Launching Your PYPx with ChatGPT

This concise guide is your ticket to overcoming common hurdles, from selecting engaging topics to crafting meaningful actions, all with the help of ChatGPT. Packed with actionable strategies, AI-driven prompts, and practical tips, it's designed to empower educators and students alike.

Cindy Blackburn

7 min read

The PYP exhibition (PYPx) is a joyous time in any school. After years of guided and co-constructed inquiry, we put complete trust in the hands of our students. We invite them to spend time deeply inquiring into the personal and local opportunities and challenges that matter most to them.

While it’s great to watch our little birds fly, mentoring and coaching the PYPx can feel daunting. With so many moving parts and different needs, it can feel hard to have all the answers, but we have great news… you don’t have to do it alone.

ChatGPT can be an incredible collaborator as you navigate the PYPx alongside your learners. In this handy guide, we will focus on four common sticking points as you launch your PYPx:

Sticking Point 1: Finding a topic and getting organized using the PYP framework
Sticking Point 2: Choosing key concepts and crafting lines of inquiry
Sticking Point 3: Brainstorming potential actions that students really care about and can do
Sticking Point 4: Creating and refining action plans, timelines, and checklists

We’ll provide strategies that leverage AI to get you unstuck and inspired to take the next step in the PYPx journey!

Ready-to-use ChatGPT prompts to streamline your PYPx process!

Download now!

This guide was designed as a companion to Toddle’s Guided PYPx Student Planner! Get your copy here.

Throughout this guide, we have added copy and paste prompts to help you get started. Make sure to edit the information in the <carrots> to personalize the response. These have been tried and tested to give you great results even if you are just starting out with ChatGPT!

Tips for interacting with ChatGPT

Before we dive into the four sticking points, let’s explore our top tips for interacting with ChatGPT. These tips are great advice during your PYPx or throughout the year!

Students under the age of 13 are not permitted to use ChatGPT. For this guide, we have provided use cases for you as the teacher or coordinator. Without further ado, here are our top tips for utilizing ChatGPT:

Tell it how you would like to interact. For example, “ask me one question at a time.” or “act like a coach.” Sometimes you will need to remind the chat to do this.
Ask it to simplify the language or change its voice. In this scenario, you might remind the chat, “you are working with a grade 5 student,” or “can you simplify this for a fifth grader?”
Get clear about what you like and don’t like in the interaction. “I like how you…, but could you change the response by…”- the more clear you can be the better
Share any frameworks you like. For example, when talking about action you might say, “use the personal, local, global framework,” compass of sustainability, or even the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Sticking point 1: Using the PYP framework

In the initial stages of the PYPx you are busy working with groups to choose a topic. Then, students work to organize their inquiry using the PYP framework. This process can feel chaotic, because students will have varying levels of understanding of both their topic and the PYP! This leads to lots of questions directed your way. But what if there were another expert teacher in the room students could consult with?

While students under the age of 13 are not permitted to use AI, one way to work around this is to do student-teacher-AI interviews! Using AI in this way allows us to model effective AI use while making sure students stay safe.

The possibilities for this as a strategy are endless. Here are a few use cases and prompts to get you started:

Finding a PYPx topic: Do you have a student who is struggling to identify their PYPx topic? Turn to AI as a PYPx consultant to help you hone in on potential areas of interest and future research!

Prompt: I am working with a grade 5 student who is having a hard time coming up with their PYPx topic- we want to find out more about the student’s interests (he is sitting here with me). Help us to find potential areas of focus for the exhibition. Ask questions one at a time.

Using the PYP framework: Sometimes students struggle to choose a learner profile attribute, ATL skill, or key concept that connects to their inquiry. ChatGPT can help to lessen the cognitive load!

Prompt: I am working with a grade 5 student who is studying <lines of inquiry> for their PYP exhibition. They are working to use the PYP framework to organize their learning. Act as a PYP consultant asking us one question at a time to gain clarity about <PYP element>.

Defining success criteria: As part of the exhibition, students are responsible for designing their own success criteria. However, this can feel very challenging – often students don’t know what they don’t yet know about!

Prompt: I am working with a grade 5 PYPx student to define their success criteria. They have chosen to inquire into <LOI 1, LOI2, and LOI3>. What would be some essential knowledge (facts, information) that would be important to learn about for each line of inquiry?

These are just a few examples of ways you might work alongside ChatGPT with your students to find their topic and begin getting organized using the PYP framework. Next, we will dive a bit deeper and explore a process you might use for supporting students as they choose their key concepts and craft engaging lines of inquiry.

Sticking point 2: Crafting lines of inquiry

Another sticking point for students working on their PYPx tends to be their depth of knowledge. While they may have an initial interest in a topic, they may only have surface-level knowledge.This can make it challenging to find three interesting and engaging lines of inquiry to explore.

ChatGPT can be an amazing tool for brainstorming potential questions or areas of research students might not have thought of on their own!

Try these prompts:

Brainstorming questions

My students are beginning their PYP exhibition. They are interested in <overview of topic>. I’d like to spark their curiosity and help them to think of research areas they might not think of on their own. Generate a list of 15-20 questions written in simple language for fifth graders. The questions should offer a variety of pathways for future inquiry connected to this topic.

Making it transdisciplinary

My students are beginning their PYP exhibition. They are interested in <overview of topic>. I’d like to help them to find connections to other disciplines (PSPE, Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies, and Language). Could you brainstorm a list of potential topics they might explore connected to each subject?

Looking for more? Crafting lines of inquiry is an art. We have created a complete and free lesson plan for you to use with students to help them form their own lines of inquiry using ChatGPT!

Form engaging lines of inquiry with AI!

Grab your copy here

Forming lines of inquiry can feel like the most challenging hurdle for students as they organize their learning into the PYP framework. Armed with their key concepts and strong lines of inquiry, they are prepared to begin their investigations!

Next, we will turn to another common sticking point, finding meaningful and connected action to engage in. Let’s dive in.

Sticking point 3: Planning for action

As part of the PYPx process, students are encouraged to engage in meaningful action that positively contributes to their lives and communities. One organizing framework I think works beautifully with students is to break actions down into personal, local, or global:

Personal: How might I change my thinking or personal actions as a result of what I have learned?
Local: What local opportunities or challenges might I connect with or contribute to?
Global: How might I partner with global organizations to make the world a better place?

For both teachers and students, brainstorming opportunities for action can feel challenging. Yet again, ChatGPT is on standby as your co-coach and mentor!

A quick note: For making local connections, ChatGPT can be hit or miss. Especially when asked to name specific people or organizations who are working on local issues, it can sometimes hallucinate or give made-up responses. You should use it more for inspiration.

Try this prompt:

For the PYPx, students are encouraged to take meaningful action. Not all action has to be flashy though! Personal actions can be as simple as a change in thinking, decision making, or the personal actions students take each day. My students are studying <overview of topic>. What might be some personal actions they could take as a result of their learning? How might they creatively demonstrate their personal actions? Generate as two separate lists: potential actions and sharing your actions.

ChatGPT prompts for personal, local, and global action

Download now!

Finding local and global opportunities and challenges that learners truly connect with is one of the joys of the exhibition. ChatGPT can be an incredible tool for discovering new and creative opportunities personalized to your students’ unique talents and interests.

Now that your learners have organized their questions, lines of inquiry, and ideas for action, we turn towards the final sticking point, staying organized!

Sticking point 4: Creating and refining action plans

Another sticking point for students tends to be project management. Students are suddenly responsible for setting large goals, breaking them down into daily tasks, delegating, reflecting, and adjusting their plans.

While these are incredible skills to practice, it can also be a lot for our young learners to balance on their own. We can use ChatGPT to help lessen the load! ChatGPT is an incredible tool for breaking down big goals into action tasks! Using AI-generated checklists is a perfect starting point for teams. This can be a great way to scaffold the process and reduce unnecessary cognitive load.

Not sure if it’s appropriate to use AI?

A great question to ask yourself is… ‘What am I really assessing?’. This eliminates barriers by scaffolding skills that are not explicitly going to be assessed.

Try this prompt:

Students are working on <success criteria> for <timeframe>. Break down this success criteria into a checklist of items to do. Write this checklist in student-friendly language.

Creating a checklist like this is a great starting point for students. It will help them to see any gaps in their thinking.

Conclusion

ChatGPT is an incredible tool to have during the PYPx. Especially during the first few weeks as you brainstorm ideas and begin to get organized, it can do some of the unnecessary heavy lifting with you and your students.

It’s also a great chance to model safe and effective use of this new tool for your learners.

This guide is designed to help you use AI to support the launch of your PYPx, but how else might you use it throughout the process to support learners?

Happy inquiring!

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 : The ideas and resources presented in this blog have been developed independently from and are not endorsed by the International Baccalaureate (IB)

Launching Your PYPx with ChatGPT

Ready-to-use ChatGPT prompts to streamline your PYPx process!

Tips for interacting with ChatGPT

Sticking point 1: Using the PYP framework

Sticking point 2: Crafting lines of inquiry

Form engaging lines of inquiry with AI!

Sticking point 3: Planning for action

ChatGPT prompts for personal, local, and global action

Sticking point 4: Creating and refining action plans

Conclusion

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