It used to be that we all came to school to learn ‘stuff’. Depending on the national curriculum we were educated in, we learnt facts and skills that were locked in time, place and culture. We were then tested on what we did and didn’t know. Today, in many international or national education systems, knowledge and skills still play a vital role in building students’ understanding. All learning starts with this awareness; either learning about something (knowledge) or learning to do something (skills).

The difference in PYP and conceptual learning is that we consider isolated knowledge or skills the starting point. Our goal is to help students see patterns and undercover trends in what they are learning, and test and transfer what they understand in new contexts. Conceptual learning addresses the ‘why’; helping students to extrapolate above singular facts to broader, transferable, more meaningful understandings.

Some examples of what this might look like in different learning areas is included below.

	Knowledge and skills to support conceptual learning	Abstracting from knowledge or skill-based learning	Transferring understanding
Social Studies	Read case studies of migration identifying push and pull causes, barriers and outcomes of migration	Articulate a generalization about how causes of migration can determine the outcomes of migration	Investigate an example of migration and apply the generalization to see if it works in this case
Science	Make observations	Form hypothesis and make predictions	Make and test predictions
PE	Observe and play a modified invasion game (simplified to core elements)	Identify, name and demonstrate effective offensive strategies and tactics in a modified invasion game	Play a full invasion game (e.g. touch) applying offensive strategies.  Consider how to apply to a new invasion game (e.g. football).
Literature	Read a poem looking for self-conscious use of language; group and name examples.	Suggest interpretation of why the poet is using particular strategies.	Test out interpretation on another poem by the same poet to look for similarities and differences.
Reflecting on learning	Summarize impressions of how things have gone.	Analyze causal factors for why things happened.	Apply learning about this experience to future experiences.

When students develop their conceptual understandings, they form generalizations. In the PYP, our central ideas for each unit are generalizations. These are explicit understandings of the world and of academic learning. They are the cognitive structure that show an understanding of causality, significance and meaning. Generalizations are the difference between understanding and rote learning of knowledge and skill. Generalizations allow for the transfer of understanding. In our Elementary School, generalizations that students make might look like –

• Biodiversity relies on maintaining the balance of living things within ecosystems. (Grade 2)

or

• Discrimination can be based on ignorance, fear and social status. (Grade 5)

 

“A concept-driven curriculum is the means through which students develop their conceptual understandings. Students co-construct beliefs and mental models about how the world works based on their experiences and prior learning. They integrate new knowledge with their existing knowledge and apply these understandings in a variety of new contexts. They learn to recognize patterns and see the connections between discrete examples to strengthen conceptual understandings.”

(© International Baccalaureate Organization, PYP: Principles into Practice, 2018)