Unit of Inquiry – Design & Development

Facilitator: Ms. Penelope Pareja (Spain)
Homeroom Teacher, Primary | Specialist in PYP

With over 25 years of teaching experience across diverse settings, Ms. Penelope Pareja has been specializing in the Primary Years Programme (PYP) since 2019. Her expertise lies in designing meaningful Units of Inquiry that foster student agency, creativity, and authentic learning.

Session Objectives

In this masterclass, participants will:

1. Understand backwards design in the PYP – begin planning a Unit of Inquiry by defining the final product and desired learning outcomes.

2. Integrate PYP elements and essential questions into unit planning to ensure purposeful, transdisciplinary, and inquiry-driven learning.

3. Explore strategies to foster student agency through visible thinking routines, cooperative learning, guided inquiry, and self-assessment.

4. Learn how to co-design classroom environments that are safe, motivating, and value student voice and abilities.

5. Connect academic requirements and competencies (language, skills, ATL) with authentic, meaningful final products.

6. Examine inspiring examples of UOIs (e.g., The Greatest Show, Grease Lightning, Our House is Our Home) to understand provocations, assessments, and student ownership.

7. Reflect on challenges and adaptations in UOI design, including differentiation, flexible grouping, and supporting diverse learners.

8. Adopt a growth mindset as educators by seeing unit design as a cyclical process of adapting, innovating, and improving.