Global contexts flashcards

Topic 3: Global contexts

What are the six MYP global contexts?

Identities and relationships; orientation in space and time; personal and cultural expression; scientific and technical innovation; globalization and sustainability; fairness and development.

What is a global context for?

It is the real-world lens that shows why a unit matters. Every unit has one. Many science inquiries fall naturally under scientific and technical innovation, but over the course you should meet all six.

What is a statement of inquiry?

One transferable sentence joining a key concept, related concept(s) and a global context, setting the purpose of the unit. It should not name the topic; test it by checking it would still be true for a different topic.

Factual, conceptual and debatable inquiry questions

Factual: recall or measure ("Which hormone rises in the evening?"). Conceptual: a big idea that transfers ("How do internal clocks keep body systems in step?"). Debatable: more than one defensible answer ("Should schools start later?").

How do you choose between two global contexts for a science unit?

Ask which issue the unit investigates: how a device works and is improved → scientific and technical innovation; who can access it → fairness and development; shared resources across borders → globalization and sustainability; how ideas changed → orientation in space and time.

Global context versus factor

The global context frames the whole unit ("fairness and development"). A factor is the lens inside a criterion D answer: moral, ethical, social, economic, political, cultural or environmental. "Environmental" is a factor, not a global context.

Which global context fits a unit on how the model of the atom changed?

Orientation in space and time, through the exploration of discoveries and turning points.

Global context versus topic

"Electromagnetism" is a topic. "Fairness and development" is a global context that could frame it, by asking who gains from the science and who pays.