The Thistle - An E-Newsletter of Scotch College, Perth, Western Australia

Primary Years Programme (PYP)

Below is an example of how the Year 1 class is using 'key concepts' (questions that relate to Bloom's Taxonomy of higher order thinking skills) to help guide the 'lines of inquiry' (big ideas that help to pull apart the central idea).

In middle and older year levels the students will begin to develop their own questions (burning questions) using the key concepts as lenses to help direct their questioning.

Feel free to have a go at some of your own questions if you are feeling like being a 'risk-taker' (learner profile attribute).

Sharing the planet

Year 1 Trans-disciplinary Theme:

An inquiry into rights and responsibilities in the struggle to share finite resources with other people and with other living things; communities and the relationships within and between them; access to equal opportunities; peace and conflict resolution.

5 - 6 years

Central idea:

Living things often compete for resources in order to survive.

Key concepts:

Function, Causation and Connection

Lines of inquiry:

1. What living things provide for us and why (Connection question)

2. Life cycle and needs of living things (Function question)

3. Actions that benefit or harm the survival of living things (Causation question)

Mr Warwick Norman

Junior School Dean of Teaching & Learning