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Add your photo and reflections.

How could this space support the development of this conceptual understanding?

Identify additional concepts that would enrich the learning around this concept. Justify your thinking.

CHALLENGE: Can you find an example of each specified concept on your concept adventure?

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Hi, my name is Nick Palmer and I have been a PYP teacher and coordinator in a variety of locations around the world (Germany, Angola, Hong Kong and Azerbaijan) between 1999 and 2018. I am currently a teacher and researcher based in Warrnambool (on the South West Coast of Victoria). I enjoy listening to practitioner experiences of the PYP and I am particularly fascinated by the concepts of international-mindedness and global citizenship education. I look forward to meeting you all and supporting your PYP agenda, journey and expertise.

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My name is Megan Macfarlane. I am a PYP coordinator based in Melbourne, Australia, and have been teaching in PYP schools for the past 10 years. Before becoming a teacher, I had a background in medical research, which sparked my interest in inquiry and evidence-based practices. Over the years, I’ve held leadership roles in assessment and reporting, curriculum, STEAM, and high-ability learning. I am passionate about creating environments that empower agentic learners through innovative, science-backed approaches focusing on meaningful, evidence-based practices.

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My name is Emma Homerlein. I am currently based in Bali, Indonesia, though I grew up in Australia and have worked for 25+ years around South East Asia and Australia, with a short stint in Italy. The majority of my experience has been in IB World Schools, with the past 15 years being in middle and senior leadership roles. I am currently working as an independent consultant and enjoying the opportunity to support learning communities around the Asia Pacific Region. I am very interested in exploring new ways of approaching self-directed learning (voice and choice), as well as exploring the vital role of conceptual understanding in today's ever-changing landscape!

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PYP: From principles into practice - Learning and teaching (Conceptual understanding)

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PYP: From principles into practice - Learning and teaching (Conceptual understanding)

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PYP early years series: Concept based learning (ep.2)

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PYP early years series: Concept based learning (ep.2)

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In the second of a series focused on the PYP support material 'The early years in the PYP', IB voices spoke to Anne van Dam and Kathryn O'Connell, 2 early years educators who have worked in local and global contexts, to explore what concept based learning looks like in action and to discuss some of the tensions educators feel when working conceptually with young children. Read a summary based on the podcast conversation.

"The IB has identified play as the primary driver for inquiry, as it reflects the holistic and authentic way in which children explore, grow and learn. Play offers learners the opportunity to learn through multiple sensory experiences, which other forms of learning might not. Through play, learners draw on their existing knowledge and understanding of concepts to explore, think, test and extend the ideas about the world around them. Focusing on conceptual understanding helps learners to make connections to real life experiences, recognize and classify patterns, make generalizations, predictions and connections across their learning and to transfer and apply understandings."

Sue:
Can you describe what concept based learning looks like in your context? What are some of the ways children express their conceptual understanding and what would I see and hear if I walked into one of your classrooms? Anne, I'd like to offer that to you first.
Anne:

Sure. We write conceptually based units. When we look at these documents, we also document sort of emerging lines of inquiry and emerging concepts. So although we have identified concepts before we start, we also acknowledge that through that inquiry, new things may arise. One of the big things for us, is that we document children's learning during play and that we really see play as inquiry and as a way making sense of their world. Through those interactions with materials, with each other, with spaces, we identify emerging concepts.

Form and function come into play very often. So when we meet, we bring our documentation and we discuss this. We look at our photos, our videos and our anecdotal notes and we talk about the children's learning. And we really aim to link the children's investigations to certain concepts. For example, we've got this group of children who are really interested in how things flow, outside with water and inside with sand, and we're thinking about how does it work? There's also something sensory about this exploration, but also about causation as the children are also thinking about ways that they can manipulate the flow of the water. Then we use a concept map to map out these concepts with an online tool called Miro, where we make connections visible between certain concepts. It really helps us with having this overview and having a look at how things are connected and how things evolve.

Kathryn:

I agree with everything Anne said. If we start from a point of belief that children are conceptual thinkers and that they're testing concepts and wondering about concepts all the time, then our job is a little bit different than being a traditional teacher. It's being a conceptual guide. As teachers, we love to tell kids things and instead, if we can stop telling and start asking, we're on our way to being conceptually based. Not just looking for how are children conveying what they know, but how are they trying to make sense of the world.

Anne:

Yes, it is important that we build over time the children's understanding of what concepts are. I think it connects with that question, 'what would I see and hear if I walked into one of your classrooms?' We might say things like, "you're thinking about responsibility", or "you're thinking about roles" or, "you are creating a system." And I think it's in that language that we've noticed that children start using that language as well.

Kathryn:

And can I add to that Anne? I often think it is naming, noticing and exploring. Those three things can happen in any order, but if we are truly the conceptual guide, then we can be talking about the concepts we're thinking of and that modeling does help children internalize it. They're able to more concretely talk about the concepts and they realize that they're conceptual thinkers.

Anne:

I often find that there is that sort of ethical feel for documentation where we have to check in with children. Like this is what I think about your thinking, but what you think about your thinking?

"When we start seeing the child as competent, perhaps we will have less of a tendency to tell and more of a tendency to start listening."

Sue:
What are some of the tensions an educator can feel during concept based inquiry? What is the role of the educator?
Kathryn:

Documentation, observation and being a conceptually driven inquiry-based teacher requires that educators are vulnerable, and it requires that they are a co-learner with their students, which is different from the way that we learned as kids. It also requires that we suspend judgment. So my advice to teachers is when they're feeling the tension, I know exactly what this needs, to go stop yourself. It's a journey that requires that you are completely open-minded.

Anne:

When we move towards a more child centered curriculum, that's actually a really complex process and it requires complex cognitive processes. I think it really starts with really seeing and believing the child to be a competent person. So that means that we really have to go back to our own image of the child, our own construct of who children are, what their rights are, what their responsibilities are. Do we see young children as learners, as thinkers, as constructors of meaning? Do we see them as inquirers through play?

And that's where we get to the documentation. We have to make this visible. It provides the future possibilities for us to either reject a certain idea or build on it or further explore it with the children.

When we start listening and documenting, and having conversations with other educators about their point of view, thinking about the best way to support these theories, these curiosities, these fascinations, then we can start thinking about what kind of situations we set up that help children to either deepen or extend, or even perhaps confront some of their own ideas. When we start looking at the children, and following their thinking, we will stay more connected with them. Then, the inquiry process becomes just so much more powerful.

Anne van Dam has worked as a teacher, coordinator, head of school and vice-principal at international schools in China, Singapore and Switzerland. She joined Eton House International Pre-School in 2007, drawn to the school for its vision to centre learning around young children's competencies in making meaning and establishing relationships. In August 2011, Anne became the Assistant Principal at the International School of Zug and Luzern(ISZL). At ISZL, she supported the development of a new shared vision for learning in the early years, placing a strong emphasis on relationships, play, learning spaces and documenting learning.

Anne moved back to the Netherlands in 2015. This has given her the opportunity to collaborate for two years with the PYP development team at the IB regional office in The Hague. She has been working on the IB PYP review focusing on learner agency, early years, inquiry and several aspects of 'the learning community'. Anne still works for the IB as a workshop leader and collaborates with international schools as an independent educational consultant. Since May 2019, Anne also learns alongside 4,5 and 6 year olds at an inner city, local PYP school in her home town The Hague.

Kate O'Connell is a passionate educator and lifelong learner with 25 years of experience in teaching and leading. She has worked and consulted in 30 schools, in 12 countries on 4 continents. This experience includes teaching various grade levels and leading as a PYP coordinator, Principal, and Head of School. She is currently teaching at The Australian International School Phnom Penh.

She received her Bachelor's Degree in Elementary Education and Master of Arts in Curriculum and Instruction from Michigan State University. She is currently pursuing a Certificate of School Management and Leadership through Harvard Business School and Harvard Graduate School of Education.

She leads and writes workshops for the International Baccalaureate, Compass Education, and online she has coached courses through Harvard Graduate School of Education's WIDE World.

She is unapologetically passionate about children and education.

Sue Tee is a PYP curriculum manager with responsibility for early years and the arts, based in the IB global office here in The Hague. Originally from the UK, she has worked in a number of international schools in Hong Kong and The Netherlands as both a class teacher and administrator. Whilst she has worked across the primary age range, her heart belongs with the early years and it is here she has spent most of her time, learning from and with amazing educators and children.

The early years is designed for PYP students ages 3-6. To learn more about the PYP early years implementation strategies and Programme outcomes, please click here .

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PYP early years series: Concept based learning (ep. 2)

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In the second of a series focused on the PYP support material 'The early years in the PYP', IB voices spoke to Anne van Dam and Kathryn O'Connell, 2 early years educators who have worked in local and global contexts, to explore what concept based learning looks like in action and to discuss some of the tensions educators feel when working conceptually with young children.

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Reflection day 1: Triangle, square, circle

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Reflection day 1: Triangle, square, circle

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Canberra Grammar Workshop Schedule (29/1 to the 30/1, 2025)

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What way do the lines go?

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Change

Causation

Sustainability

Connection

Responsibility

Community

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Why do these bricks look different? Another specific concept that might come up with this image is Form. Related concepts: industry, mass-production, area, temperature

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What do you notice, what do you wonder?

Does this work? How might you make this work?

Related concepts: responsibility, construction

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Could do all specific concepts for this provocation

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How does it work? Why is it there? Why do we need them? What would happen without bins? What do they look like?

Where do we find them? How have bins changed over time? Why have bins changed?

Links to Sustainability, Who We Are (what might bins be like in other countries? Are all bins the same?), Environment

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Causation - Life and cycles and impact

Reaponsibility - Keep memories alive and look the area/environment

Connection - Memorialisation and

Change

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Patterns weathering measurement shape growth death climate change impact 

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Patterns weathering measurement shape growth death climate change impact 

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Trees will change throughout the year and seasons. Why do they change? What impacts does this change have on the animals that rely on these trees to survive? How do Indigenous populations use the change in plants to distinguish change in seasons for food and migration?

Related concepts:

Adaptation

Life cycle, cycles and systems

Sustainability

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CHANGE What came first? The chicken or the fence?

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H2O

Children discovered this during some ‘thematic’ explorations

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Causation. How did this happen?

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Terrain

Geography

Environment

Adaptation

What are the types of terrain? How are they different?

What might be find in environments around the world? How are these rocks/plants created? How have plants adapted to this environment?

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Child would have had to reflect on prior attempts to develop balance

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What is represented here? What do you notice about the ropes? What happens when you move one of them?

Additional concept: transmission

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Pattern

Colour

Texture

Perspective

Construction

Man made/ natural

Connection

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Who has responsibility at a pedestrian crossing?

How do you know what your responsibility is?

What ways might you be responsible as a pedestrian? What ways are drivers responsible?

Related concepts: safety, perspective

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Connection

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What would this tree look like if you were a bird sitting in a branch of it? What would this tree look like zoomed in on from google maps? What would this tree look like if you were an ant crawling underneath? What's a new perspective you could look at this tree with, can you draw this new perspective? What is the trees perspective about having a new building built around it?

Related concepts:

Relativity

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Systems and organisations - house groups relating to Indigenous culture on Ngunnawal land.

How does the house system keep us organised?

Purpose, connection, perspective, change, sustainability, form and function.

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Change

Responsibility

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Belonging, community

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Function: How does the server work to keep CGS safe?

Causation: What happens if the server floods?

Connection: How does the server connect CGS?

Responsibility: Whose responsibility is it to keep the school safe?

Change: How has serves changed over time.

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Key points: new names for specified and additional concepts

Working with what we have and making the most

Confirmed importance and power of concepts

Still wondering how flexible and responsive we can be in our space at cgs

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Triangle

The activity of the three concepts mind map was one of the best concrete ways I’ve engaged with the concepts.

Square

How foundational and important they are.

Circle

How you use the concepts or the questions you generate link to lines of inquiry.

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Conceptual understanding under pins the central idea and lines of inquiry which helps with conceptual understanding.

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Triangle: Illustrating concepts and visually linking concepts with spaces. Revising and emphasis of language in designing Units of Inquiries.

Square: Specified concepts and additional concepts.

Circle: Which is published and defined language / quotes to use within the IB and what is creatively constructed on the teacher level.

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Triangle: Importance of collaboration and exploring conceptual understanding with colleagues and students in various ways. One strategy is asking our students to photograph or draw a representation of a specific concept.

Squared: New terminology and changes in the PYP language (i.e specific and additional concepts).

Circle: How can we strengthen our classroom practice to ensure we are explicitly linking back to the specific concepts in a way which is relevant and memorable to students in amongst the jargon all of the other things they are required to be across?

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Your Go-to List of PYP Related (Additional) Concepts. Maggie Hos-McGrane.

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Your Go-to List of PYP Related (Additional) Concepts. Maggie Hos-McGrane.

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1. Connect: How do we go from global issue to central idea?

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https://learn.toddleapp.com/talk-post/planning-significant-engaging-relevant-and-challenging-curriculum/

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WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING?

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WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING?

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The Backwards Brain Bicycle - Smarter Every Day 133

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Significant, relevant, engaging. and challenging units

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About the Talk

A significant, engaging, relevant, and challenging curriculum requires intentional planning. It affords students opportunities to learn about big ideas, learn through contextualized experiences, and learn to be experts in the field. In this workshop, explore how Michael Halliday's language framework of learning language, learning about language, and learning through language can be applied within, across, and beyond subjects to achieve significant, engaging, relevant, and challenging disciplinary or transdisciplinary curriculum that students desire and deserve.

Key Objectives

Identify the need for significant, engaging, relevant, and challenging curriculum

Describe how the Halliday Language Model can support curriculum planning

Deep dive into examples of planning for units and learning experiences

Discover relevant, significant, engaging units of inquiry, created by PYP educators from across the world!.

Disclaimer - This event is organised independently of and not endorsed by the IB. Toddle's events and webinars are organised to enable an exchange of practices and ideas within the educator community and are not a replacement for official IB workshops. Views and opinions expressed by the speakers are their personal views and should not be construed as official guidance by the IB. Please seek assistance from your school's IB coordinator and/or refer to official IB documents before implementing shared ideas and strategies in your classroom.

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Examine the Halliday Language Model to support curriculum planning and shares examples of planning for units and learning experiences.

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This is a useful resource shared by participants when I last did this workshop

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Welcome to Inspiring Inquiry. The purpose of Inspiring Inquiry is to support educators in developing an inspiring inquiry-based culture of thinking and learning that embraces the development of a growth mindset, 21st century skills/dispositions, learner agency and an environment in which it is

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grant wiggins Jay Mctigue - 6 facets of understanding

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grant wiggins Jay Mctigue - 6 facets of understanding

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Six Facets of Understanding - The Peak Performance Center

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Six Facets of Understanding - Understanding by Design, Wiggins and McTighe, explain, interpret, apply, have perspective, empathize, have self?knowledge

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6 facet's of understanding - Question stems

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6 facet's of understanding - Question stems

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Please enjoy our live concept of function, creatively demonstrating our amazing hand eye coordination skills.

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Inspired by Aretha Franklin

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1. Concepts are the driving force and guiding light behind all teaching and learning

2. SOLO taxonomy - helpful to have a strategy to assess conceptual understanding

3. Observation as key documentation of developing conceptual understanding

4. Resources like storybooks, bus stops, concept maps, visual representations, multiple contexts

5. Red string - visually mapping the connections between concepts in different content areas.

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1. As a new graduate, really clearly defining what the specified concepts and additional concepts are helped me to understand the IB framework more clearly.

2. As classroom teachers, we need to more explicitly teach the specific concepts so that students are familiar with the language and can draw very direct links to them through the Units of Inquiry. We feel that they underpin our planning and classroom learning experiences very strongly but are not always so visible to our students.

3. Challenging whether something is a 'skill' or a 'concept' was a great thing for us to consider in our professional conversation.

4. The importance of working backwards from an abstract concept to a more concrete learning experience for students, and vice versa.

5. We liked the quote where Milligan and Wood (2010: 492) suggest that “conceptual understandings are better understood as transition points rather than endpoints”.

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Tree Ranking - Georgie, Lucy, Molly and Haleema

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Tree Ranking - Georgie, Lucy, Molly and Haleema

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1. Concepts can be interweaved into all curriculum areas

2. Use additional concepts to concrete the learning and support student interest.

3. SOLO Taxonomy - great assessment tool and links with our rubric.

4. Utilising the curriculum content descriptors to link to concepts.

5. The resources available to support creating questions that are concept driven.

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1. Conceptual learning should be a priority at the planning stage

2. Units can be built around conceptual understanding-better than filling in gaps with CT

3. Language is key

4. Explicating concepts using unrelated contexts

5. Learner profile language weaving is a goal for the year

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1. Use the concepts almost as a day plan, they don't have to remain on the big scale for a bigger planner they can be used every single day.

2. Posing guiding questions for each concept to choose which concept will fit best with a topic/idea.

3. SOLO Taxonomy

4. Conceptual Understanding is Abstract, Timeless, and Non-linear.

5. Additional concepts can be used to guide lesson plans and unit plans by specialist teachers to better fit with what learning is happening in the generalist classroom.

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1. Not as complex as what we initially thought;

2. Opportunity to implement into a program very useful;

3. Brainstorm using a conceptual lens prior to populating a planner with content;

4. Generated really useful professional discussion across horizontal and vertical groups (School wide);

5. Whole-school approach with a common language.

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1. A reminder of how creative and freeing it can be to plan using conceptual learning.

2. The idea that we can use concepts as a load-bearing tool to guide planning rather than the other way around: the concepts become primary rather than a secondary consideration.

3. Additional concepts: their importance, the freedom and we have in nominating them (ie. not necessarily from an IB source).

4. Feet on floor, bottom on chair (FOFBOC)

5. How do we shift thinking in UOI/Maths/Literacy: what do we need to do next and how do we get there?

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       Concrete to abstract circles                  SOLO Taxonomy.  The difference between  knowledge and     conceptual understanding Understanding Specified and additional concepts Unpacking the UOI in year levels and peer ideas