Making the IB PYP Central Idea Meaningful

Following on from my recent live webinar on Facebook, this week’s chat is looking at different approaches to the IB PYP Central Idea and how each method can benefit the learner in meaningful and effective ways within the inquiry process. I have added the video below.

When youre new or newish to the PYP, the jargon alone can be intimidating, nevermind what youre supposed to do with it all. When you are presented with a central idea that leaves you with the thoughts, ” Huh? What does that even mean?” , this is a huge clue that the central idea is, in my opinion, ugly! If you are struggling with it, how do you think the children will feel? Over the years I have found there to be 3 types of central ideas: the good, the bad and the ugly. Here is one UGLY example that stuck with me ( for obvious reasons). It was geared towards 7 & 8 year olds. I am not kidding!

“The relationships within a community can determine the structure and engagements of its organisations within.” 

So, after deciphering what the heck it actually meant, we changed it to:

” The relationships within a community help shape its structure.” 

You see what I mean?  If you can’t look at the central idea and have an idea of where to begin your inquiry, then your unit planning is going to be all over the place. A good central idea will provide you with direction and it will be broad enough in its conceptual scope to bring depth to an inquiry.

Now, of course, there are some very well written central ideas as well. Those we can work with relatively easily and those we can easily introduce to the children. My point with this article is to suggest different approaches to using the central idea, keeping in mind that its primary value is to you, the teacher, leading you in a direction with your planning of the unit of inquiry. We can create more value for the children by working around the concepts of the central idea rather than directly with the entire statement.

This article is NOT about writing a central idea. I’ll save that joy for another day. This post is about working the central idea into your unit of inquiry, introducing it to the children and using it as a meaningful tool rather than simply a box to be checked off.

Here is a summary of what makes a good central idea:

• It is a concept based generalisation
• Children can access the language
• It acts as a provocation for the children
• It connects to other concepts within future units
• It is organically transdisciplinary
• You can find a clear summative assessment from the central idea
• The children can add their input to the creation of the summative assessment, from their knowledge of the central idea.

Within this video, I’m offering suggestions for different approaches to the central idea. I will chat about the following approaches:

1. Deconstructing the Central Idea
2. The Central Idea as Assessment
3. The Central Idea as the Provocation
4. Constructing the Central Idea with the Children

I hope that this video serves some use for you. I am planning future Facebook live webinars and would love it if you keep in touch. You can follow along on my Facebook page below, PYP Teaching Tools.

Enjoy!