This document provides an overview for a Year 5 unit of inquiry on unequal access to water. The central idea is that many factors contribute to creating unequal access to water. Lines of inquiry include the causes of unequal access, how water is used globally, and how equal access can be managed and sustained. Students will inquire into rights and responsibilities in sharing finite resources, communities and relationships, and access to equal opportunities. They will explore key concepts such as change, causation, and responsibility and develop attitudes of cooperation and confidence and exemplify learner profile attributes of being inquirers and knowledgeable.

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PYP Attitudes
What attitudes do we want the students
to demonstrate?
Cooperation - Applying a
willingness to work with others
in the classroom and in our
community to come up with
solutions for equal access to
water.
Confidence - Develop a belief
in their ability as agents of
change and develop the
courage to apply what they
have learned to make a positive
difference.
Attributesof the Learner Profile
What attributes of the Learner Profile do
we want students to exemplify?
Inquirers - Nurture their own
curiosity for sustainability,
developing skills to research
and apply their understanding
to address unequal access to
water.
Knowledgeable - Engage with
ideas of access & sustainability
related to water, locally and
globally.
SHARING THE
PLANET
YEAR 5 UNIT OF INQUIRY OVERVIEW
Central Idea: Many factors contribute to creating unequal
access to water
LINES OF INQUIRY
What is the focus of our inquiry?
• What causes unequal access to water
• How water is used globally
• How we can manage and sustain equal access to water
An Inquiry Into:
• Rights and responsibilities in the struggle to share finite resources with
• other people and other living things
• Communities and the relationships within and between them
•Access to equal opportunities
• Peace and conflict resolution
DRIVING QUESTIONS
What is the definition of water?
How is water distributed by humankind?
What is equal and unequal access?
What is sustainability?
How can people affect the distribution
of water?
KEY CONCEPTS
CHANGE: “HOW IS IT CHANGING?”
Definition: The understanding that change is the process of
movement from one state to another. It is universal and inevitable.
Relevance: Students are growing up in a world in which the pace
of change, both local and global, is accelerating.
CAUSATION: “WHY IS IT LIKE IT IS?”
Definition: The understanding that things do not just happen,
that there are causal relationships at work, and that actions have
consequences.
Relevance: Actions and events have reasons and consequences.