Juhani Katajamäki
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Key Takeaways:
1. The PYP’s seven key concepts foster inquiry-based, interdisciplinary learning.
2. Key concept posters reinforce learning through visual aids and consistent focus.
3. Integrating, discussing, and applying key concepts deepens understanding.
4. Qridi Core personalizes learning and tracks key concept progress effectively.
5. Digital portfolios and collaboration tools connect students, teachers, and parents.
For educators teaching the Primary Years Programme (PYP), understanding and effectively teaching key concepts is essential. This article delves into the significance of key concepts in the PYP, the benefits of using key concept posters, and how Qridi Core can elevate your teaching methods to new heights.
Qridi Core’s resources will help you and your teams learn the IB and design easy-to-implement processes that empower students and teachers to make improved learning across curriculum elements and subjects visible.
The Primary Years Programme (PYP) of the International Baccalaureate (IB) is designed to cultivate young learners' intellectual, personal, emotional, and social skills necessary to live, learn, and work in a rapidly globalizing world. Central to the PYP framework are key concepts, which provide a foundation for inquiry-based learning. These concepts are broad, powerful ideas that transcend subject boundaries and encourage students to think deeply and critically about their learning.
Over time, in the PYP, students explore seven key (specified) and related (additional) concepts. The key (specified) concepts are:
1. Form: What is it like? This concept helps students explore the physical and functional attributes of objects and systems.
2. Function: How does it work? Understanding the purpose and mechanisms of things and systems.
3. Causation: Why is it like it is? Investigating reasons and effects.
4. Change: How is it changing? Understanding the process and impact of change over time.
5. Connection: How is it connected to other things? Exploring relationships and interdependence.
6. Perspective: What are the points of view? Considering different perspectives and viewpoints.
7. Responsibility: What is our responsibility? Reflecting on ethical implications and personal responsibility.
Making connections to the Key Concepts in the classroom is essential for helping students understand their importance. Here are five simple activities you can try.
1. Form - Object Investigation
• Have students bring an object from home, describe its attributes, and compare it to others in a group discussion.
2. Function - Build and Explain
• Assign students to design a simple tool or machine using classroom materials and explain how it works to their peers.
3. Causation - Cause and Effect Maps
• Create mind maps to explore the reasons behind a historical event or a natural phenomenon and its consequences.
4. Change - Timeline of Transformation
• Ask students to document changes in their own lives, the school, or their community and present the timelines visually.
5. Perspective - Role-Playing Debate
• Organize a debate where students take on different roles (e.g., a scientist, a historian) to discuss a global issue from varied viewpoints.
Using key concepts posters in the classroom is a powerful way to reinforce these ideas. These posters serve as visual reminders of the essential questions that guide inquiry-based learning. Here’s how they can enhance your teaching:
1. Visual Reinforcement: Posters help students remember and internalize the key concepts by providing constant visual cues.
2. Engagement: Bright, colorful posters capture students’ attention and make learning more interactive.
3. Clarification: They provide clear definitions and examples, making abstract concepts more concrete.
4. Consistency: Having key concepts consistently displayed helps maintain a focus on inquiry and critical thinking throughout the curriculum.
Download Key Concept cards here for free
Download Key Concept badges here for free
Understanding the meaning of each key concept is crucial for both teachers and students. It goes beyond rote memorization to developing a nuanced understanding of how these concepts apply across different subjects and real-world situations. Here’s how you can deepen the understanding of Key Concepts with students:
1. Integration: Integrate key concepts into various subjects to show their interdisciplinary nature.
2. Discussion: Facilitate class discussions that encourage students to think about how these concepts apply to their lives and learning experiences.
3. Application: Provide opportunities for students to apply these concepts in projects, experiments, and real-world scenarios.
Qridi Core is an innovative digital tool designed to support teachers in implementing effective formative assessment strategies, including the teaching of key concepts in the PYP. Here’s how Qridi Core can transform your classroom:
Personalized Learning
Qridi Core allows you to tailor learning experiences to meet the individual needs of each student. By providing a platform where students can set goals, reflect on their learning, and receive personalized feedback, Qridi Core fosters greater student agency, which is very central to the PYP.
Through innovative tagging lof earnign outcomes to the appropriate PYP Key Concepts, it is possible to see group and individual student progress in each of them. We no longer just say we do Key Concepts, we explicitly teach them, help students understand them and best of all - communicate progress in them to ourselves as teachers, parents, PYP coordinators and school admins alike.
Efficient Assessment
With Qridi Core, formative assessment becomes more efficient and insightful through linking the teacher and student self-assessments to the Key Concepts. Teachers can track student progress, provide timely feedback, and adjust instruction based on real-time data on Key Concepts specific development. This ensures that students are continuously engaged and supported in their learning journey.
Enhanced Collaboration
Qridi Core facilitates collaboration between students, teachers, and parents. Students can share their reflections and progress with peers and parents, promoting a collaborative learning environment. Teachers can easily communicate with parents and keep them informed about their child’s learning journey. Parents stay on track with not only subject specific development, but also Approiaches to learning (ATL) skills, Learner Profile and Key Concepts.
Digital Portfolios
Not all children can read graphs and for parents who aren't in the classroom it can sometimes be difficult to understand the connectios between Key Concept development and what is done in practical terms by their child in school. To bridge this gap, digital portfolios can be extremely useful in engaging all parties.
Qridi Core’s digital portfolio feature allows students to document their learning process, projects, and achievements and tyo see how they are tagged to the Key Concepts. This not only helps in tracking progress but also encourages students to reflect on their learning and understand how key concepts apply to their work.
Key concepts in the PYP are foundational to creating an inquiry-based, engaging, and effective learning environment. By using key concept posters and integrating tools like Qridi Core, educators can enhance their teaching practices, foster deeper understanding, and support personalized learning journeys for their students. Embrace the power of Qridi Core and transform your classroom into a hub of innovation and discovery.
Understanding and fully implementing the elements of the PYP can be challenging, and Qridi Core is here to help! Christine Orkisz Lang, an author of the original PYP, believes in the program as much now as when she helped to write it many decades ago. She now works with the developers at Qridi, Finland’s leading educational software provider, to create a learning platform designed specifically to make implementing the IB programs with integrity more manageable. Read more about connect with Christine LinkedIn.