Primary Years Programme Making the PYP happen - ITARI

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Making the PYP happen Good social studies practice What is a PYP social studies classroom like The PYP social studies classroom is an active, bustling place. Students are working at tables, on the floor, in the corner, alone or in groups. Students and teachers are absorbed, planning, organizing, preparing products, reading to each other, sharing work and reflecting. Visitors are often not noticed. The PYP classroom is the springboard for social studies learning: learning in the school and the community. The classroom furniture, equipment and materials encourage students to work individually, in pairs, in small groups and as a class. Students use the school library/media centre and computers; visit other classes; interview school personnel, members of the community and local experts; and involve themselves in community and student presentations. Field trips within the immediate school environment, to museums, farms, industrial and commercial centres and other sites are part of the PYP social studies classroom. The class library is the centre of activity. It contains fiction and non-fiction materials with a wide range of reading levels, presents multiple perspectives and stimulates questioning. Fiction, bibliographies, autobiographies, poetry, drama, myths and legends, documentaries on current world problems, specialized magazines and newspapers abound. It has a reference section which includes dictionaries at different reading levels and in the mother tongues of the students, thesauruses, atlases, almanacs and encyclopedias. Reference materials brought in by students are also available. ESL students add materials in their own languages. Everything is clearly labelled and readily accessible. A notice board details exhibitions to visit, current events and local experts. Globes and maps with different scales and projections are on hand, as are tape recorders, video cameras, paper, markers and a wide variety of other presentational materials. The teacher’s resources for curricular units of inquiry are also readily available. These include textbooks, first-hand accounts, video tapes, pictures, pictorial maps, historical maps, postcards, photographs, plans of buildings, copies of paintings, charts, survey results, diaries, artifacts, copies of newspapers and magazine articles, music tapes, travel brochures, recordings of interviews, computer databases, simulations and other computer software. Student-created social studies product samples are also on display. How does a PYP social studies classroom work Inquiry-based units of study are the entry point into social studies learning. Each unit has a primary focus into one of the disciplines of social studies but inquiry will not be restricted only to that discipline. Students will experience what it is like to think and act like a historian, a geographer or a social scientist. Students and teachers identify together what they want to know, what they already know which might be relevant to the inquiry, what they need to know to answer their questions and how best they might find that out. Students design interviews, interview, survey, take polls, read fiction and trade books, make timelines, devise and perform socio-dramas, make charts, complete decision-making trees and diagrams, create geographical and concept maps, interpret symbols and keys, measure distance, plot routes, examine artifacts, list sources, evaluate sources, work on computer databases and present patterns and trends. The PYP teacher, as a knowledgeable member of the learning community, facilitates, structures and guides student inquiry; models the questioning approach; provides students with the time and ambiance to promote inquiry; and builds up a variety of diverse resources. The PYP teacher also ensures that learning materials reflect positive images of diverse groups and does not allow any one cultural or gender perspective to dominate. Students engage in research, applying and acquiring a variety of thinking and learning skills; using multiple sources; looking at different points of view; applying historical, geographical and societal concepts, skills and attitudes to current issues and problems. Activities are selected which directly and most effectively answer the questions being researched. They allow for a variety of learning styles and language levels. Through these 84 © IBO 2000
Making the PYP happen activities students apply skills and concepts in new contexts as well as learn new skills and concepts in meaningful contexts. As embryonic historians, geographers and social scientists, students learn to plan, collect, organize, interpret and present their findings by: ! formulating and asking questions about the past, about places and about society ! drawing information from, and responding to, stories about the past, from geographical and societal sources ! using and analysing evidence from a variety of historical, geographical and societal sources ! sequencing in chronological order ! orientating in relation to place ! identifying roles, rights and responsibilities in society ! assessing the accuracy, validity and possible bias of sources ! distinguishing between fact, opinion and fantasy ! interpreting evidence in order to speculate ! comparing and contrasting different sources ! empathizing with people ! organizing and communicating the results of their inquiries. Students and teachers develop and define clear criteria with which their final presentation or product will be assessed. Why is a PYP social studies classroom the way it is Students learn best when constructing meaning about questions which are significant and meaningful in their own lives, building on prior knowledge. An inquiry-based social studies programme enhances the likelihood that students will feel they belong to a community of learners. It helps them develop problem-solving skills and become decision makers. As a result, they will later be able to chose between and among political alternatives and make economic choices. They will be able to work in groups to solve local and global problems and make responsible choices about themselves, others and the environment. In a world which is a complex mix of races, cultures, languages, religious affiliations and social class, students need to recognize that there is no one way of looking at events, situations, issues or problems. When their own school experiences allow them the right to hold positions which may differ from others and reflect that such positions are valid and valued, students will be able to seek and value other people’s points of view. How are social studies practices changing (See figure 29) How is social studies connected The social world is influenced by science and technology. Scientific questions may need to be answered and scientific concepts understood, in the course of what is primarily a social studies inquiry. Like social studies, the arts, including literature, are an exploration and illumination of life. These parts of the curriculum value the subjective and introspective as ways of knowing. Students can enhance their understanding of social studies through art, music, dance and reading literature. Mathematics and language are both server disciplines to social studies. Social studies needs language to define its concepts and mathematics to quantify them. Students in language classes (whether ESL, host country, mother tongue or foreign) learn through appropriate social studies content. © IBO 2000 85
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