Subscribe to the blogs

Triple A Learning IB Blogs

March 3, 2011

How Significant is your Significant Concept?

Filed under: Global Contexts — Tags: , , , — triplea_ble @ 2:58 am

I just recently did a level 3 workshop and although – strictly speaking – we mostly stuck to the script on assessment, there was a bit of time devoted to unit planning. Whether online, onsite, or in-house, this invariably leads to huge arguments about significant concepts, and this time was no different.

By way of an example I can share that one of the participants suggested as a significant concept for a unit on physics “inertia is a resistance to a change in the state of motion”.

Read more…

May 8, 2010

Why I find the terminology “The big idea” a better approach to introduce teachers to what is a “significant concept”?


The significant concept is also the BIG IDEA or the CENTRAL IDEA of the unit.

It is significant because the students have reached the age where they can access the concept or they are ready to understand it.

Read more…