Concept-Based Learning 2022-

2023
CAT 2 IB PYP Workshop
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Date
 Guiding Questions
• 1. What are concepts?
• 2. What are the 7 key concepts in PYP and
their meaning?
• 3. Why are concepts important?
• 4. What does concept-based teaching and
learning mean?
• 5. How can we conduct concept-based
teaching?
 What is a Concept?
• • A concept is a “big idea”—a principle that is
enduring and is not constrained by a particular
origin, subject matter or place in time
(Erickson 2008).
• • Concepts are mental constructs which help
us make sense of the world.
• • Concepts represent ideas that are broad,
abstract, timeless and universal.
 Characteristics of Concepts
• • Timeless
• - Concepts remain constant through time. For
instance, the concept of change. A six-year-old
may understand that people and animals grow
and change over time, while a ten-year-old
may recognize that relationships change over
time.
• • Abstract
• - Abstract concepts stimulate higher-level
thinking.
 Why are Concepts Important?
• Concepts help to:
• • Explore the essence (significance) of a
subject
• • Add coherence to the curriculum
• • Deepen disciplinary understanding
• • Build the capacity to engage with complex
ideas
• • Build understandings across, between and
beyond subjects
 What Does Concept-Based
Teaching Mean?
• • Teaching which focuses on the conceptual
understandings and empowers the students to
be active partners in the learning process.
 7 Key Concepts in PYP
• Key Concept: Form
• Key Question: What is it like?
• Definition: The understanding that everything
has a form with recognizable features that can
be observed, identified, described, and
categorized.

• Key Concept: Function

• Key Question: How does it work?
 7 Key Concepts in PYP
• Key Concept: Change
• Key Question: How is it transforming?
• Definition: The understanding that change is
the process of movement from one state to
another. It is universal and inevitable.

• Key Concept: Connection

• Key Question: How is it linked to other things?
• Definition: The understanding that we live in a
 7 Key Concepts in PYP
• Key Concept: Responsibility
• Key Question: What are our obligations?
• Definition: The understanding that people
make choices based on their understandings,
beliefs, and values, and the actions they take
as a result do make a difference.
 Key Concepts Drive Learning
• Key concepts drive learning experiences and
help to frame a unit of inquiry. By identifying
and investigating key concepts, students learn
to think critically about big ideas.

• Example: A unit under the transdisciplinary

theme “How the world works” with the
central idea “Over time, living things adapt to
their unique environments”.
• - Key concept of “form” could focus the unit
 Related Concepts
• Related concepts explore key concepts in
greater detail and add depth to the
programme. In contrast to the broad key
concepts, related concepts are more narrowly
focused.

• All subjects have associated concepts that

reflect the nature of its specific content.

• Example: In science, “adaptation” could be a

 From Concepts to Conceptual
Understandings
• Inquiries in the PYP begin with the central
idea, the primary conceptual lens that frames
the transdisciplinary unit of inquiry. It provides
teachers with a structure to introduce
concepts that span across national, cultural,
and subject boundaries to support students’
conceptual understandings of a
transdisciplinary theme.

• Key concepts provide lenses for conceptual

 Differentiating Concept- and Fact-
Based Learning
• Concept-based learning moves beyond facts
and leads to breadth and depth of
understanding.

• Exploring concepts distinctly differs from

exploring facts in the following ways:

• Facts:
• • Knowledge-based
 Supporting Conceptual
Understandings
• Supporting Conceptual Understandings within
the Programme of Inquiry

• In the PYP, conceptual understandings are the

aim of a unit of inquiry and form the central
idea. Students arrive at, and deepen their
conceptual understandings by inquiring into
concepts through a range of perspectives
under the central idea.
 Student Exploration of Concepts
• Students explore concepts in each unit by
calling on prior experiences to direct their
learning and make connections with other
concepts. As their conceptual understandings
deepen, students effectively transfer and
apply their understandings to construct
meaning when they re-encounter similar
concepts or encounter new concepts.

• To ensure students have opportunities to

 Conceptual Understandings in
Single Subjects
• Students and teachers also use the key
concepts, associated questions, and related
concepts to guide inquiries in subject-specific
learning and teaching. All learning and
teaching, including subject knowledge
acquisition, is through concept-based inquiry.

• As PYP teachers become familiar with

concepts and conceptual understandings, they
identify authentic links between subjects and
Example of Concept-Based Inquiry
• An inquiry may be developed around the key
concept of change. An art teacher explores
how art aesthetics have “changed” over time
and a PE teacher inquires into the skills
needed to “change” from an offense to a
defense position in a team sport.

• Students transfer their understanding of how

to inquire into “change” from one context to a
new one. By exploring a similar concept in
 Promoting and Modelling
Conceptual Understandings
• Teachers promote and model the
development of conceptual understandings.
Carefully crafted questions, wonderings, and
provocations stimulate critical-thinking skills
by:
• - providing opportunities to build on prior
knowledge and experience
• - expanding beyond factual knowledge
• - stressing the importance of the “how” and
“why” of learning
 Expanding Thinking
• Teachers expand thinking by:
• - generating further questions and inquiries
• - seeking clarification and deepening
understanding
• - opening up possibilities for collaborative
dialogues
• - emphasizing breadth and depth of
understanding
• - facilitating the co-construction of meaning
and engaging students in their reasoning.
 Connecting Learning and
Supporting Knowledge Transfer
• Teachers connect learning and support the
transfer of knowledge by:
• - encouraging the application of prior
knowledge and skills
• - creating opportunities to reflect on concepts
across, between and beyond subjects
• - ensuring relevance to students’ experiences
inside and outside school
• - opening up possibilities for further inquiry
• - offering opportunities to revisit concepts
 Additional Considerations
• • How might evidence of conceptual
understandings be documented?
• • How does the design of learning spaces
continually promote and provoke student
questions and wonderings?
• • What resources might engage students in
thinking about the central idea? (For example,
artifacts, experts, field trips, literature,
multimedia.)
• • How might multimodal communication
 Learning and Teaching Strategies
• Strategies that support the development of
conceptual understandings or central ideas
will vary depending on the needs of individual
students. The examples of strategies below
can apply at any point of an inquiry, providing
opportunities for students to build on their
knowledge and experiences.

• • Sketch the concept: On a blank piece of

paper, students create a sketch that visually
 Learning and Teaching Strategies
• • Observation: Teachers observe students as
they explore an idea or task and engage the
students in conversation about their current
understandings of the central idea.
Observations may be recorded as anecdotal
notes, audio recordings or by using a checklist
or rubric.
• • Self-assessment: Students make entries in
their journals or discuss what they have
learned about the central idea/ conceptual
THANK YOU