Primary Years Programme Making the PYP happen - ITARI

Making the PYP happen
Good science and technology practice
What is a PYP science and technology classroom like
The PYP science and technology classroom provides an environment which stimulates and challenges
students’ ideas. A variety of objects, materials and students’ models is displayed at student height around the
room. Display boards show examples of students’ work and relevant posters illustrate specific science topics.
The class library contains a variety of well illustrated reference books at a wide range of reading levels. On
the shelves is an extensive range of equipment for collecting, observing, measuring, recording and presenting
data. The students show enthusiasm and work cooperatively in investigating and experimenting.
How does a PYP science and technology classroom work
In the PYP science and technology classroom, students are engaged in open-ended inquiry through the
following.
Formulating questions:
Students identify something they want or need to know about the biological or physical world. They
learn that their own questions can be the impetus for inquiry. They recognize that new questions
and problems arise all the time as we observe and collect data.
Observing:
Students use all the senses, touching, feeling, listening, tasting and smelling, as well as seeing, to
notice relevant details of objects or events, resulting in a widening and deepening understanding of
the biological and physical world. They choose and use equipment appropriately, to enhance
observation.
Planning:
Students state questions, identify problems, predict, hypothesize and justify. They devise ways of
finding out needed information and design experiments and fair tests. They identify ways that
findings can be checked and verified.
Collecting data:
Students gather data from a variety of sources. They continually question, re-test and check data,
looking for confirmation or ambiguity. They learn to respect evidence which results from their efforts.
Recording data:
Students describe and record observations with precision and relevant detail, by drawing, note taking,
making charts, tallying and writing statements.
Organizing data:
Students sort, categorize and order information and arrange it into a variety of suitable forms, such
as narrative descriptions, tables, timelines, graphs and diagrams.
Interpreting data:
Students seek for patterns and relationships among scientific phenomena, drawing conclusions and
inferences from relationships and patterns which emerge from organized data. They see new
possibilities in the data. They modify earlier hypotheses or explanations in the light of new data and
respect reason. They test earlier ideas against new evidence and speculate and hypothesize, moving
towards the construction of theories about the natural world.
Presenting research findings:
Students effectively communicate the solutions to problems, the answers to questions or the
evidence for a conclusion. They choose appropriate media. They are honest, presenting information
objectively with supporting evidence.
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