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Concepts

Central to the philosophy of the PYP is the principle that purposeful, structured inquiry is a powerful vehicle for learning that promotes meaning and understanding, and challenges students to engage with significant ideas. In the PYP there is a commitment to a concept-driven curriculum as a means of supporting that inquiry. The following concepts are of major significance within and across disciplines. These eight concepts are one of the five elements of a PYP curriculum. Teachers can also develop other concepts in an inquiry. What do we want students to understand through their learning?

Form: What is it like? Everything has a form with recognizable features that can be observed, identified, described and categorized.

Function: How does it work? Everything has a purpose, a role or a way of behaving that can be investigated.

Causation: What is it like? Why is it like that?

Change: How is it changing? Change is the process of movement from one state to another. It is universal and inevitable.

Connection: How is it connected to other things?

Perspective: What is the point of view? Knowledge is moderated by perspectives. Interpretations, understandings and findings. Perspectives may be individual, group, cultural or disciplinary.

Responsibility: What is our responsibility? People make choices based on their understandings, and the actions they take as a result do make a difference.

Reflection: How do we know? There are different ways of knowing. It is important to reflect on our conclusions, to consider our methods of reasoning and the quality and reliability of the evidence we have considered.