PYPX Week 1: Student-Designed Learning

In the previous post, I talked about the weeks leading up to the unit designated for the PYPX. I shared how I organize my students into teams, how they create their central ideas and lines of inquiry (along with the key concepts).

In this post and the following ones, I will explain my 8-week plan for carrying out the PYPX:

• Week 1: Students plan and organize their own unit based on their central ideas and lines of inquiry.

• Week 2: We discuss actions and brainstorm ideas.

• Weeks 3 and 4: Inquiry weeks – students ask questions that lead to more questions, revisiting and refining their initial ideas for actions and projects.

• Weeks 5 and 6: Action weeks.

• Week 7: Final touches and PYPX.

• Week 8: Reflection.

This post will focus solely on Week 1 to keep it concise.

After years of using planners and graphic organizers for students to structure their weeks of inquiry and action, I realized that these documents often became an obstacle. Students were more focused on completing the slides or pages rather than truly engaging with their projects. Additionally, many of these planners were not intuitive or were designed for other contexts and student needs. Each PYPX and each IB class is a unique world.
For this reason, in 2024, I decided to let students create their own planners in completely blank notebooks. It was a success. Each notebook became a canvas for the minds of each child and team, as well as a meaningful keepsake they could take with them at the end of the project.

Reflection on the Transdisciplinary Theme

• We start by discussing the transdisciplinary theme of the unit in class.
• What ideas come to mind?
• What does this theme mean in the context of their PYPX?

Then, students write their interpretation of the theme on the first page of their notebook and represent it through a drawing.

Defining the Central Idea

After reflecting on the transdisciplinary theme, each group writes and visually represents their central idea in their notebook.

Planning the Lines of Inquiry

Each line of inquiry gets a dedicated page in the notebook. Students think about an activity they would like to do for each line of inquiry. Additionally, they must distribute the five ATLs among these three activities.
Each line of inquiry is also connected to:

• A Learner Profile Attribute, where students explain how they will develop that attribute during the activity.

• A Key Concept, describing how they will explore it.

Planning the ATLs, Learner Profile Attributes, and Key Concepts.

Students dedicate several pages in their notebooks to explaining how they will work on their chosen ATLs, attributes of the Learner Profile, and key concepts. They also illustrate their understanding through drawings.

Exploring Transdisciplinarity

After defining the IB elements of their unit, we move on to giving their projects a transdisciplinary approach. This means thinking about how different subject areas will be integrated into their projects:

• Mathematics
• Language Arts
• Science
• Music
• Physical Education
• Art

Following the same visual approach, students dedicate a page in their notebook to each subject area, explaining how they believe they will apply it to their project and illustrating their ideas.

Inquiry into the SDGs

Once students have structured their unit and explored its transdisciplinary nature, I give them informative documents about the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) they selected. They read, highlight key information, and attach the documents to their notebooks.

Then, on a separate page, they write:

• An idea for their project inspired by what they read.
• Something new they learned.
• Their reflections or conclusions on the content.

Defining the Success Criteria

Throughout the process, students will revise and adjust their success criteria, but it is important that they start reflecting on it from the first week.

To do this, they complete a page answering the question:

• What would a successful exhibition look like to you?

Peer Feedback Meeting

To wrap up the week, we hold a group meeting where teams present their progress and receive peer feedback.

Then, students reflect in their notebooks on:

• How did they feel working and presenting their ideas?
• What did they learn from other groups?
• What are they proud of?
• What can they improve?

Conclusion of the First Week

This first week is simple yet powerful. Students enjoy drawing and reflecting, which helps them relax and reduce the stress that the PYPX process can create.
Using notebooks and allowing students to create their own units in this way gives them the necessary freedom to design and plan their projects meaningfully. This is a great strategy for fostering metacognition and agency.
During this first week, there are no right or wrong answers—just a blank space where each student can write and draw what they see and connect in their mind.
I know that in my previous post, I mentioned that I would explain the first four weeks of the process, but that would have made the post too long. So, I will organize the posts week by week or in groups of two.