Educator Tips: Beginner's Guide to Concepts in the PYP

What are Concepts?

Concepts help us build a shared language for explaining and exploring the world around us. They provide a strong foundation for transferrable learning and open our eyes to the many ways in which different things around us are connected. In the PYP programme, concepts are one of the essential elements when planning a holistic curriculum. Through concepts, we move beyond knowledge and memorization towards developing a growing, evolving understanding of the world around us.

Understanding concepts transform teaching and learning. In a conceptually-driven classroom, we shift from a focus on knowledge towards the development of enduring, evolving, and transferable meaning-making. However, many educators around the globe often struggle with understanding the difference between topics and concepts.

In this Educator Tips video, Cindy Blackburn, an experienced PYP educator, break down concepts and how to think about them within the PYP framework. Join her as she explores the idea of concepts and shares examples in real life as well as in the classroom to help you better understand the big picture.

What you’ll learn:

What are concepts
How to differentiate between a topic and a concept
Explore examples from inside and outside of the classroom

Toddle’s Educator Tips Series: Every educator has their own ways of creating magic in the classroom. Our Educator Tips video series features experienced educators sharing insider tips, tricks and hacks that have worked in their classrooms over the years.

Cindy Blackburn

Cindy has a Masters of Education in Teacher Leadership and has worked as an PYP educator and coordinator internationally for the past ten years. She currently works as the Director of learning and engagement at Toddle and specializes in developing resources to support teachers and leaders in honing their practice and understandings, to make the PYP simple, actionable, and above all else, joyous.

Disclaimer - This resource has been produced independently of and not endorsed by the IB. Toddle’s resources seek to encourage sharing of perspectives and innovative ideas for classroom teaching & learning. They are not intended to be replacements for official IB guides and publications. Views and opinions expressed by the authors of these resources are personal and should not be construed as official guidance by the IB. Please seek assistance from your school’s IB coordinator and/or refer to official IB documents before implementing ideas and strategies shared within these resources in your classroom.

Educator Tips: Beginner’s Guide to Concepts in the PYP

What are Concepts?

What you’ll learn:

Up next: Related articles, talks and more