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”.
If you are at all like me, you are probably using your upcoming Christmas holiday in part for technology course development. Time to re-work or develop projects to replace ones that you are not pleased with anymore. Sometimes, perhaps more often than not I sit down to develop a unit of work and am faced with writers block. The new unit planner is fantastic, because first and foremost I am not starting with a white page. It has a few other advantages as well though. Stage 1 is a great brainstorm sheet for me. I often write in the Area of Interaction I want to work with, and the basic concept I want to teach, and then figure out the unit question from there, like sorting out a jigsaw puzzle. A few years ago, I decided to let the students do this work instead.
I have three methods of getting the students to write my unit plan.
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.
There’s an old Talking Heads song called Nothing But Flowers, and in it David Byrne sings with his tongue firmly in cheek about a lost industrial complex that is now being overrun with nature.
“Once there were parking lots – Now it’s a peaceful oasis”
Any stimuli could be potentially the seed or the inspiration to create and develop a unit of work. Any idea that provokes us could also stimulate students to work creatively and so should be considered as possible class material.
If any of you have been developing an MYP unit and have used the rubrics in Evaluating Unit Planners, you’ll know that coming up with a significant concept for a unit is difficult. And for those of you who have taken the Developing Unit Planners online workshops here at Triple A, you would recognize this is by far the most difficult and time-consuming part of the 6 week course. Judging by the spirited and lengthy discussion strands, you could argue it’s also the most rewarding part, but I digress.
The reason it takes so long is because, well, it’s hard! And it should be. You are trying to distill the essence of your unit in a way that will help you frame it and make it more meaningful and valuable to students. So, if you decide to take the easy way out and say something like “chemistry affects our lives”, then you’ll forgive us for pointing out that your significant concept doesn’t really get at, as Graham Greene puts it, “the heart of the matter”. 
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