Planning the inquiry

1. What is our purpose?

1a) To inquire into the following:
transdisciplinary theme
An inquiry into orientation in place and time; personal histories; homes and
journeys; the discoveries, explorations and migrations of humankind; the
relationships between and the interconnectedness of individuals and civilizations,
from local and global perspectives.

Class/grade: 1
Age group: 6-7
School: Domuschola International School School code: 7800
Title: Generations
Teacher(s): Cam Nicolas, Jash Bersales, Carla Delos Angeles,
Brenn Bavia, Carmina Gutierrez, Dean Chua
Date:
Proposed duration: 6 weeks Number of hours: over 8 hours a week

PYP planner

central idea
Learning about the previous generations helps us understand the relationship
between the past and the present.
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?
Goal: Students should be able to show the interconnectedness of generations.
Role: You are an adult. You are going to build your own family.
Audience: Teacher and classmates
Scenario: You are now having a family of your own. You will soon be a spouse

and a parent. You are thinking about how you would want your family to be like:

what practices and traditions you will do, what artifacts you will have and what

heirloom you will give to your future children.

Product: A colorful illustration; a combination of drawings and words depicting
how you would want your family to look like in the future.

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 inquiry?
Focus Key Concepts: change, causation, connection
Related Concepts: history, influence, heritage, time
What lines of inquiry will define the scope of the inquiry into the central idea?
Similarities and differences between and amongst generations
How the past generations affect the present generation
Artifacts, heirlooms or practices that have meaning in the family

What teacher questions/provocations will drive these inquiries?

Why do we need to find out about the past?
How is our past connected to the present?
How are you similar or different to the older generations of your family?
Why do some practices change / continue over time?
How can we preserve good practices?
How are we affected by the practices of the past?

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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?

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?

Students illustrate using a Y chart how their family looks like, sounds like and feels
like.
What are the possible ways of assessing student learning in the context of the
lines of inquiry? What evidence will we look for?
Line of Inquiry
Similarities and
differences
between and
amongst
generations

What will be assessed?

Students understanding that
there are behaviors and
practices that have changed
or remained the same over
time.

How the past

generations affect
the present
generation

Students understanding that

there are aspects of the past
that still influence us today.

Artifacts, heirlooms
or practices that
have meaning in
the family

Students understanding that

heritage shows an evidence
of the connection between
the past and the present

How will evidence be collected?

Through a venn diagram, students compare
and contrast their generation from the previous
generations of their family. Students share
some of their practices at present that have
been practiced by their previous generations.
They also analyse and evaluate why some of
the practices of their previous generations are
not being practiced by them at present.
Past-Present Chart Students create a table
comparing the past and the present life in terms
of transportation, communication and
recreation and identify the connection between
the past and the present in terms of these life
areas.
Family Crest: Students come up with their own
family crests reflecting the artifacts, heirlooms
and practices that have been passed on to
them.

Tuning-in:
1. Meet My Family Students are individually given an A3 paper. On the upper half of the paper,
students illustrate their family through finger painting. On the lower half, students complete a profile
for each family member. Their works are posted on the wall for viewing. 2. Family Tree Students
trace their family lineage up to the second generation and present it creatively through a family tree.
Reflective Questions: How are you similar and different from your parents? How are you similar and
different from your grandparents? 3. Memory Box - Students read a story about memories (Wilfrid
Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox). They discuss the story and come up with ideas on what
memories are. After discussing what they believe memories are, students bring a memory box filled
with significant items from their families. Students discuss memories related to the items in these
boxes, and infer why these items are important to them. 4. Chart of Games - The class is divided into
groups. Each group is given a set of pictures of different games and toys from different generations.
They identify the games they play and guess the games played by their parents and grandparents.
They plot the pictures on a chart. Reflective Questions: How did you come up with these groups of
pictures? 5. Family Web - In small groups, students make a chart of the members of the family and
their roles.
(continuation: please see attachment A)

What opportunities will occur for transdisciplinary skills development and for the
development of the attributes of the learner profile?
A. Transdisciplinary Skills Thinking Skills: ANALYSIS- Students identify the differences and
similarities between and among generations then they look into how generations are interconnected.
METACOGNITION- Students reflect on their own beliefs, practices and traditions.
Social Skills: COOPERATING - Students work cooperatively in a group in gathering information about
the previous and present generations. ADOPTING A VARIETY OF GROUP ROLES- Students assume
varied roles in group work. Research Skills: COLLECTING DATA - Students gather data from different
resources to find out about their familys history. ORGANIZING DATA - Students represent data
collected thru diagrams and time line.

B. Learner Profile: INQUIRER - Students are developed into being an inquirer as they are given the
opportunity to research into their own family histories and practices. THINKER - Students are developed
into being a thinker as they are tasked to think of a creative way to present their understanding.
COMMUNICATOR - Students learn to be good communicators when they interact with their family
members to get information about their family.

5. What resources need to be gathered? What people, places, audio-visual materials, related literature, music, art, computer software, etc, will be available?
People
Teacher Dad and Teacher Juan
Banal
Daddy Tony and Mommy Manju
Kattoor
Mommy Danica Pingris

Places
Ancestral Houses
The NakpilBautista House
Legarda Mansion

Literature
Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge by
Mem Fox
The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant
Every Friday by Dan Yaccarino

Audio-Visual

What is an ancestor? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sfOggdClV8

Why do we study family History? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oQPweb387w
Connecting Generations https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIT2LbQpgOc
Every Friday by Dan Yaccarino https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBz6IR7EQsQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_cfGoOaXR8
The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oJF_4wjf-Y

References Books
Philippines Pride
Teachers
Resource Material
1

How will the classroom environment, local environment, and/or the community be used to facilitate the inquiry? Different expert speakers will be invited and ancestral houses will be
visited. Students will be asked to memory boxes that contain artifacts and heirloom from their families. These materials will be placed in the UOI corner.
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.
The students were able to understand that there are certain aspects of the present
generation that are similar to the past generations. For instance, a student was
able to explain that she got her interest in cooking from her Dad, and another
mentioned that he likes to be a basketball player just like his brother.
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.
A Triple Venn diagram might have served as a clearer depiction of
interconnectedness among the generations in the family compared to a basic Venn,
which only shows connection between two generations. However, for it to be an
effective tool, Grade 1 students should already have gained the skill and
experience in making a Triple Venn diagram as it is more complex than the basic
one.

What was the evidence that connections were made between the central idea and
the transdisciplinary theme?
As the students learned about their family histories and the life of their family
members from the previous generations, they were able to identify some of the
things that connect the past and the present. They were able to point out what life
was like in the past and in the present and how these two time frames are related.
Moreover, through the family crest, students were also able to identify the
interconnectedness of the different generations of their family.

International Baccalaureate Organization 2011

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?
CONNECTION - Through the engagements on the past and the present life, the students were able to
understand the connection between the past and the present. The students were able to see how the past
and the present life are connected in terms of communication, transportation to school and recreation
activities. Students understood that despite the changes that happened in the present, the need for
learning, communication and recreation is what connects the past and the present.
CHANGE - The interviews students conducted with their family members enabled them to know more
about their family practices and traditions that changed or continue over time. As the class processed the
information they gathered through sharing and reflection activities, students were able to understand why
some traditions change and why some are still being practiced in their families. CAUSATION - Students
memory boxes and family crests helped them understand that the past life of their families affect the
practices, beliefs and values they have in the present.

demonstrate the learning and application of particular transdisciplinary skills?

Thinking Skills: ANALYSIS - Students were able to identify the connections
between the past and the present during the sorting out activity. METACOGNITIONStudents were given opportunities to reflect on how much they have learned about
their own families and why learning about the past is personally important for them.
Social Skills: COOPERATING - Students work cooperatively in various group
activities such as sorting pictures from the past and presenting and organizing the
data they gathered from the field trips. ADOPTING A VARIETY OF GROUP ROLES
- Students took on different roles as historians and future parents.
Research Skills: COLLECTING DATA - Students interviewed their family
members, school staff and resource speakers to find about how they are the same
as, or different from, the older generations of their families. ORGANIZING DATA Students compared and contrasted themselves to the older generations of their
family through a Venn diagram. They also compared the practices of the past and
the present through a table.
develop particular attributes of the learner profile and/or attitudes?
In each case, explain your selection.
Communicator - Students interviewed their relatives to find out more about their
family history. They also presented their memory boxes and shared with a group
whats in their family crests.
Inquirer- Students researched about their family histories with the help of their
parents as they conducted interviews and made their own memory boxes.
Creativity- Students showed their understanding of the central idea through a
colorful illustration of how they want their future family to look like.

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.

9. Teacher Notes
Strengths:
Students benefited from the resource speakers as they were able to make
connections with the speakers personal experiences. They were able to identify
where their interests came from.
Students were able to create a quality output for their summative assessment that
shows what practices and traditions they follow, what artifacts they will have, and
what heirloom they will give their future children.

What are traditions?

Why do I have a family?
I wonder if your friends can be your family too.
I wonder what families do together.
I wonder what are other ways to spend with your family.

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.

Challenges:
Some students were not able to show their similarities and differences from an older
member of their family using the Venn diagram
Timing of field trips and talks from resource speakers

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 parents reported that their children became more curious about their family
history. They started to ask more questions about their ancestors and are
enthusiastic about looking into old photographs and family artifacts. A parent also
reported that her child is starting to make her own Grade 1 Memory Box so she
can always remember the experiences she had in Grade 1. The teacher also
noticed that two students have started to keep their own diaries.

Recommendations:
Explicitly teach the use of Venn diagram to gather and present more accurate and
authentic data
Early planning for field trip sites and schedules of resource speakers

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Attachment...

A. Learning Engagements
Finding Out

Data collection
Experiences to assist students to gather new information about the topic

Sorting Out

Experiences and texts that add to the knowledge base. Emphasis on gathering first-hand data in a range

of ways (usually shared experiences)

LOI #1 Similarities and differences between and among generations

1. Students in pairs compare and contrast the different practices that have meaning
in their families.
2. Students go on field trips to ancestral houses and find evidences of family
artifacts, heirloom and practices and find out the meaning of these to the family and
why they value them. They compare these generations with each other and with the
present generations. They focus on beliefs, values and practices.
LOI #2 How the past generations affect the present generation
1. Students interview their parents and grandparents about how their past
generations affected them.
- What were the beliefs, values and practices that their previous generations
transferred to their present generations?
- Do they still practice them up to now? Why? How?
2. Students play different games/sports that the past generations played before and
find-out how they affected the sports or games of today. What were improved? How
did they improve them?
3. Students compare and contrast the songs/music of the past generations and
present generations.
4. Students interview older family members about their life in the past.
LOI#3 Artifacts, heirlooms or practices that have meaning in the family
1. Student bring their memory boxes to school which include family artifacts/
heirlooms and things that are reflective of practices that have meaning in their
family. Students share their memory boxes by answering these questions: Why did
your grandparents choose to give this object your parents? What are the meanings
of these artifacts to your family? If your parents pass it on to you, what will you do
with it? How will you preserve it? Do you think its worth it to be an heirloom? Why
or why not?
2. Students carry out an artifacts/heirlooms analysis through a chart. The chart
includes the following questions: What is it like? Why was it passed on to the next
generation? How does it connect the present generation to the previous generations
of the family?
3. Students do an observational drawing of the heirloom/artifact that they brought in

Gauging, organizing or representing new information

Activities to assist students to process and work with the information and ideas they have gathered about
the topic (including exploring values)
Organizing, analyzing and communicating the information gathered using a range of vehicles (e.g through
Maths, Arts, English, Drama, Music or IT)

1. Students create a Venn a diagram to compare and contrast the practices that have
meaning in their families with their pairs.
2. Students come up with a comparison chart: BEFORE and NOW. They state the
similarities and differences of the past generations and present generations.

1. Students create a poster that shows how the past generation affect the present
generation.
2. Students come up with a chart that shows how the sports/games that were played
by the past generations affected the games/sports that are being played at present.
3. Students come up with a list on how the past generation's music affected the
present generation's music.
4. Students create a mind map that would show how the family artifacts, heirlooms
and practices in one of the ancestral houses connected to what the family values.

1. Students illustrate through a poster how and why their family values the family
artifacts and heirlooms that they brought to class.
2. Students create a flowchart to show how the family artifacts, heirlooms or
practices show connection of their family generations.
3. Students create a mind map that would show how the family artifacts, heirlooms
and practices in one of the ancestral houses connected with what the family valued.
3. Students come up with a table that shows a comparison of the life in the past and
the present.

school.
Going Further
Activities to challenge and extend
Raising new questions, extending experiences, challenging assumptions. May be individually negotiated.
Students are shown videos of bullying. They are asked questions about their current relationships with other people. They are given the chance to reflect on how they
wanted people to remember them/ what kind of memories would they leave behind.
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.
Two Stars and A Wish: Students write statements of two things they learned about their family and the past. They also write what they still wish to learn more about the
unit.
Reflecting and Taking Action
To reflect 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 from which
they can see results.

They create an illustration of the things they wanted to do to improve their relationships with other people based on how they wanted people to remember them.