Teaching
Look here for subject overviews and unit plans to teach your MYP Physics course.
Teaching notes
The template for the unit planners is shown below, with some explanatory comments on each section. I have modified the IBO exemplar unit planners a little, in ways which I hope make these more useful as an index and teaching tool. The unit planners are all cross-linked to the activities, assessments, rubrics and marking notes you can find in the other menus here.
When determining learning objectives, I have used MYP Sciences command terms as given in the appendices to the MYP Sciences Guide, p. 64-65. The command terms are indicated in bold type.
Where equations are defined I have generally used the same notation as that in the IB Diploma Physics Data Booklet (first examination 2024). Sometimes however it has been necessary to modify this to ensure notation is age / stage appropriate. For example, work done is given here as W=\differencedelta E=Fd rather than the form used in the IBDP W=F.s\cos{\theta}, because at this level we only consider work done by a force acting in the same axis as the motion.
Similarly, where the IBDP uses greek notation I have tended to revert to roman, provided this does not confuse. For example, efficiency is denoted here by e, not η as the IBDP has it.
There is some assumed mathematical understanding for the course at MYP 4-5 and these are described for students in the accompanying student coursebook here: 4.0.7 Things you need to know
Mapping assessment and checking for understanding
This section provides a quick overview of the tasks that are available to support students' inquiry in the unit. The tasks are all linked through to the task pages and to the assessment rubrics and marking notes provided for teachers.
Tasks can be summative, in the sense that they address all the strands of a given MYP Sciences assessment criterion A, B, C, D, and could then be used by the teacher to inform a holistic judgement as to the students' overall level of achievement as evidenced in the unit.
Formative tasks will not address all strands, but they can still be used as evidence to inform teachers' judgements about the level of achievement that is the best fit for the student. Like summative tasks, formative tasks shouold also be used as checks for understanding, both by the teacher and through reflection by the student.
Each assessment has its own task or activity page which can be accessed directly under the top-level Learning menu.
Where the task leads to an assessment opportunity, there is a link through to an Assessment page, which includes a task-adapted rubric and marking notes.
Many activities also have Marked student tasks for teachers to consult.
Student 'can-do' reflection frames are provided for each criterion, to facilitate this reflection
For more on the approaches to formative and summative assessment used in this course, see Approaches to MYP Sciences Assessment .
| Mapping assessment | ||
| Assessment objectives | Formative tasks (checking for understanding) | Summative tasks |
| A Knowing and Understanding | ||
| B Inquiring and Designing | ||
| C Processing and Evaluating | ||
| D Reflecting on the Impacts of Science | ||
Learning objectives define the desired learning of students through the inquiries described. They are written in terms of MYP Sciences command terms, as given on p.64-65 of the MYP Sciences Guide (2016). Learning objectives are also categorised according to whether they relate to knowing (students will know…), demonstrating understanding or skills (students will do) or reflecting on and connecting their understanding (students will reflect and connect).
Approaches to learning (AtL) skills are embedded in the assessment activities that are linked to the learning objectives.
| Learning objectives | ||
| Students will know | Students will do | Students will reflect and connect |
Selected Pages
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Teaching
4.2 Structures and materials
In this unit, students explore the physical properties of materials and structures. They learn about scalars, vectors, resolving
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Teaching
4.1 Measuring up
Science uses evidence from observations, connections and ideas, and by making measurements we have been able to re-imagine
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Teaching
5.1 Fields
This is the unit planner for the MYP 5 "Fields" inquiry. In this unit, students explore gravity, static electricity and
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Teaching
SGO: MYP 4-5 Physics
A subject group overview for the concepts, global contexts, content scope and transferable understandings for this MYP 4-5
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Teaching
5.2 Electric currents
This is the unit planner for the Electric Currents topic of inquiry. In this unit students learn about circuit design, electric
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Teaching
4.3 Motion
In this unit students learn about the way that position and movement in space are represented. distance, displacement, speed,