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Explorando un currículum que es internacional

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Explorando un currículum que es internacional

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Entrevista a Verónica Boix Mansilla – Profesora de HARVARD GRADUATE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION

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Observatorio (Instituto Cervantes at Harvard)

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Observatorio Cervantes - Harvard. Las teorías del "Translanguaging". García y Otheguy

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Sesión 8: Hacia una mentalidad internacional

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Sesión 8: Hacia una mentalidad internacional

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Desarrollo de la mentalidad internacional
Las indagaciones en contextos locales y globales

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¿Cuáles son las ideas más influyentes sobre el aprendizaje de lenguas en la actualidad?

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¿Cuáles son las ideas más influyentes sobre el aprendizaje de lenguas en la actualidad?

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Por Susan Stewart

¿Qué es una persona multilingüe?
Una persona multilingüe puede definirse como aquella que usa dos o más lenguas con regularidad, aunque la manera en que los alumnos multilingües emplean las distintas lenguas puede variar considerablemente. Algunas lenguas pueden usarse para la comunicación informal en el entorno familiar, mientras que otras pueden emplearse solamente fuera de casa, ya sea con fines sociales o académicos. La lengua de instrucción del colegio puede ser nueva para muchos alumnos, y tal vez no se use en sus casas o comunidades. Podemos apreciar la complejidad de lo que implica ser multilingüe, pero ¿qué sabemos sobre las experiencias de los alumnos multilingües en los colegios? ¿Pueden variar esas experiencias en función de si el colegio es internacional, local, privado o público?

Si bien la jornada escolar está estructurada por bloques, con una distribución horaria que dicta cuándo los alumnos socializan, cuándo hacen actividad física, cuándo usan su creatividad y cuándo deben emplear una lengua concreta, la realidad es que los alumnos multilingües no funcionan de esta manera: no activan o desactivan sus lenguas según se requiere. Las principales funciones de la lengua son la comunicación y el desarrollo cognitivo, de modo que, si un alumno multilingüe no pudiera usar más de una de sus lenguas simultáneamente, tal vez no progresaría en su aprendizaje ni lograría comunicarse con eficacia. Este hecho se aprecia especialmente cuando el alumno está en pleno aprendizaje de la lengua de instrucción del colegio.

La importancia de comprender los perfiles lingüísticos

"La realidad de muchos de nuestros alumnos es que su primera lengua puede no ser ya, o no haber sido nunca, la que mejor dominan".

¿Por qué el hecho de comprender la complejidad de los perfiles lingüísticos y el uso de la lengua de nuestros alumnos es un paso importante para comprender las ideas más influyentes sobre el aprendizaje de lenguas en la actualidad? El mito del "bilingüe perfecto", ese superhumano capaz de usar igual de bien ambas lenguas, tanto en el ámbito social como en el académico, y en todos los temas de conversación, ha dejado de considerarse un término válido o un objetivo deseable. El concepto obsoleto de "lengua materna" se ha utilizado durante mucho tiempo para hablar de la primera lengua de una persona multilingüe, presuponiendo que es la que mejor domina. Pero la realidad de muchos de nuestros alumnos es que su primera lengua puede no ser ya, o no haber sido nunca, la que mejor dominan. Aunque hablen una o más lenguas en casa, muchos de ellos solo utilizan estas lenguas para fines muy limitados, y no como su lengua dominante.

Lo que se ha observado con más certidumbre, tanto en circunstancias informales como en investigaciones de lingüística aplicada, es la forma híbrida y flexible en que las personas multilingües utilizan sus distintas lenguas para comunicarse, adquirir nuevos conocimientos, aprender conceptos y reconfigurar sus identidades. La elección de la lengua que se va a utilizar puede ser consciente o inconsciente, según la ocasión. Del mismo modo que todos adaptamos nuestra forma de hablar a nuestro interlocutor, ya sea un amigo, un compañero o nuestra abuela, una persona multilingüe elige la lengua o la combinación de lenguas que va a usar según la situación. Los investigadores han acuñado numerosos términos para describir la manera flexible en que las personas multilingües utilizan sus lenguas (por ejemplo, "cambio de código", "cruce" o "translenguaje").

"Cuando aprendemos una nueva lengua, no lo hacemos de manera aislada; tenemos que usar activamente nuestra comprensión metalingüística para crear y expresar significado en la nueva lengua".

Se dice que las personas multilingües se sirven de su repertorio lingüístico para expresarse, pero también para desarrollar su comprensión. Al aprender una nueva lengua, todos recurrimos al vocabulario y a las estructuras gramaticales de las lenguas que ya conocemos para comprender nuevas palabras y oraciones. Nos resulta útil identificar las similitudes y diferencias a medida que mejora nuestra fluidez en la nueva lengua. Cuando aprendemos una nueva lengua, no lo hacemos de manera aislada; tenemos que usar activamente nuestra comprensión metalingüística para crear y expresar significado en la nueva lengua. Esta transferencia de comprensión de una lengua a otra no es unidireccional, sino bidireccional, ya que, al comprender la gramática de una nueva lengua, se aclaran conceptos de las lenguas que ya se dominan.

¿Cómo se manifiesta todo esto en el aula?
El curso de Desarrollo de la Lengua del Programa de Orientación Profesional es un ejemplo de buen diseño. Al reconocer el repertorio lingüístico completo de un alumno, demostramos aprecio y respeto por todas las lenguas y nos alejamos del enfoque tradicional de centrarnos únicamente en que el alumno logre dominar la lengua del colegio. Somos conscientes del importante papel que desempeñan todas las lenguas en el desarrollo de nuestros alumnos. Incluso aunque nosotros mismos no hablemos las demás lenguas de los alumnos, podemos animarlos explícitamente a reflexionar sobre una palabra, una expresión o un concepto concretos en esas lenguas.

Por ejemplo, podemos pedir a los alumnos que comparen una expresión como "No es oro todo lo que reluce" en diferentes lenguas para que desarrollen su comprensión de cómo funciona el lenguaje idiomático. Hace poco, un alumno explicó que en su lengua había una expresión similar, pero con algunas diferencias. Otro alumno apuntó que en las plataformas de juegos en línea se utilizan el inglés y otras lenguas indistintamente, y se mezclan expresiones y metáforas de varias lenguas. Mantener conversaciones breves de este tipo resulta enriquecedor para todos los alumnos, y también para los docentes, que siempre pueden aprender alguna cosa de sus alumnos multilingües.

Si tiene interés en participar en la revisión del currículo de Desarrollo de la Lengua, escriba a cpdevelopment@ibo.org Susan Stewart es miembro del Middle School Research Institute del International School of London y presidenta del grupo de interés especial MLIE de la organización ECIS. Susan ha vivido y trabajado en Tailandia, Emiratos Árabes Unidos, Sudáfrica, Bélgica, Omán y Suecia, y tiene dos hijos bilingües que la han acompañado por todo el mundo. Cuenta con un grado en lingüística y francés, y un máster en lingüística aplicada y comunicación del Birkbeck College (Universidad de Londres). Susan habla afrikáans, alemán, árabe, francés, inglés y sueco, y tiene la vocación de aprender nuevas lenguas durante toda la vida. En su comunidad local, promueve activamente el uso de las lenguas de origen e imparte regularmente talleres para padres sobre el desafío de educar a niños bilingües en entornos monolingües. Susan apoya a un grupo de colegios de lenguas heredadas de su comunidad local y está interesada en la interacción entre los colegios internacionales y las comunidades lingüísticas locales. para obtener más información.
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¿Cuáles son las ideas más influyentes sobre el aprendizaje de lenguas en la actualidad?

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Por Susan Stewart ¿Qué es una persona multilingüe? Una persona multilingüe puede definirse como aquella que usa dos o más lenguas con regularidad, aunque la manera en que los alumnos multilingües emplean las distintas lenguas puede variar considerablemente.

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Sesión 7: El aprendizaje acerca de la lengua

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Sesión 7: El aprendizaje acerca de la lengua

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El aprendizaje de una lengua para reflejar la herencia, las lenguas y las culturas de los miembros de la comunidad de aprendizaje

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Aprendizaje basado en la indagación– un viaje a través al proceso del pensamiento - Kath Murdoch

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Aprendizaje basado en la indagación– un viaje a través al proceso del pensamiento - Kath Murdoch

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OBJETIVO DEL TALLER Y COMPRENSIÓN CONCEPTUAL

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OBJETIVO DEL TALLER Y COMPRENSIÓN CONCEPTUAL

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RESUMEN DEL TALLER: INDAGADORES LOCALES Y GLOBALES

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https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FlrvqYUxxD0y63uVix9vcq9Yjb8ZE16NXLEHeXJLJBY/edit

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Taller-  Enfoques del Aprendizaje matriz

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Rutina de Pensamiento: Puntos Cardinales

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Rutina de Pensamiento: Puntos Cardinales

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Rutina de Pensamiento: Los puntos cardinales - Google Jamboard

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Si en este momento fueras a escribir un titular sobre este tópico o tema que capte el aspecto más importante por el cual debería recordarse ¿Cuál sería el titular?

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Rutina de Pensamiento: el Semáforo - Google Jamboard

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¿Qué es lo que se? ¿Qué quiero aprender? ¿Qué aprendí?

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¿Qué es lo que se? ¿Qué quiero aprender? ¿Qué aprendí? - Google Jamboard

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¿Qué es lo que se? ¿Qué quiero aprender? ¿Qué aprendí?

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rutina de pensamiento: Antes pensaba- ahora pienso

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rutina de pensamiento: Antes pensaba- ahora pienso

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Antes pensaba...ahora pienso - Google Jamboard

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El Desarollo de una Perspectiva Internacional - Niky Singh

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El Desarollo de una Perspectiva Internacional - Niky Singh

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Video, una forma de ver la acción y agencia

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Video, una forma de ver la acción y agencia

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Improving School Experiences with Design Thinking

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Explorando la mentalidad internacional a través de 'Quiénes somos'

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This article looks at the concept of religion through a lens of international-mindedness and links to the transdisciplinary theme of 'Who we are.'
International-mindedness is an important aspect of the IB. It means to respect other cultures, traditions and opinions even if we do not follow the same. To support the development of international-mindedness in our students' minds, a unit of inquiry on the concept on religion seemed to be a seamless fit for our fourth graders.

The word religion creates sensitivity among people anywhere around the world. To inquire into religion in a unit of inquiry for 6 weeks for 9-10 years old was a formidable thought. We respect the parent community and their beliefs, partners in the education of their child. I know that international-mindedness cannot be taught explicitly to the students; it becomes visible through their learning and inquiries.

Most of the students in my class come from families open-minded to learning about other religions. Students were given opportunity to choose a religion of their choice to gain an insight and perspective about it. To provoke interest in the unit, I gathered artefacts from three major religions and used the visible thinking routine 'I see-I think-I wonder' to capture students' interests.

To create a personal connection in the unit of inquiry and arouse interest, students were asked to bring artefacts from their religion and talk about its importance to their peers. This provided insight into other religions and customs.
Sharing artefacts
As our unit focused on developing respect and tolerance among students, I planned a field trip to religious temples to help my students gain first-hand information. Students visited Mahabodhi society - a Buddhist temple in Bangalore where the students learned about the Buddhist ways of praying by bowing three times, their festivals and the belief to forego worldly pleasures to become a Buddhist monk.

We also visited Gurudwara - a Sikh temple, where students showed their respect towards Sikhism by washing their legs and wearing a scarf before entering the temple. Boys and girls sat separately and bowed before the holy Grant, which is the holy book of Sikhs. Following the traditions at the place of worship provides an opportunity for students to not only know the customs and rituals of that religion, but also to respect them.

Further into our unit of inquiry, we analyzed the beliefs and values of different religions to see how similar and different they are to each other. We made a mind map with religion in the centre and different religions beliefs and values sprouting from it. Students made a connection that even though beliefs are different, values like love, empathy, honesty and respect are similar. Students reflected that all the religions promoted equality.

This led to a student inquiry: if Islam promotes equality, then why women are not allowed to enter the mosque? As a follower of different religion, I found this difficult to answer. At the same time, I was overjoyed with the way my students were analyzing, reflecting and asking questions.

To answer this and other questions raised by my students, I organized a Skype session with a learned friend of mine who follows the Islam religion. Students asked their burning questions around perceived inequality. The guest speaker clarified that the holy book Quran never forbid women from entering mosque, but the interpreters of the holy book determined the way they wanted women in the society to behave. This gave an assurance to the students that Islam religion is equally rich in its values compared to other religions.

As we were nearing the end of the unit, students summarized their understanding of the beliefs and values of different religions by reflecting that we can follow whichever religion we want to, but if we follow the common values like love, respect, empathy and honesty, we can live in peace with each other. They presented this idea in the assembly to the whole school on International Peace Day, by dressing in clothing that represents various religions, reciting hymns and sharing the beliefs and values of each. Students also made a visual representation to showcase their learning in the form a chart.

This unit has brought inquiry and analysis into the different religions of the world and the values they nurture. By facilitating inquiry to enrich understanding and deepen students' conceptual learning, I supported these global citizens of tomorrow to value and respect other people's ideas, perspectives, culture, traditions, beliefs and values. I believe this is what international-mindedness is.

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Rajeswari Vidyashankar has been teaching IB curriculum for the past 4 years, currently teaching grade 4 in Sharanya Narayani International School (an IB candidate school) in Bangalore. She is a true believer of IB curriculum that prepares students for real life through approaches to learning. Rajeswari enjoys facilitating her students to endure understanding of the big ideas in the unit of inquiry which transcends into action.

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Exploring international-mindedness through 'Who we are'

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This article looks at the concept of religion through a lens of international-mindedness and links to the transdisciplinary theme of 'Who we are.' International-mindedness is an important aspect of the IB. It means to respect other cultures, traditions and opinions even if we do not follow the same.

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Aprendizaje basado en conceptos: desarrollo de preguntas dirigidas por los estudiantes

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Anime a sus alumnos a planificar la unidad de investigación

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This article shows how to plan a unit of inquiry from the student perspective facilitating the same process that teachers undertake."It is not enough to simply listen to student voice. Educators have an ethical imperative to do something with students, and that is why meaningful student involvement is vital to school improvement."
Teachers spend many hours planning units of inquiry in order to help their students learn new knowledge and to develop new skills and attitudes. Some teachers collaboratively develop the unit before ascertaining student prior knowledge. Some teachers develop a skeleton unit plan and finish the rest of the unit plan informed by student prior knowledge, questions and interests. A few teachers carry out a true form of democratic inquiry and co-construct the unit with their students.

Fraser (2000, p.35) comments:
...teachers are in fact planning the units in advance, and consulting with the students only on a few minor details. The core elements, activities and direction of the units, as decided by the teacher, remain unchanged.
For a number of years I have facilitated a "kid's curriculum group" designed to gather student voice around curriculum design and learning programmes. Originally the students offered ideas around topics for study, defined key competencies and surveyed the school for opinions on specific issues.

When considering effective pedagogy we know the power of incorporating student voice at all levels of learning, we know gathering prior knowledge is a very important first step and we know student choice is a powerful engagement tool. I soon realized that when students' ideas and feedback are actioned, their engagement is stronger. Therefore I decided to increase their voice and ideas in unit of inquiry planning to ensure a greater degree of ownership and engagement.

With these points in mind I decided to plan a unit of inquiry from the student perspective facilitating the same process that teachers undertake.

Individually, from their own cultural perspective, our year 8 student leaders unpacked the transdisciplinary theme ( Sharing the planet) and central idea (everyone has rights ...) and then shared their understandings to form a shared meaning. This process included their family and cultural perspective and allowed prior knowledge to be captured. It was interesting how each student viewed the term "refugee" and how each had their own "lens" through which they approached the central idea.

Starting with a shared language aided the students in selecting the key concepts to be emphasized and to develop possible lines of inquiry. They formulated a variety of "big" questions to provoke and stimulate discussion such as "what rights and responsibilities do refugees have compared to us?" "A war can start small but impact a huge amount of people" and "what is the difference between rights, responsibilities and power?"

Planning learning experiences promoted great excitement and was a highly motivating part of the planning. We were astounded at the ease with which the year 8 students generated the activities and their natural inclusion of a wide variety in order to suit individuals, groups and learning styles.

Transdisciplinary links were developed naturally as the inquiry was focused on a real-world problem (refugees) and brought relevance both locally and internationally. The culminating activity was replicating a day in a refugee camp. This involved a great deal of planning and the development of financial, thinking, communication and research skills but more importantly enabled them to be risk-takers, open-minded, reflective, caring learners.

Planning possible assessment tasks was relatively straight forward as they reflected on the learning activities and the skills, values and knowledge to be developed. They planned a number of individual and group activities that would culminate in a comprehensive portfolio of artifacts as proof of their achievement and learning journey. They also included co-constructed rubrics and role-play.

From this exercise we learned 3 main points:

Start with what they know.

I have worked with groups of students for many years facilitating the planning of units of inquiry using the same steps and approach as teachers use. Teachers are astonished when they receive the planning and often choose to use the plan with minor modifications. Why? Because the planning is authentic, starts from "what the students know" and engagement is instant.

Students know how they like to learn best.

Students have the capability to design the learning activities and are very aware which skills they need to develop. Senior students have had many years of learning through exposure to many different types of inquiry learning activities and they know best which ones engage and suit the learning need. Planning assessment activities and an understanding of the learning journey leads to self-direction and metacognition.

Students feel empowered when they carry out the planning and engagement is assured.

Students I have worked with feel proud that they have developed the unit and are very excited to begin learning. Incorporating student voice and choice to such a degree encourages student agency and ownership of their learning.

Click here to see the unit of inquiry planned entirely by a group of year 8 girls at Selwyn House School.

I am sure they would love to get your feedback.

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Dr Lyn Bird is principal at Selwyn House School in Christchurch, New Zealand. She has been principal of both private and state schools from small country to large urban schools. Her PhD thesis focused on developing self regulated learning skills in young students and she is passionate about self directed learning and personalization of learning. Visit her blog at principaltweets.blogspot.co.nz

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Encourage your students to plan the unit of inquiry

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This article shows how to plan a unit of inquiry from the student perspective facilitating the same process that teachers undertake. "It is not enough to simply listen to student voice. Educators have an ethical imperative to do something with students, and that is why meaningful student involvement is vital to school improvement."

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Indagación sobre la idea general

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 La transdisciplinariedad en el currículo

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 La transdisciplinariedad en el currículo

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Estos elementos curriculares son:

1. 1.Temas transdisciplinarios

2. Programa de indagación

3. Asignaturas

4. Conceptos

5. Enfoques de aprendizaje

6. Atributos del perfil

7. Mentalidad internacional (desarrollo del lenguaje

8. Colaboración

9. El juego

10.  Acción

11.  Exposición

12. Agencia

13. Diferenciación

14. Evaluación

15. Indagación

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Los compañeros de viaje promueven la mentalidad internacional

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Travel buddies promote international-mindedness as they roam the globe and send back photos and information about their travels. These stuffed animals provided by second grade students, tagged and sent on their way are connecting an IB World School to the world.
"A travel buddy checked in today!" When I say those words, my class cheers, because my second graders (7-8 years) know it means we once again get to spend some time getting to know our world. This valuable program allows my Primary Years Programme (PYP) students a chance to learn and grow with knowledge of international-mindedness.

International-mindedness, according to Carolyn Savage in her IB Community Blog article entitled International-mindedness - Teachers are talking about it, but what exactly is it? means:

Understanding, respecting and valuing different cultures, embracing diversity and knowing that different perspectives have a great deal to offer.

My school has struggled with this aspect of the IB in our short, 5 years of authorization. When a retired teacher friend told me that her idea of travel budies from years ago would be perfect for the IB and the digital age, I immediately realized that this could be a way to promote international-mindedness in our small corner of the IB world.

At the beginning of the school year, I ask each student to bring in a travel buddy stuffed animal, one that they would not mind losing if the travel buddy 'decides' to live with someone else. I tag each stuffed animal with a note that has my name, school name and address, Twitter, Instagram and email account information to facilitate check-ins. It also explains our idea of passing the travel buddy on to someone else, a relative or not. I make the travel buddy program optional, but all students want to participate to see where their travel buddy goes!

Using our travel buddies, my students have broadened their knowledge of the world, geographically, historically and culturally. When travel buddies check in from Thailand, Madagascar, Hawaii, New York, Colombia, Ecuador, Spain, Jordan, San Francisco, Serbia and other parts of the world, my students begin to view their world through the fresh eyes of their travel buddies. We use maps and technology to track their travels. We post their photos and travelogues for parents to see. Each photo of a travel buddy creates new conversations about our world: "What is the name of that big waterfall?", "Those children in Serbia are in school too?". These connections can, in some small way, blossom into bigger, more global investigations. One travel buddy photo showed two small children who were begging for food, which began amazing conversation and research in our class about global starvation.

This year, travel buddy Chester visited Colombia and Ecuador, and taught us the culture, history and geography of these beautiful countries. We were able to connect these visits with our unit under the transdisciplinary theme How we express ourselves, a study of artistic cultural expression, when we saw 3D murals outside businesses in Guatape, Colombia that depicted without words what business was inside. Students immediately wanted to do the same thing, so in a purely student-driven moment; we created our own mural with each student holding something they like to do in class. It is hanging outside our classroom. No words, just creative expression!

In my two years of implementing this programme, our travel buddies have traveled to 6 continents and more than 20 countries. Some are passed to relatives for travel, some to strangers who pass them along to others. Almost all of the travel buddies returned to our school last year before the school year ended and we celebrated their travels with a party!

Travel buddies take a bit of planning and tending throughout the year, but the rewards in promoting global awareness and international-mindedness are without measure. Our world can use more international understanding. Travel buddies is one positive way my students can grow in knowledge and understanding of the global community.

Reference:

Savage, C. (2017). International-mindedness - teachers are talking about it, but what exactly is it?
Barbara Gaffrey is a second grade (7-8 yrs) teacher at Summit Charter Academy, an IB World School in Central California, USA. In her 33rd year of teaching 6-7-8 year olds, she has received training in Reading Recovery, English Language Development and has embraced technology in the classroom. She has promoted international-mindedness with travel buddies through social media for two years. You can read her previous articles here. She tweets @GaffreyGrade2.

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Travel buddies promote international-mindedness as they roam the globe and send back photos and information about their travels. These stuffed animals provided by second grade students, tagged and sent on their way are connecting an IB World School to the world. "A travel buddy checked in today!"

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Carteles de perfil de aprendizaje de LP Trailblazers.pdf

Fuente: Parita Parekh - Colección Trailblazers

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Learner agency in kindergarten

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Esta experiencia exitosa con los alumnos de Kindergarten promueve la agencia y les ayuda a comprender lo que significa "alzar su voz", "actuar", "resolver problemas".
"Malala y su lápiz mágico", es un cuento muy útil e interesante para ayudar a los niños a comprender lo que quiere decir "Alzar la voz" con seguridad y autonomía. Este personaje representa varios conceptos del Perfil de la comunidad del IB y los niños la pueden calificar fundamentando sus ideas. Por otro lado, trabajando la unidad de indagación cuyo tema transdisciplinario es "Dónde estamos en lugar y tiempo".

Este interesante cuento de la vida real causó sensación con los niños de Kindergarten.

Es un a historia real que ayuda a promover la "agencia" y comprender lo que significa "alzar la voz", "actuar", "resolver problemas".

Trabajando sobre el tema transdisciplinario: ¿Dónde estamos en lugar y tiempo? decidimos contarle a los niños y niñas de Kindergarten cuentos de diferentes países.

Uno de ellos fue "Malala y su lápiz mágico". Un cuento que ocurre en su lugar de nacimiento Pakistán, escrito por ella misma. Los niños tuvieron la oportunidad ubicar el pais en el mapa, de conocer alguna de sus costumbres, sobre todo la vestimenta.

Tambien pudieron leer lo que significaba ganar "El Premio Nobel de la Paz" y porqué lo obtuvo Malala en el 2014.

La Idea Central de esta unidad de indagación era: Los países están interconectados por su cultura, historia y tradiciones.

Las líneas de indagación fueron:

Características de los diferentes países (forma)

Diferencias y similitudes entre países (conexión)

La importancia de respetar y aceptar culturas, costumbres y tradiciones de otros países.

Los conceptos relacionados que elegimos fueron: cultura, historia y tradiciones.

Por otro lado se programaron actividades donde padres de familia extranjeras presentaban su país de origen y los niños "viajaban" imaginariamente a esos países, donde además de hacer sellar su pasaporte, aprendían sobre el lugar, costumbres y hasta degustaban algo de la comida típica u observar un baile típico de la región.

Después de contar la historia de Malala, los niños hicieron varias preguntas:

¿Es un cuento real?

¿De verdad ha pasado?

¿Por qué Pakistán estaba en guerra? ¿Ellos siguen en guerra?

¿Todos usan esa ropa? ¿Por qué? (Cuando vieron familias donde las mujeres usaban la burka)

Después de que entre ellos respondieran las preguntas y nosotros ayudáramos con algunos videos, reflexionamos sobre el personaje principal y decidimos calificarla con los conceptos del Perfil de Aprendizaje del IB.

Preguntas del profesor:

¿Por qué Malala ya no necesitaba un lápiz mágico?

¿Se quedó en Pakistán para siempre?

¿En qué país tuvo que iniciar una nueva vida?

¿Con qué otro cuento relacionamos esta historia? (los niños hicieron conexiones cuento-cuento y relacionaron este cuento con el de Stellaluna y Guyi, Guyi. En estos cuentos los personajes demostraron tener mentalidad abierta al aceptar las reglas de su nueva familia y adaptarse a las costumbres de su nueva casa).

Cuando los niños empezaron a calificar a Malala dijeron:

Ella es audaz porque se atrevió a hacer algo por los demás, y no le importó poner su vida en peligro.

Ella demostró tener una mente abierta al adaptarse a su nueva casa, en Gran Bretaña y también al escuchar y respetar las ideas de otros.

Ella fue solidaria porque se preocupaba por las niñas y niños de su país porque tenían que trabajar y no podían ir a la escuela.

Malala era buena comunicadora porque supo trasmitir sus ideas para que la escucharan los mayores, y para que todos sepan lo que pasaba en su país.

Malala fue reflexiva: se dio cuenta que no necesitaba un lápiz mágico para actuar y lograr que se hiciera algo bueno. Solo necesitaba un lápiz, un papel, un maestro y un niño para cambiar el mundo.

Malala fue pensadora: supo cómo resolver un problema en su país. Luchó para que las niñas vayan al colegio

Luego los niños y las niñas tuvieron la oportunidad de dibujar y usando su imaginación pensaron: ¿Qué haría si tuviera un lápiz mágico?" Aquí algunos ejemplos.

Esta clase fue muy positiva y los niños demostraron mucho interés y entusiamo. Fue una gran oportunidadpara demostrar que los niños pueden alzar su voz ante las injusticias y tomar acción. Fue la oportunidad para reforzar el concepto de mentalidad abierta, muy abstracto para la edad de los niños de Kindergarten, pero que llegan a comprender a través de historias.
Fiorella Márquez, es peruana y es Directora Nacional del Newton College en Lima, Perú. Enseña en Kindergarten y ama contar historias a los niños para que comprendan conceptos complejos y abstractos como son los atributos del IB y las actitudes. Es Psicopedagoga y está haciendo una maestría en Neuropsicología y Educación con la universidad de la Rioja, España. Disfruta trabajando con niños de 5 años utilizando muchas rutinas de pensamiento para hacer el pensamiento de los niños visible en el aula. This successful experience with the kindergarten students promotes the "agency" and helps to understand what it means to "raise your voice", "act", "solve problems".
Working on the transdisciplinary theme of "where we are in place and time", we decided to tell our kindergarten students stories from different countries.

One of them was "Malala and her magic pencil", a story that happens in her place of birth, Pakistan, written by herself. The students had the opportunity to locate the country on the map and to get to know some of their country's customs, especially clothing.

They could also read what it meant to win "The Nobel Peace Prize" and why Malala received this honour in 2014.

The central idea of this unit of inquiry was: "Countries interconnect with their culture, history and traditions."

The lines of inquiry were:

Characteristics of different countries (form)

Differences and similarities between countries (connection)

The importance of respecting and accepting cultures, customs and traditions of other nations

The related concepts we chose were: culture, history and traditions.

After telling Malala's story, the students asked several questions:

Is it a real story?

Has it happened?

Why was Pakistan at war? Are they still at war?

Does everyone wear those clothes? Why? (When they saw families where women were dressed in burka.)

After they answered the questions and we helped with some videos, we reflected on the main character through the attributes of the IB learner profile.

Questions from the teacher:

Why did Malala not need a magic pencil?

Did she stay in Pakistan forever?

In what country did you have to start a new life?

With what other stories do we relate to? (The learners made connections to Stellaluna and Guyi, Guyi.) In these stories, the characters demonstrated open-mindedness by accepting the rules of their new family and adapting to the customs of their new home.

When the students reflected on Malala, they said:

She was bold because she dared to do something for others and did not mind putting her life in danger.

She showed an open mind by adapting to her new home, in Great Britain, and by listening and respecting the ideas of others.

She was supportive; she cared about the students of her country because they had to work and could not go to school.

Malala was an excellent communicator because she knew how to transmit her ideas so that the elders would listen to her, and so that everyone would know what was going on in her country.

Malala was reflective: she realized that she did not need a magic pencil to act and get something useful done. She just needed "one child, one teacher, one pen and one book to change the world".

Malala was a thinker: she knew how to solve a problem in her country. She fought for girls to go to school.

After our discussion, the students had the opportunity to draw and using their imaginations as they thought: What would I do if I had a magic pencil? Here are some examples.

Our students showed a lot of interest and enthusiasm with this unit. It was an excellent opportunity to demonstrate that kindergarten students can raise their voices in the face of injustice and take action. It was also the opportunity to reinforce the concept of open-mindedness using story.
Fiorella Márquez is National Director of Newton College in Lima, Peru. She teaches kindergarten students and loves telling stories to her pupils so that they understand complex and abstract concepts, including the attributes of the IB learner profile and the PYP attitudes. She is a psychopedagogue and is doing a Master's Degree in Neuropsychology and Education with the University of La Rioja, Spain. She enjoys working with five-year-old learners and is keen on using many thinking routines in her classroom.

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Esta experiencia exitosa con los alumnos de Kindergarten promueve la agencia y les ayuda a comprender lo que significa "alzar su voz", "actuar", "resolver problemas". "Malala y su lápiz mágico", es un cuento muy útil e interesante para ayudar a los niños a comprender lo que quiere decir "Alzar la voz" con seguridad y autonomía.

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por Sonya Ter Borg

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Una guía súper simple para proyectos de estudiantes con un propósito y agencia

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por Sonya Ter Borg

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Ejemplo de planificador - Recursos para maestros IB

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Ejemplo de planificador - Recursos para maestros IB

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Sesión 9: La conexión de la transdisciplinariedad

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Sesión 9: La conexión de la transdisciplinariedad

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Comprensión de la transdisciplinariedad
Los elementos transdisciplinarios del PEP

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Las indagaciones en contextos locales y globales

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Sesión  6 : Panorama del aprendizaje de lenguas

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Sesión  6 : Panorama del aprendizaje de lenguas

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La construcción de una cultura positiva de aprendizaje de lenguas.

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Apoyar las identidades de agentes de los niños a través de enfoques de aprendizaje 

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Apoyar las identidades de agentes de los niños a través de enfoques de aprendizaje 

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This piece draws from experiences in an early childhood PYP context in Switzer l and . Reflections are shared on ways the Approaches to Learning have the potential to be powerful tools for supporting children's agentic identities with a particular focus on environments, experts and teacher talk.

"Maybe if I get the idea of something. Maybe I get it in a book or maybe I tell [my sister] I'm going to be the one who knows it. Who found it out." - D., aged 4

These reflections by three- and four-year-olds are ideas that have been thoughtfully cultivated as part of in-depth inquiries and a classroom culture that actively seeks to nurture a sense of agency. We educators have found that thinking deeply about the Approaches to Learning as tools for sup porting children's identities as scientists, makers, artists, and in the example above, RESEARCHERS has framed how we plan for explorations connected to inquiries.

The young children's reflections on what it means to be a researcher make clear that they are quite capable of developing a strikingly self-actualized sense of themselves . Without hesitation, they identify THEMSELVES as the researchers-citizens of our community who are highly capable as active participants in meaning-making with strong images and identities as learners.

Many children in our school community are developing English as an additional language, so we educators also bring in other ways for children to share thinking and tell us about who they are as learners. A confident scientific drawing, ease with using materials to represent ideas-these traces of learning give us lots of information about agency, identity and learning.

But getting back to those articulately shared ideas about what it means to be a researcher...  As teachers, we have been considering how lines of inquiry and connected proposals to support learning outcomes might be optimized through the lens of the Approaches to l earning (ATLs). Playing with the idea of developing the skills of Researcher (or Thinker/Communicator, etc.) as central to planning, we have identified three areas which have had a significant impact, including: Learning Environments , Experts and Language (Teacher Talk).

"Children are natural scientists, and an open-ended outdoor setting inherently promotes a sense of wonder and a space ripe for questioning, inquiring and theory-building."

Learning Environments

For an inquiry into ways of how ' exploring and caring for the natural environment leads to discovery ' (Sharing the Planet), much of the "fieldwork" happens in outdoor environments. Dedicated time learning outdoors in the forest, pond and garden provides inspiration for observing, questioning and collecting data. Children are natural scientists, and an open-ended outdoor setting inherently promotes a sense of wonder and a space ripe for questioning, inquiring and theory-building. The outdoors is the ultimate space for developing research skills, but there are others. Classrooms, for instance, have endless potential to support identity and agency. More on that from my far more knowledgeable former colleagues and me he r e.

Experts: A Different Approach

Opportunities to connect with members of the wider community have been important components of many of our inquiries. A visiting musician, an engineer and a professional dancer are just some examples of experts we have hosted. These visits often promote a meaningful exchange of dialogue, sharing of skills and connection. As a team, we have thought a lot about how to optimize these visits. Instead of the traditional invitation to come in and share expertise, we wondered how we might rethink these experiences with a view to reframe the relationship between the children and visiting experts.

Recently, we were fortunate to have a scientist visit as part of a science focused inquiry. Before the visit, we shared that " Dr. O" was interested in hearing about the children's work/projects/research and that a professional scientist might have interesting ideas to share back with us. The children were extremely motivated to share an ongoing color mixing project. Dr. O was able to make connections to his work by sharing, among other things, about how his research also takes place in a lab much like our classroom. Of course, this took some preparation and "frontloading" for our guest but he was grateful to have the teachers provide direction and shared how impressed he was with the children's work and how it made a lot of sense for him to connect to their work and not the other way around. Our aim was to actively cultivate the children's identities as Researchers/ Scientists by valuing their work in real time as opposed to something precluding the work they might someday aspire to - a sh ift in the role of expert toward a dialogue between researchers.

"In thinking about words we use to describe children, we asked ourselves as teachers how this strong image of children as learners might inform the way we speak to children and each other in our classroom communities."

Language (Teacher Talk)

PYP teachers do lots of thinking about how to support the development of the Learner Profile. In my context, some of us have spent dedicated time developing a shared understanding of young children as capable, curious and motivated to be active participants in their learning. In thinking about words we use to describe children, we asked ourselves as teachers how this strong image of children as learners might inform the way we speak to children and each other in our classroom communities. Circling back to those self-actualized young children/researchers at the beginning of this post, we see that their words are weighted heavily with a sense of agency. They spontaneously employed action verbs like investigating , discovering , finding out . They identified themselves as the researchers . They knew what "tools" they required. As teachers, we hope that our conscious use of empowering language contributed to the childrens '  metacognition-their ideas about themselves-as learners.

For most educators, the day-to-day planning for teaching/learning is a practical, often creative, but usually time-consuming labo u r of love. The time we set aside to consider the impact our choices have on children's agentic identities for lifelong learning is also time to appreciate the beautiful work of early childhood education.

Andrea Mills  currently works as both a Primary Teacher and Atelierista /Arts Specialist at The Inter-Community, Zurich. She is from the US, and has a range of international school experiences. Passionate about play based learning, she is also a trained Forest School Leader and is inspired by the educational projects of Reggio Emilia.

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Supporting Children's Agentic Identities through the Approaches to Learning

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This piece draws from experiences in an early childhood PYP context in Switzer l and . Reflections are shared on ways the Approaches to Learning have the potential to be powerful tools for supporting children's agentic identities with a particular focus on environments, experts and teacher talk. "Maybe if I get the idea of something.

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Apoyo a la agencia de los alumnos

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Challenge 4: Responder a una consulta auténtica, parte 2

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Challenge 4: Responder a una consulta auténtica, parte 2

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Passion to Possibilities while learning from home - creating opportunities for students to explore and inquire into their passions or interests in a distance-learning setting.

"Children are active protagonists of their growth and developmental processes, they have extraordinary potential for learning and each child has the right to be respected and valued."-Reggio Emilia

As educators we always wonder how our students learn best? What opportunities do we provide for students to explore and inquire into their passions or interests? What are the possibilities in a remote setting where we could make it happen? How do we build better partnerships with parents to support student's learning and inform their understanding of new learning for new times?

We all agree that children often identify activities that involve real people, real places, real objects and the stories that surround them. We also realized they gather information from direct experience and stories. Teachers were equally curious to know, why did the 9-year-old child want to find out strategies to calm him self down? What could have made him say that? Do children at this age have the emotional competency to reflect and try to bring about the change in them?

What is our image of a child? At Neev , we believe in one of Reggio Emilia's principles, 'Children are active protagonists of their growth and developmental processes, they have extraordinary potential for learning and each child has the right to be respected and valued'.

There is something wonderful and deeply satisfying in school when we walk into the beautiful learning spaces where you listen to their stories, when you see the spark in their eyes when they talk and then you take this opportunity to provoke curiosity, support their thinking and metacognition, challenge their assumptions, provide strategies to build independence and collaboration both.

How do we continue to nurture the practice of noticing , having meaningful interactions and support their inquiry at home ?
While keeping it real, what is our Big Question? How could we provide the same learning environment in a remote setting? How can we engage curiosity, launch conceptual investigations?

As a next step, teacher s role model led their own inquiry with their students, what inquiry looks like at home, what their interest s are , which they want to further investigate. This was the hook for inviting personal inquiry in a group of children in a G3 class.

"Powerful inquiry is driven by real purpose and the learner's desire to make a difference to their lives and the lives of others - Kath Murdoch . "

Documentation of these sessions were frequent and in the form of zoom recordings, photographs, videos and noting the voices of the children as they interacted with peers and adults around. Standing back and letting the children take control of their learning was a wonderful experience. Connections were made, inspiration was given and received and collaborations emerged.

M uch more autonomy was evident over the content of the student's learning and the teachers' emphasis was very strongly on skill and disposition development.

"Once children are helped to perceive themselves as authors and inventors, once they are helped to discover the pleasures of inquiry, their motivation and interest explode." - Loris Malaguzzi, Reggio Emilia

'The Cycle of Inquiry' helped guide the learner's thinking beyond simply coming up with activities or engagements and towards a more thoughtful process that assists students to move from the known into the unknown and to engage in meaningful dialogue.

The inquiry into nature of self- 'How can I learn to calm myself down?' - was a challenging personal inquiry that activated an emotional connection with a topic many students had not experienced before. For some, it was only at this point where they began to ask and care about questions.  This provoked other students in the class; willingness to work independently was spreading across the group .

We agree that to be able to identify and manage core emotions is one of the essential competencies of s ocial e motional l earning and it leads to self-directed learning. What strategies should we use to support his learning? At the same time we need t o remember that develop ing these skills and habits is a gradual process that takes time. We need to be patient and unhurried while interacting with students. As  Kath Murdoch  says in her book, 'The Power of Inquiry', Inquiry is about what learners  do ​. Learners do not simply choose a project to work on - they are challenged to identify and strengthen their 'learning assets' through the process.

Learner participation in personal inquiry is not a given, it is what they do in their own time at their own pace. Learners know they need to continue to demonstrate the responsibility that comes with this kind of freedom. Here the teachers also ask students to ensure their chosen investigations connect to a broader conceptual theme. They are required to reflect on and self assess their efforts. It's complex and demanding work but there is greater satisfaction and tremendous joy!

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Passion to Possibilities while learning from home - creating opportunities for students to explore and inquire into their passions or interests in a distance-learning setting. "Children are active protagonists of their growth and developmental processes, they have extraordinary potential for learning and each child has the right to be respected and valued."-Reggio Emilia As educators we always wonder how our students learn best?

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Responder a la consulta auténtica de los estudiantes  1

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Responder a la consulta auténtica de los estudiantes  1

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There is intentionality behind setting up a meaningful provocation for inquiry. During this playful inquiry, children showed excitement in understanding school systems, demonstrated ownership of learning, and applied mathematical skills in a real context while collaborating with peers.
Neev Academy, North Campus' academic year kicked off with lots of hopes and possibilities for all the learners in the learning community.

The pedagogical team at Neev collaboratively plans learning engagements and is in a ceaseless watch for opportunities to nurture respectful relationships. The teaching team believes that setting up meaningful engagements to provoke children's thinking, builds agentic learners and brings constructivism into our teaching and learning practices.

At the beginning of each year, the school plans the resources and educational aids for student use. When the new sports material and equipment arrived for children this academic year, it was a call for stock-taking! The sports material received was intentionally kept in the common area to discern children's interest and response. One group of grade 2 children was curious to know how and when they could use the material. Intrigued after learning about the role of administration, children wanted to take part in the process of stock-taking as well as managing the storage space. Learners showed enthusiasm in understanding the administrative process at school and were eager to know what 'inventory' meant. In this playful inquiry we observed that children were engaged in a meaningful conversation with each other.

Questions we pondered upon, while observing and listening closely to these learners:

What does agency look like in action? Is this agency in our context?

What is the effect of agency on children?

What curriculum structures honour it?

What role does the environment play in supporting this?

During this process, a child wondered and asked "Who buys all these things for us? Doesn't it cost a lot of money, the school does so much for us!"

This made us think and reflect as educators on the certainty that children have a natural desire to be empathetic and caring. So, how could we nurture this? How could we include such opportunities in our day-to-day learning and teaching practices to pause, reflect and recognise these emotions and feelings.

Inspired by Reggio Emilia's philosophy, we believe " Learning is an act of love that results from a fundamental desire to make sense of the world. Members of the learning groups are engaged in emotional, aesthetic and as well as intellectual dimensions of learning." This happens when learners have a strong feeling about the task. This comment showed gratitude, empathy, and a sense of pride in the child.

Soon this engagement became playful inquiry that allowed children to figure out ways to count, go through struggles; problem-solve, use different strategies and learn from each other. The teacher recorded the dialogues amongst the learners in this learning group and some examples of the children's comment are, "Let me show you how we could sort small, medium and large hula hoops, if we could do this together it will be faster," "How can it be 33 if we add 10,13 and 13 - let us do it again! Let me get the paper and show you," "Making groups of 10 will make it easy to count." Learners were making connections between mathematics and the real world.

As we were analyzing this learning engagement, we realised:

Group learning was evident in this creative process. The intentionality of using material as a provocation for inquiry plays an important role in teaching and learning.

Listening to children, tuning in to their prior knowledge, observing the connections they make is critical to take the learning forward.

Focusing on real-world problem-solving situations, engages students emotionally, socially and intellectually.

This learning engagement involved the leaner by choice without being judged by any pre-set expectations.

Learners used their strengths to take on roles and responsibility, making lists, counting, solving a complex problem, writing, counting again or just helping others.

Learners invited and included others in the learning group when conflict or disagreements occurred and made earnest attempts to resolve it.

Aligning with the ideas of Peter Gray, the IB PYP shared that through play-based learning, young learners develop attributes of the IB learner profile by collaborating, making judgments, learning how to learn and becoming increasingly autonomous with the support of involved educators who understand the educational potential of play.
What we observed in this mini inquiry process is that learners were engaged in play and a creative process for something larger than themselves, which gave them back meaning. They built a fair, solicitous and inclusive learning community! 'Trust' is an important factor in this sociocultural learning process. Children need to be able to trust the significant adults in their learning community to value their participation in and contribution to the group. Children have a capacity to experience complex and intense problems and make connections to real-world situations. It's our duty as adults to make it relevant and purposeful by bringing in new and additional opportunities to student learning.

At Neev, it is our constant endeavour to develop group learning opportunities where children learn from each other, build on each other's ideas and making meaning of the world around them.

IB Early Years in the PYP: Educators' Perspectives

2003 Making learning visible: understanding, documenting and supporting individual and group learning, Harvard Graduate School

Kalpita is head of Primary school at Neev Academy, North Campus, Bangalore, India. She has been with Neev for thirteen years, teaching various age groups from EY to PYP, to being a curriculum coordinator and heading a campus. She is closely involved in Strategic Planning, Parent engagement, Curriculum development, Creating and documenting systems and processes and Teacher coaching and mentoring. She strongly believes "It's not just learning that's important. It's learning what to do with what you learn and learning why you learn things that matter." - Norton Juster

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There is intentionality behind setting up a meaningful provocation for inquiry. During this playful inquiry, children showed excitement in understanding school systems, demonstrated ownership of learning, and applied mathematical skills in a real context while collaborating with peers. Neev Academy, North Campus' academic year kicked off with lots of hopes and possibilities for all the learners in the learning community.

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Hacer conexiones en la vida real en respuesta a los desafíos.

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Hacer conexiones en la vida real en respuesta a los desafíos.

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Making real-life connections to events strengthens students' conceptual understanding across subjects, enabling them to transfer their learning and draw meaningful inferences. They develop a broader appreciation of what it means to be citizens of the world. It gives them an opportunity to connect with their learning, a sense of purpose to their experience and enables their voice to shine through.
As an IB school true to its philosophy, it is our constant endeavour to develop well-rounded students with character who respond to challenges with optimism and an open mind, make connections to real life to extend their learning and are prepared to apply what they learn in real-world, complex and unpredictable situations. We are a very young candidate school growing in our learning.

Our students of Form 4 were inquiring into How we organize ourselves with the central idea Government systems can contribute to the quality of life citizens lead with the lines of inquiry as:

How government systems work

Impact of governance on the development of a country

Active citizenship

The unit began when the world was reeling under the attack of Covid19. The learning had shifted from secure engaging classrooms to remote learning sessions and the unit was now being inquired into through zoom sessions. By the second week into online learning, students were now comfortable and conversant with using various tech tools to enhance their learning. Taking on this opportunity, they were encouraged to collaborate and inquire to gather information.

The students' prior understanding was gauged by each one of them discussing the structure and roles of different organisations. Beginning from their home to comparing the different other organizations like the sports organization, market organization, housing organizations etc. The students also spoke of how our city is also an organisation and this brought about students discussing how our country works and who was the head.

The inquiry very smoothly moved towards students wanting to explore how our Prime minister and the government are connected? Who is the government? Why doesn't every country have a Prime Minister as the head?

These questions became our guiding questions for the inquiry to begin. True to the inquiry spirit, they began to find out what government is by digging into the dictionary. Searching through the online dictionary, also brought various examples of different countries to their attention. They further decided to work on Padlet and plotted the countries each one of them wanted to inquire into. The heads of these countries were researched, along with their function and role. Inspired by the famous Gummy bear activity, the students were encouraged to represent their understandings using household items to represent the types of government from the various task cards. This truly developed their self-management skills, as in a lockdown situation with lack of resources at home, they were sensible in making choices and using appropriate material. Each student tried to represent the type of government for their country showcasing the essential features and function of these governments. This caused them to think critically and transfer their learning. This information was shared with peers using MS PowerPoint online.

By this time the COVID19 situation around the world was worsening. The numbers were on the rise in India too. The Indian government had declared lockdown and sealing of places where cases were detected. A case was detected in my housing society and it was sealed by the government. I took this chance to share with students the decisions the government was taking to control the spread and at the same time take care of citizen needs. I took pictures of police officers around the community, fire engines sanitizing the city, government trucks providing basic essentials and many more. These were shared with students and students critiqued the positives and negatives of the impact of such harsh decisions. The students were truly being inquirers now and curious with questions. Their questions varied from how will completely sealing society help? How will people manage without stepping out of the house? Will the government look into hygiene and other housekeeping logistics? They were constantly exploring why the situation is the way it is. Can anything else be done? How is the country taking these decisions?

In the country the first phase of lockdown was over, and the PM was addressing the nation. This was once again a real-life connection to find answers to all their intriguing questions. All the students heard the speech and then collectively once again shared how in democracy the decision was taken collectively, what implications of decisions were taken into account and what preparation was done to safeguard the citizens before implementing the lockdown 2.0. All these real-life connections were helping them not only deepen their conceptual understanding but also develop their thinking skills.

The next question that came to students' mind was to inquire worldwide into the responses and reactions of people towards government decisions. They also wanted to inquire into which has been the most impactful decision so far and why. A Microsoft form was created collaboratively and floated among the school community, and on social media for variety in responses. The data collected was from various countries. Math data handling was naturally integrated wherein students explored plotting graphs on MS Excel and explored the various tools and types. Data was analysed for different countries for the government impacts and also what essential factors people look for in a government before elections. By now the students had taken ownership of their learning and were making informed choices of how to transfer their learning and apply it to real life. They were clued in to the latest happenings around the world and the role each government was playing to contribute to the safety and health of its citizens. They drew a comparison using Venn diagrams by comparing decisions taken by the USA government and the Indian government.

To have further real-life experience, we connected with a school in Egypt to interact with students there to understand what they were doing to help and perform their responsibilities in maintaining the government decisions. This brought students to inquire deeper into the rights and responsibilities of children. They were curious to find what their rights were. This began a reading of the UNICEF charter and sharing of the rights and responsibilities of children. The students got into a debate about how some of their rights were being denied in this lockdown versus how it was having a positive effect too. They organized a debate using Jam board and Kialo with Form 5 students on "We should not go back to normal, because normal was the problem". They ensured they were all principled and during online debating adhered to the essential agreements set for our online classroom.

Finally, to showcase their learning so far, they were formed a government and listed actions to take when the first COVID19 case was detected. In groups they created a make-believe country and decided on a specific type of government. The roles were chosen for the different heads of government. The steps were listed to control the spread, keeping in mind the rights and responsibilities of citizens.

It was a pleasure and very satisfying to see this young generation eager to heal the world and forgo their needs and wants, thus, stating that they want to be active citizens and displaying qualities of active citizenship. This was truly a depiction of young citizens ready to take on the future world.

Sonia Singh is the PYP Coordinator at Prometheus School, Noida, India. She has over 12-years ' experience in the education sector. She conducts regular webinars and workshops for teachers to share best philosophies for effective student learning and teacher well-being. Her constant endeavor is to make learning meaningful and support innovation and connection amongst educators.

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Making real life connections in response to challenges

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Making real-life connections to events strengthens students' conceptual understanding across subjects, enabling them to transfer their learning and draw meaningful inferences. They develop a broader appreciation of what it means to be citizens of the world. It gives them an opportunity to connect with their learning, a sense of purpose to their experience and enables their voice to shine through.

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Lectura  para saber más:  La indagación en acción

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Lectura  para saber más:  La indagación en acción

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Una indagación a través de la arcilla: explorando un nuevo idioma

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Una indagación a través de la arcilla: explorando un nuevo idioma

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"As natural inquirers, the children used their senses to investigate..."

Clay has been a precious resource for humans throughout history. Pottery has been used since ancient times and it provides a record of past civilizations. Its malleable qualities invite children to become inquirers and explorers; they instinctively pin ch it, poke it and squeeze it.

Our early years group were inquiring into the transdisciplinary theme "Who we are" with the central idea of "Being aware of our uniqueness, interests and abilities allows us to develop an identity". This was an inquiry into:

Our physical, social and emotional characteristics

Our personal abilities and interests

Culture and traditions that shape our identity

Our key concepts were form, connection and perspective . We decided to kick off our school year by talking about how unique and special we are to provoke our children to think about their physical characteristics, interests and cultures when they are starting to build their identity.

Through our initial provocation, the children began a student-led inquiry on what makes them special. During our discussions and learning engagements, we talked about what special means and what is special to them. Their parents were also involved , and the children found out why their parents chose their names and the special meaning of each name. This was followed by talking about our physical and emotional characteristics.

Using different languages, the children were able to inquire about their own and their friends' physical characteristics. They were invited to take photos of their friends, draw their friends as well as draw their self-portraits. We read different books, such as ' Jabari Jumps ' , by Gaia Cornwall and ' Why A m I M e? ' , by Paige Brit, to talk about what makes us who we are. After this investigation, it was time to explore a new language to continue their inquiry: clay.

Initially, the children explored dry clay. As natural inquirers, the children used their senses to investigate dry pieces of clay and clay sculptures. Then they used mortars and pestles to grind and crush the dry pieces of clay as well as sieves to separate the big pieces. Through research, the children made interesting discoveries, including finding out where clay comes from.

"It's good to use clay as it's harder and it doesn't break your model.  If you leave it outside and it starts raining it won't go soft!" R., 5 years old

But how can we make the clay soft?

"First it might be all dried up then it mixes with water for soft clay.  When the rain comes down.  You can take some and put it in a bucket." S., 4 years old

On the following day, they experimented with water and found out that the dry clay becomes soft and malleable, therefore it is easier to manipulate and make models. Using their hands and their feet, the children explored soft clay and made new discoveries.

Now it was time to work with our hands using clay. The children were encouraged to use soft clay to make small bowls, cups and plates. We explored the concepts of "flat" and "3D". After experimenting with different tools and techniques, it was time to go back to our initial inquiry and think about how we can now apply our knowledge on who we are and physical characteristics through the language of clay.

The children were then invited to make a sculpture of a friend. Using the photos they took of their friends and their drawings, we talked about what makes their friends unique. After our discussions, the children were happy working on their models. Through this activity, it was clear how knowledgeable the children had become after this inquiry and we could see this knowledge imprinted in their clay models.

Clay offers infinite possibilities - it can be transformed and reused and explored again. That is exactly what inquiry is all about: a cycle of provocations and discoveries that can be revisited, allowing children to continue to be curious, explorers and lifelong learners.

The  Hundred Languages of Children : the Reggio Emilia Approach to Early   Education. Norwood, N.J. : Ablex Pub. Corp., 1993.

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An inquiry through clay: exploring a new language

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"As natural inquirers, the children used their senses to investigate..." Clay has been a precious resource for humans throughout history. Pottery has been used since ancient times and it provides a record of past civilizations. Its malleable qualities invite children to become inquirers and explorers; they instinctively pin ch it, poke it and squeeze it.

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In our early years class our unit of inquiry for the first term was concerned with understanding the properties of materials, and how people use them. This unit was introduced to the class for the children to develop a variety of skills, constructing knowledge by interacting, experimenting and exploring the properties of materials around them and to use this knowledge as a medium to create and express themselves.

The Paper Clay Project that the children engaged in was an inquiry born together with students after discussions on sources and uses of different kinds of paper. The learners as a whole group expressed their desire to make their own paper clay after they watched a video on paper clay making and decided to make their own recycled paper clay.

We started collecting recycling paper and tearing it into smaller pieces. Once we had collected enough paper, we reviewed the process by watching the video again. We soaked the paper in hot water overnight and while soaking the paper, children were able to hypothesize and make predications. They predicted that the paper will become soft in the water. This also provided an opportunity for them to participate in developing shared understanding and responding to and asking questions. Some of their questions were; Why does the paper become like juice in hot water? How long will it take for the paper to dry? They were able to answer the follow up probes - what do you think will happen if water is not added in to the paper?
Itaru: "If we don't add water, we cannot make clay because it will not stick."
We came back the next day to see that their hypothesis was right as the paper had already become soft.

The next step included draining the excess water out and then mashing it up into a pulp in small groups. They were able to distinguish the form (what is it like?) of paper when it was dry (hard) and wet (drippy and soft).
Manu: "The paper has become soft and sticky now."
Children had a lot of fun doing this. Once the pulp was ready, we added flour and some salt to it and started folding it into smooth dough. They were able to express the changes (what is happening?).
Norah:"It is getting thick and dry when we add flour."
Once the clay was ready, the children were invited to create shapes they were interested in. Now that they were familiar with the basic process of paper clay making, they decided to experiment to make their clay prettier by adding glitter to it.

It was overall a stimulating learning experience for the children as they demonstrated their curiosity and understandings of the properties of materials. They understood the concept of change by observing the changes in property of paper from dry & hard to soft and sticky. Upon reflection they were also able to appreciate the value of recycling paper and are taking action daily to avoid wastage of paper. Kudos to the children's creativity.
Asmita Sharma has taught various curriculums in schools in India and Singapore for the past 15 years. Currently, she primarily focuses on Early Years education and has been a PYP Coordinator for the past 5 years at EtonHouse International Pre-school. She supports her students' learning by encouraging active participation and engagement, giving them ownership over their learning.

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In our early years class our unit of inquiry for the first term was concerned with understanding the properties of materials, and how people use them. This unit was introduced to the class for the children to develop a variety of skills, constructing knowledge by interacting, experimenting and exploring the properties of materials around them and to use this knowledge as a medium to create and express themselves.

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Sesión  5:La indagación eficaz implica diferentes formas y procesos que pueden inspirar a los alumnos a elegir actuar.

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Sesión  5:La indagación eficaz implica diferentes formas y procesos que pueden inspirar a los alumnos a elegir actuar.

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La inspiración para actuar

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Serie de videos de los Colegios del Mundo del IB: habilidades de pensamiento en el PEP

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Enter the Code to Join & Vote on a Presentation - Mentimeter

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Enter the code from the Mentimeter presentation to join in and start voting. Make your voice heard!

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CONECTAR ¿Cómo están conectadas las ideas e información con lo que ya sabes?

EXTENDER  ¿Qué nuevas acciones pondrás en práctica al finalizar el taller ?

DESAFIAR : ¿Qué es todavía un reto o es confuso para ti? ¿Qué pregunta te surgen ahora?

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Cómo puede el perfil de la comunidad de aprendizaje del IB ayudar a los alumnos durante la pandemia de la COVID-19 (primera parte) -

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Cómo puede el perfil de la comunidad de aprendizaje del IB ayudar a los alumnos durante la pandemia de la COVID-19 (primera parte) | Blog de la comunidad del IB

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La pandemia de la COVID-19 (coronavirus) ha forzado a millones de alumnos a estudiar a distancia. Los colegios y las universidades están explorando distintas soluciones para garantizar la continuidad de la educación, y tanto los alumnos como los docentes están haciendo un gran esfuerzo para adaptars…

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Make a newspaper clipping with your own headline and story. Surprise friends and colleagues, send a birthday greeting or give your next blog post a special look.

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Seleciona Next Sample para cambiar de periodistas

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Create a Fake Headline with this Generator

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Recursos tecnológicos sugeridos para el taller y para clases con los niños

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Recursos tecnológicos sugeridos para el taller y para clases con los niños

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Proceso de Planificación Colaborativa PEP 

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Proceso de Planificación Colaborativa PEP 

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Y ESTRATEGIAS

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La indagación eficaz implica diferentes formas y procesos que pueden inspirar a los alumnos a elegir actuar.
-La pedagogía de la indagación
-Proceso de Indagación

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El aprendizaje transdisciplinario a través de la agencia

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Enfoques del aprendizaje

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Mentalidad Internacional  Lectura adicional  - 10 maneras de promover la mentalidad Internacional

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Sesión 3: Promoción de la Agencia de los alumnos

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Sesión 3: Promoción de la Agencia de los alumnos

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Los indagadores asumen activamente la responsabilidad de su aprendizaje.
Agencia de los alumnos

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INDAGADORES PODEROSOS
Los indagadores asumen activamente la responsabilidad de su aprendizaje.

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Perfil de la comunidad de aprendizaje en acción

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Perfil de la comunidad de aprendizaje en acción

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El perfil de la comunidad de aprendizaje del IB en acción: un viaje consciente de los niños en edad preescolar

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This article depicts the mindfulness journey a preschool class took to develop and learn effectively as part of an inclusive and balanced Primary Years Programme (PYP) learning community.
As an experienced early years teacher, every new academic year fills me with a mixture of nostalgia for the years that have passed and nervous excitement for the experiences that lay ahead. The academic year of 2016/17 was no different, only this time the opportunity to grow as an educator came in the form of a complex challenge many long-serving teachers have encountered along their careers-a classroom community with a significant number of students with in-depth social and emotional needs.

Though at the time I had doubts over my capacities to attend to the needs of these students-whilst simultaneously ensuring equal opportunities for all students to develop and thrive within our programme of inquiry-the culture of my school, which is deeply rooted in the IB principles, allowed me to take leadership and experiment, applying methods that resulted in a transformational school year for all stakeholders.

It was through mindfulness practices that students learned to assimilate the IB learner profile attributes and independently began to take action over their behavioural choices within social groups.

Initially, I introduced students to the concept of mindfulness by using supportive literature and together we co-constructed the following strategies in our quest to become more self-regulated, self-directed and mindful of our own and others' needs, wants and wishes.

Adopting the Environment as the Third Teacher (Brunton and Thornton, 2014) has always been part of the teaching philosophy at our school's Early Learning Center, as we are inspired by a Reggio Emilia approach to learning in the early years.

With input from students, we altered the layout of our classroom spaces to provide a natural flow between busy and quiet spaces. Subsequently, we created a "mindful corner" that contained visual cues about emotions, literature on feelings, sensory cushions and props to help ease anxiety spells, and a listening station where nature sounds and children's meditations could be played to help transport students to a world of calm whenever emotional meltdowns occurred.

We revisited our classroom agreements and used the IB learner profile attributes of "caring", "communicators" and "balanced" to develop new essential agreements that aligned with the codes of behaviour we were striving for as a community of learners.

We integrated a "mindful minute" into our morning routines. Before diving into the hustle and bustle of learning, students and teachers gathered to practice fun, engaging and original breathing techniques. We welcomed every new school day by setting up individual and whole group intentions using the IB learner profile attributes as a guide.

Students would choose intentions such as:

"Today I will be a good communicator by listening during story time."

"I want everyone to be caring by taking turns when a friend asks for a toy."

We built in "mindful moments" throughout the day to check in on how we were feeling, particularly during transition times. We would take time to consciously connect with our breathing before moving on to the next stage of our learning experiences.

Students could also choose to take part in weekly afternoon mindfulness sessions, where-within small or large groups-we would develop and sustain students' social and emotional skills. Using media, games and stories, we inquired into essential questions, such as:

Do we express ourselves differently depending on how we are feeling?

How can we be good friends?

How can we show kindness?

What can we do to promote our physical and emotional well-being?

Over the course of the school year, each of these practices instigated students to take individual and collective action, both at school and at home (as reported by parents), and in subsequent school years as well (as reported by some of my year one colleagues).

Below, there are samples of students' self-initiated action represented through symbolic language. These samples illustrate the agency students exercised as part of their social and emotional learning processes.

The combination of the IB learner profile attributes, our essential agreements and mindfulness not only influenced students' actions by strengthening their self-management, communication and social skills, but also successfully transformed our ability to regard, relate and learn authentically from one another in our classroom.

It is essential to consider that mindfulness practices do not just help to build on learners' emotional intelligence from a younger age. They fundamentally shape students' developing brains as they learn to exercise and grow their "mindful muscles" (pre-frontal cortex), which has been proven to assist humans to self-regulate and act from a place of choice and tolerance, rather than a place of reactivity (Young, 2018; Rechtschaffen, 2016; Kabat-Zinn, 2013; Kempson, 2012).

As part of the PYP enhancements, schools may now adopt mindfulness as a sub-skill to be developed within their programme of inquiry, thus demonstrating the IB's commitment to developing students who can lead lives that are balanced and healthier, both physically and mentally.

Below are a few tips, should you wish to begin to integrate mindfulness into your learning community.

Encourage learners to "name to tame" their emotions (Siegel and Payne Bryson, 2011). Remember that all emotions are just that-emotions-and labels of "good" or "bad" should be avoided.

Use role-play to create wonder-filled short stories that will foster students' curiosity and take them to imaginary worlds where they can actively engage their senses.

Co-construct learning experiences with your students that are developmentally appropriate, as these will boost their dispositions for learning and contribute to mastery of vital life skills such as empathy and open-mindedness.

References:

Brunton, L. and Thornton, P. 2014. Understanding the Reggio approach. 3rd ed. Oxon: Routledge.

Kabat-Zinn, J. 2013. Mindfulness in Education. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=77&v=Qm-qnkclUyE [Accessed December 2016]

Kempson, R. 2012. A mixed methods investigation of how secondary school pupils perceive the impact of studying mindfulness in school and the barriers to its successful implementation. Doctorate. Cardiff University.

Rechtschaffen, D. 2016. The Mindful Education Workbook: Lessons for teaching mindfulness to students. New York: Norton & Company.

Siegel, D. and Payne Bryson, T. 2011. The Whole-Brain Child: Revolutionary Strategies To Nurture Your Child's Developing Mind. New York: Delacorte Press.

Young, G. 2018. Finding a place of calm. Children in Scotland, pp. 28-30.
Catarina Peterson is a PYP Early Years Teacher at Luanda International School in Angola. She is also the author of Golden Sparkles: An Introduction to Mindfulness, a book inspired by her students' experiences of mindfulness. Catarina holds a Masters of Education in Early Years and the IB Advanced Certificate of Teaching and Learning Research, and is presently an Ed.D researcher with Bath University. She has trained in the Mindful Schools Curriculum and is an alumna of the Greater Good Science Centre at the University of Berkeley, California. You can follow her on Twitter @CatRPeterson or subscribe to her blog.

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The IB learner profile in action: A mindful journey of pre-schoolers

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This article depicts the mindfulness journey a preschool class took to develop and learn effectively as part of an inclusive and balanced Primary Years Programme (PYP) learning community. As an experienced early years teacher, every new academic year fills me with a mixture of nostalgia for the years that have passed and nervous excitement for the experiences that lay ahead.

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El perfil de la comunidad de aprendizaje del IB y su influencia en mi vida.
https://blogs.ibo.org/blog/2016/02/01/el-perfil-de-la-comunidad-de-aprendizaje-del-ib-y-su-influencia-en-mi-vida/?lang=es

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Ejemplos de preguntas de diferentes áreas temáticas 

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Ejemplos de preguntas de diferentes áreas temáticas 

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Autora: Sonya Terborg
Sitio web: https://sonyaterborg.com/2017/11/11/updated-related-concepts-on-concept-question-cards/
La reflexión se ha integrado a lo largo de todo el programa de distintas maneras y ya no se clasifica como concepto clave.

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Conceptos clave y relacionados
Documento IB: El aprendizaje y la enseñanza  pag 58

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Perfil para trabajar con padres de familia

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El Programa de la Escuela Primaria: de los principios a la práctica

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El Programa de la Escuela Primaria: de los principios a la práctica

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¿Qué es la educación del IB? / Mentalidad Internacional?

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¿Qué es la educación del IB? / Mentalidad Internacional?

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¿Qué es la educación del IB? / Mentalidad Internacional