Programme of Inquiry
The Programme of Inquiry (POI) is an inquiry-based framework that outlines units for each grade level. In inquiry-based learning, students ask questions, make connections to prior knowledge, learn new ideas, and think critically about how best to solve problems.
The teachers at Whittier have developed the POI through ongoing and extensive collaboration. We revisit it regularly to ensure it is relevant, engaging, challenging, and significant. The POI is built around six globally significant, transdisciplinary themes. Students in first through fifth-grade study all six themes and students in High 5 and kindergarten study four themes each year.
The Transdisciplinary Themes
Who We Are
An inquiry into identity as individuals and as part of a collective through:
- physical, emotional, and spiritual health and well-being
- relationships and belonging
- learning and growing
Where We Are in Place and Time
An inquiry into histories and orientation in place, space, and time through:
- periods, events, and artifacts
- communities, heritage, culture, and environment
- natural and human drivers of movement, adaptation, and transformation
How We Express Ourselves
An inquiry into the diversity of voice, perspectives, and expression through:
- inspiration, imagination, creativity
- personal, social, and cultural notes and practices of communication
- intentions, perceptions, interpretations, and responses
How the World Works
An inquiry into the understandings of the world and phenomena through:
- patterns, cycles, systems
- diverse practices, methods, and tools
- discovery, design, innovation, possibilities, and impacts
How We Organize Ourselves
An inquiry into systems, structures, and networks through:
- interactions with and between social and ecological systems
- approaches to livelihoods and trade practices; intended and unintended consequences
- representation, collaboration, and decision-making
Sharing the Planet
An inquiry into the interdependence of human and natural worlds through:
- rights, responsibilities, and dignity of all
- pathways to just, peaceful, and reimagined futures
- nature, complexity, coexistence, and wisdom