Planning the inquiry
1. What is our purpose?
To inquire into the following:

transdisciplinary theme
How We Organise Ourselves – An exploration of human systems and
communities; of the world of work, its nature and its value; of
employment and unemployment and their impact.

central idea
Class/grade:
4
Age group:
School:
WIS
School code:
9-10
Title: Inventions of the Modern World
PYP planner
Teacher(s): Carrie Curry
Date: December 3 – February 1
Technology has changed the world of work and leisure.
Proposed duration: number of hours (lessons) 24 over number of weeks 6
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?

Students will invent an item, diagram it, and create a model. They will
make a poster board display explaining what their invention does, how
they got the idea for their invention, the materials used to make the
invention, and what need the invention fulfills. They will present their
inventions to the rest of the school and their parents during an “Invention
Convention”. The students will work together to create an evaluation
form which will be used by students, teachers, and parents attending the
convention.
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?

Form

Function
What lines of inquiry will define the scope of the inquiry into the central idea?

what technology is

the historical circumstances that led to the development of some
important inventions and their impacts

the technology and inventions of the home, workplace and leisure
activities of today

how inventors get their ideas (thinking and working like an inventor)
What teacher questions/provocations will drive these inquiries?
© International Baccalaureate Organization 2007

What is technology?

Why do people invent things?

How could technology change the world?
Planning the inquiry
3. How might we know what we have learned?
4. How best might we learn?
This column should be used in conjunction with “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?
What are the possible ways of assessing students’ prior knowledge and skills?
What evidence will we look for?
Day 1 – Students define what they think words related to inventions mean and
then look up definitions in the dictionary.
Day 2 – Students will create lists of the most important inventions they use each
day and what their lives would be like without them.
What are the possible ways of assessing student learning in the context of the
lines of inquiry? What evidence will we look for?

Students will be given an “Inventor's Journal” to record ideas/sketches for
useful inventions. They will work on these over the winter break.

Students will sequence the steps an inventor goes through to create an
invention.

After discussing inventions of the last 100 years,, students will draw a
picture and write about how the world will be different 100 years from
now.

Day 3 – Students will look at a variety of inventions that have been developed in my
lifetime and will talk about what they see.

Day 4 – Students will use the computer lab to find definitions of the word “technology”
and come to a consensus as a group of what the word means.

Day 5 - Students will be given pictures/descriptions of a variety of inventions and will
sort them into 2 groups – those showing inventions that serve a necessary purpose
and those that don't (gadgets).

Day 6 – Show the video “Be An Inventor” and discuss the invention process. Introduce
students to their home project where they will design and build a model of an invention
they develop.
What opportunities will occur for transdisciplinary skills development and for the
development of the attributes of the learner profile?
Attitudes: Risk Takers, Thinkers
Transdisciplinary Skills: Thinking (acquisition of knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis),
Communication (listening, speaking, reading, writing, viewing, presenting), Self-management (organization,
time management), Research (formulating questions, planning, collecting data, recording data, organizing data,
interpreting data, presenting research findings)
5. What resources need to be gathered?
What people, places, audio-visual materials, related literature, music, art, computer software, etc, will be available?
Video: Be an Inventor Fiction Books: Freckle Juice , Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
How will the classroom environment, local environment, and/or the community be used to facilitate the inquiry?
The students will hold an “Invention Convention” for students, parents and teachers. Those attending will be asked to evaluate the students' work based on criteria the
students develop.
© International Baccalaureate Organization 2007
Reflecting on the inquiry
6. To what extent did we achieve our purpose?
7. To what extent did we include the elements of the PYP?
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.
What were the learning experiences that enabled students to:
By looking at the world 100 years ago and learning about all the things that have
been invented in the last 100 years, the students got a clear understanding of
how technology has changed our world. In addition, their illustrations and writing
of the world of the future showed that they understand that technology will
continue to change the world.
How you could improve on the assessment task(s) so that you would have a more
accurate picture of each student’s understanding of the central idea.
By having the students develop their own inventions and sharing these with each
other, I feel they got a good idea of how inventors get their ideas and the process
an inventor goes through to develop his/her ideas. It also allowed them to see
how new inventions have an impact on the world. I would do the same
assessment task the next time I teach this unit.

develop an understanding of the concepts identified in “What do we want to
learn?”

demonstrate the learning and application of particular transdisciplinary
skills?

develop particular attributes of the learner profile and/or attitudes?
In each case, explain your selection

One of the concepts for this unit was “Form”. From a social studies
perspective, students were able to see the value of the work of inventors
and how they have changed the world over time. The other concept was
“function”. During the process of developing their own inventions,
students had to carefully think about how their invention would function
and make adjustments to make sure that it worked as they intended.

Transdisciplinary Skills: Students used research skills when they
formulated questions they wanted to answer regarding an invention of
their choosing. They used the internet to gather information and had to
compile this into a report. They used self-management and
organizational skills when they had to organize their materials for the
Invention Convention and manage their time to ensure everything was
completed by the deadline. They had to use communication skills to
present their inventions to the rest of the school and their parents.

One of the learner profile words was “Risk Takers”. Having the students
create their own inventions and present these to other students, parents,
and teachers forced them all to be risk takers as they shared their ideas.
The other focus word was “Thinkers”. Throughout the unit, I would give
students everyday objects and have them brainstorm all the ways each
object could be used (other than what it was originally intended for). In
addition, as we discussed the process an inventor goes through
emphasis was placed on the fact that inventors have to think of novel
solutions to problems in order to invent something useful.
What was the evidence that connections were made between the central idea and
the transdisciplinary theme?
My main focus was on the part of the transdisciplinary theme dealing with the
nature of and value of work. By having students discuss how different life was
100 years ago before we had many of the inventions of today they were able to
see how valuable the work of inventors is and how their efforts have changed our
world.
© International Baccalaureate Organization 2007
Reflecting on the inquiry
8. What student-initiated inquiries arose from the learning?
9. Teacher notes
Record a range of student-initiated inquiries and student questions and highlight
any that were incorporated into the teaching and learning.
Day 7 – Students will create an alphabet book showing important inventions for
each letter of the alphabet.
After the frontloading, most of the student questions were centered around
wanting to learn about specific inventions (who invented various items, when
were they invented, etc.) Based on this, I had the students spend 1 week picking
an invention to research and writing a report on it. They also had to present this
information to the class. Because many of the inventions they chose had multiple
inventors working together, I also spent some time having them read about
specific inventors that made significant contributions to the world. They had to
take this information and write an autobiography from the inventor's point of view
telling about their life.
Day 8 – Students will work in groups to brainstorm the qualities inventors have.
They will then write individual paragraphs about why each of these qualities is
important for an inventor to have.
Day 9 – Students will be given a variety of everyday items (paper clip, rubber
band, etc.) They will work in groups to brainstorm different ways the items can be
used. (This activity was repeated throughout the unit with different objects
whenever we had a few extra minutes.)
Day 10 – Students will work together as a class to make a flow chart that shows
the steps an inventor goes through to develop their ideas.
Day 11 – Students decide on an invention they want to research and record
questions they want to answer about their invention.
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.
Day 12 – Students use computer lab to research their invention.
Day 13 and 14 – Students use information gathered to compose a report and
illustration about the invention they have researched.
What student-initiated actions arose from the learning?
Day 15 – Students present their reports to the class.
Record student-initiated actions taken by individuals or groups showing their
ability to reflect, to choose and to act.
Days 16 and 17 – Students take information about an inventor and write an
autobiography from the point of view of the inventor and what they have
accomplished.
None
Days 18 and 19 – Students look at a list of inventions from the 20th century and
use this information to draw a picture of life in 1908, 2008, and a prediction of life
in 2108. They will also write about what they think will be the most important
inventions of the next 100 years.
Day 20 – Students will each be given the story of an invention that happened by
mistake (but not told this). They will talk with each other to discover what is the
same about all the inventions. They will then illustrate a picture showing what
accident happened that led to the invention.
Day 21-23 – Students will prepare for the “Invention Convention” by developing a
feedback form, and making invitations and posters for the event.
Day 24 – The students will hold an “Invention Convention” for the other students
and their parents at which time they will display a model of their invention as well
as a display board telling about their invention.
© International Baccalaureate Organization 2007
9. Teacher notes, cont.
* Next time this unit is taught, I would like to use the biography, The Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk (ISBN 0-590-42904-3) as a literature tie-in.