Understanding the PYP Curriculum

Considering the three parts of the curriculum:

1. The Written Curriculum – What do we want to learn?
2. The Taught Curriculum – How best will we learn?
3. The Assessed Curriculum – How will we know what we have learned

​My understanding deepens as I see these questions and connect them with the PYP format of curriculum as I have seen these quite a bit around the school including in our unit plan templates. I don’t think I have enough information about these parts to create a visual representation connecting two of them.
 
I struggled some to understand the 8 key concepts: form, function, causation, change, connection, perspective, responsibility, and reflection. It helped when I connected it with something that I am familiar with and work with in my classes so I took the basic theme of paint to try and interoperate the 8 key concepts. When I was reading through the key questions and definitions of the concepts I placed paint within the context of them and it greatly helped me to understand and relate to them. For example: What is paint like? (how can we describe it’s qualities?), How does paint work? (what do we need to use it?).
 
The list of skills we teach was quite overwhelming. Although I know that we teach multiple skills at the same time and so many of them in just one day seeing them all together seems less possible than what we actually manage to achieve.
 
For now I have an idea of the values and reasons behind the PYP curriculum but I will need more information and examples of the written as well as the taught curriculum to fully understand how it works in action.
 
Here are my notes from reading the written curriculum section of Making the PYP Happen:
 
The Written Curriculum

• Essential elements
  • Knowledge
  • Concepts
  • Skills
  • Attitudes
  • Action
• Takes the individual students needs into account
• Based on what is best for long term development
• Promotes international-mindedness
• Can adopt PYP scope and sequence or use another
• Other subjects include language, math, social studies, science, personal, social, physical education, and the arts (ICT is a tool, not a subject)
• Themes represent shared human experiences
  • Have global significance
  • Revisited throughout the years
  • Transcend the traditional subjects
  • Units of inquiry
    • Central idea
• Open to discussion and interpretation within schools
• Engaging, relevant, challenging, significant
• School wide collaboration
• Concept driven curriculum
  • Transdisciplinary units
  • Presented in the form of Key questions
    • Inquiry is a vehicle for learning PYP = open-ended questions
    • Should not be restrictive
    • Used as a springboard
  • Consider ways of thinking and learning about the world
  • 8 concepts
    • form
    • function
    • causation
    • change
    • connection
    • perspective
    • responsibility
    • reflection
• Skills: what do we want students to be able to do?
  • Authentic situations/learning experiences
  • Students need a range beyond basic
  • Thinking skills
    • Acquisition of knowledge
    • Comprehension
    • Application
    • Analysis
    • Synthesis
    • Evaluation
    • Dialectical thought
    • Metacognition
  • Social skills
    • Accepting responsibility
    • Respecting others
    • Cooperating
    • Resolving conflict
    • Group decision-making
    • Adoption a variety of group roles
  • Communication skills
    • Listening
    • Speaking
    • Reading
    • Writing
    • Viewing
    • Presenting
    • Non-verbal communication
  • Self-management skills
    • Gross motor skills
    • Fine motor skills
    • Spatial awareness
    • Organization
    • Time management
    • Safety
    • Healthy lifestyle
    • Codes of behavior
    • Informed choices
  • Research skills
    • Formulating questions
    • Observing
    • Planning
    • Collecting data
    • Recording data
    • Organizing data
    • Interpreting data
    • Presenting research findings
• Attitudes: What do we want students to feel, value, and demonstrate?
  • Contribute to the well-being of the individual and group
  • Pyp attitudes
    • Appreciation
    • Commitment
    • Confidence
    • Cooperation
    • Creativity
    • Curiosity
    • Empathy
    • Enthusiasm
    • Independence
    • Integrity
    • Respect
    • Tolerance
• Action: how do we want students to act?
  • Thoughtful and appropriate actions
  • Successful inquiry will lead to responsible action
  • Action as service
  • Effective action
    • Should be modeled by adults in school
    • Should be voluntary
    • Can be small
  • Action beyond the classroom