes of the learner profile and/or attitudes?
In each case, explain your selection.
Caring - students were able to show this prof ile by coming up with plans and presentations of
how to care f or their bodies. Likewise they were able to exhibit dif f erent ways of keeping the
body healthy.
Enthusiastic- the students exhibited this attitude by participating with the resources speakers
and the activities that were done during the f ield trip.
Inquirer - students were able to show being inquirers by f ormulating questions they would like
to inquire on, coming up with generalizations and their own understanding of the unit. During
the unit, students also inquired f urther by asking questions about certain systems and organs.



International Baccalaureate Organization 2011
Reflecting on the inquiry
8. What student-initiated inquiries arose from the learning?
Record a range of student-initiated inquiries and student questions and highlight any
that were incorporated into the teaching and learning.
What are the different processes of ______________ system?
What does these diseases do to our ___________ system?
How is blood/urine/feces produced in our body?
How do we keep a healthy lifestyle and how can we change our bad habits?
At this point teachers should go back to box 2 What do we want to learn? and
highlight the teacher questions/provocations that were most effective in driving the
inquiries.
What student-initiated actions arose from the learning?
Record student-initiated actions taken by individuals or groups showing their ability
to reflect, to choose and to act.
Some of the actions of the students as a result of their understanding of this unit are
as follows:
Change of hygienic practices (brushing after lunch)
Improved choices of food intake
Initiative to create visuals for lower grade levels to understand
Acknowledging that too much of anything is not good.
A student went further by researching other systems of the body like the
excretory and others


9. Teacher notes
For Grade 3: Only few were confident in doing the presentation that they made for
the summative task. The students need to improve on explaini ng the connections of
the system (expert topic) to the rest of the systems of the body.
For Grade 4: The students were able to come up with good presentations and
visuals. The plans that they used for their summative assessment was well done,
however during the execution of the presentation they were not as confident in
presenting. They did not make the most out of the visuals and likewise glossed over
some of the details.
For Teachers: It should have been better if the students were given different options
in the presentation of summative task and not only considered the PowerPoint as
the only means.

International Baccalaureate Organization 2011

Attachment...

A. Key Learning Outcomes
Key Understanding
What do we want students to understand by the end of the unit?
The body comprises of several different systems that have different parts and functions.
Body systems are interdependent with one another and are necessary in order to keep the body functioning properly.
The lifestyle choices one can have a positive and negative effect on the body and its functions.
Knowledge outcomes and Skills outcomes
What do we want students to be able to know by the end of the unit?
What do we want students to be able to do by the end of the unit?

The different parts of the body system.
The functions and processes of each of the different body systems.
Determine how body organs work to form a system
Identify different lifestyle choices.
Identify different diseases related to the system
Recognize the impact of these different lifestyle choices on the body.
Decision making

B. Assessment Opportunities
Line of Inquiry What will be assessed? How will evidence be collected? What type of assessment will be
used?
Body systems and how they work The body needs different systems that
exercise different functions in order to
work efficiently and effectively.
The different parts of the body
system.
The functions and processes of
each of the different body
systems.
Knowledge Product
Observations
Rubric
Anecdotes
How body systems are interdependent Body systems are interdependent with
one another and are necessary in order
Knowledge Product
Observations
Rubric
Anecdotes
to keep the body functioning properly.
Determine how body organs
work to form a system

Impact of lifestyle choices on the body Lifestyle choices have an impact on the
body. These effects can either be
beneficial or detrimental to the overall
health of a person.

Knowledge Product
Observations
Rubric
Anecdotes

C. Learning Engagements
Tuning in and preparation to find out:
What variety of activities will be used to:
engage all students in the topic? hook?
assess prior knowledge?
ref ine f urther planning?
lead into the f inding out experiences?
Engagement and gathering prior knowledge, pre-assessment, questions f or inquiry, goal setting. Sometimes students will require some immersion in the topic if little is known/ experienced.
Who Am I? (Portfolio Cover)
Students sketch the parts of the human body system and draw or write down something that personally reflects who you are as a person (e.g. heart = mother, brain
= reader, etc...).

Gallery Walk/Rocket Writing
The classroom will have different pictures of the major body organs posted around the room, students will go around the classroom and write down what they know
about this organ.

Carousel
The classroom will have pictures of the body parts paired together (e.g. brain and lungs), the students will then write down how these paired body parts are
connected to one another.

Did you know that...
Class read books about human body. They will do speed booking but in the form of did you know that... statement

Body facts
Students keep a book with them where they jot down amazing facts about the body. They share facts to the class every meeting

Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9n0Nfh-G2c

Pre-Unit Assessment/ Tracing the Human Body
Students identify the systems of their body and label them with their functions and diseases related to the systems.

Finding Out
Data collection
Experiences to assist students to gather new inf ormation
about the topic
Experiences and texts that add to the knowledge base.
Emphasis on gathering f irst-hand data in a range of ways
(usually shared experiences)

Body systems and how they work
How body systems are interdependent
Impact of lifestyle choices on the body

Teachers & Students Questions
Teacher and student questions that help drive the inquiry
Focus questions to f or inquiry


Sorting Out
Gauging, organizing or representing new
inf ormation
Activities to assist students to process and work
with the inf ormation and ideas they have gathered
about the topic (including exploring values)
Organizing, analyzing and communicating the
inf ormation gathered using a range of vehicles (e.g
through Math, Arts, English, Drama, Music or IT)
Carousel
Books will be sorted according to the systems of body.
Students read the books per system. They choose their
expert topic based on their interest.

Expert Groups
Students research about their expert topic. They use
the students and teachers questions as their guide
Skeletal
Circulatory
Digestive
Respiratory
Nervous (shared inquiry)

Resource Speakers
Students interview resource person to find out about
their expert topics


Teacher Questions
How do these body systems work?
What are the specific functions of the different body
systems in the body?
How do these different choices affect our body?
Student Questions

What are the different processes of
______________ system?
What does these diseases do to our ___________
system?
How is blood/urine/feces produced in our body?
How do we keep a healthy lifestyle and how can we
change our bad habits?


LOI 1
Students(per group/topic)


LOI 2
Students will be given strips of paper containing
their expert topics. They create map to show the
connection of the systems.

The class create a product (Sculpture) that shows
the connection of the different systems of the
body. An explanation will be written in Language.

LOI 3

Students create songs about what they learn from
the unit.(Music)

As a class, a table will be created to show a
summary of the data they gathered and a
synthesis that shows their understanding.

Going Further
Activities to challenge and extend
Raising new questions, extending experiences, challenging assumptions. May be individually negotiated.
They were challenged to explain a different topic aside from their expert topics on the systems of the body. They were also asked to prepare a different visual that would
help them explain the new topic to their friends. A student went further and research about other systems to be included in his report in Language.
Drawing conclusions
Raising new questions, extending experiences, challenging assumptions. May be individually negotiated. Students draw conclusions of what they have learnt. This is an
important time to evaluate the success of the unit and the needs and achievements of individuals. This is where students put it all together.
Students understood that in order for the body to function normally, humans need to eat and maintain a healthy and balanced lifestyle. The lack of such a lifestyle would
affect the function of the different systems of the body that would contribute to diseases and illnesses that would affect the bodys function.
Reflecting and Taking Action
To ref lect on what has been learnt and process of learning. It is important that students be given opportunities to act upon what they have learnt. Actions are things that students can themselves and f rom which they
can see results.
Some of the actions of the students as a result of their understanding of this unit are as follows:
Change of hygienic practices( brushing after lunch)
Improved choices of food intake
Initiative to create visuals for lower grade levels to understand
Acknowledging that too much of anything is not good.
A student went further by researching other systems of the body like the excretory and others
Students became more interested in the smaller and minute details of the different organs.