Crafting a Compelling Statement of Inquiry: A 5-Step Guide for MYP.
Whitney Edmondson
Learning and Teaching Lead: Curriculum Maths Raha KCC at Raha International School
In this blog article I want to outline a process that I have found incredibly helpful when designing a new Statement of Inquiry for a unit. Before you start, if you have not already done so....you need to go on the IB Cat 1 training to help you understand the following things. You may leave with a lot of information and wonder where you will use it, but trust me you will.
When designing a new unit you will have your framework (from the IB) outlining the year suggestions or you might be following the standards of the curriculum you teach alongside. You may even be doing both! Many articles tell you to start with the Statement of Inquiry, however from my experience you have a better understanding of your unit if you leave it a little later.
Key elements within the unit plan that are a priority when writing a Statement of Inquiry are listed below. You may use more elements but I want to try to keep it simple today!
It may feel like lot of elements but in the next part I will list my 5 step process to help create a creative and engaging Statement of Inquiry.
Step 1: Start with Clear Goals and Outcomes
Start to think about the goal of this unit – what are the outcomes that you want the students to be able to do, and which criteria do you wish to assess them on? If you are looking for a showcase of knowledge and understanding, then you will be working towards a criteria A assessment. You may wish to pair it with another criterion if you wish, or for starters, just keep it simple as you write your first unit.
Step 2: Crafting the Perfect Assessment Plan
Think about what assessment you want them to complete and how they will meet the strands of the rubric in this assessment. I find this works best as a brainstorm session with the department and a huge mind map. Plan out all your thoughts and see where you land. Check out my other blogs on authentic assessment to help you with this and how to design this.
Step 3: Mastering the ATL Skills Integration
Now you have the Outcomes and the Assessment idea. Great! It might be that it's a project, speech, presentation, video annotation, or a physical submission; this is totally up to you, as long as you link the elements to the strands. We now need to look at the ATL Skills that will be included. My advice is to pick 2-3 that you think will work well within the unit, and you can repeat them in multiple lessons to really consolidate this with the students. Too many can mean you do not reflect or see progress made with them.
Step 4: Selecting Concepts and Global Context
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My advice? Mind Map again! This time with the MYP Subject Specific Handbook to help you with the definitions of the concepts and the global context. You now need to look at what key and related concepts would link with your unit, along with the assessment you want them to take. Make sure when selecting this, you would be confident explaining to your students or having them make the connection. It is also advisable to try to use different global contexts in the units, but if it doesn't fit, don't force it.
Step 5: Crafting the Statement of Inquiry
Statement of Inquiry time! Now that you have your concepts, global context, outcomes, and assessment plan, have it all displayed in front of you and see how it flows into a Statement of Inquiry. It's also a good idea to research any explorations you might have within the unit and see if that helps with your creativity. Another really fun way of doing this is to get your students to help you write it. You would be surprised by what they can come up with!
Stay tuned for more blogs on this topic! If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn. Your feedback is highly appreciated as it helps us tailor the content to suit everyone's needs. Enjoy reading and learning!
Whitney Edmondson
3rd August 2023