PYP Key Concepts: 7 Lenses for Inquiry-Based Teaching

The seven PYP specified concepts are form, function, causation, change, connection, perspective and responsibility. Each is a lens for inquiry: it directs attention, shapes questions and helps learners explain ideas that can transfer between subjects and contexts.

Teachers do not need to use all seven in every unit. As a practical starting point, Structural Learning recommends selecting one or two that sharpen the central idea, then planning the knowledge, questions and evidence learners need to develop genuine conceptual understanding. Authorised schools should follow their current controlled programme guidance.

PYP Key Concepts in One Minute

PYP key concepts give teachers and learners seven dependable ways to investigate content. They sit within the current Primary Years Programme curriculum framework, where inquiry is concept driven, transdisciplinary and attentive to learner agency (International Baccalaureate, 2026).

For the wider programme context, use the International Baccalaureate overview. This guide stays focused on the PYP concepts and the planning decisions teachers make with them.

A topic tells a class what it is studying. A concept helps the class decide how to think about it. In a unit on homes, for example, form directs attention to features, function to how spaces work, perspective to different experiences of home, and responsibility to decisions about shelter and community.

This distinction prevents a familiar planning problem. Writing a concept beside a central idea does not make the unit concept based. The lens must affect the questions asked, the examples compared and the explanations learners produce. If removing the concept would leave the learning unchanged, it is probably decorating the planner.

The concepts also help learners connect knowledge across the PYP transdisciplinary themes. Causation can organise thinking about erosion, migration or a character's decision. The content changes, but learners practise recognising causes, weighing evidence and explaining consequences. That repeated intellectual move supports transfer without reducing the subjects to vague themes.

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The Seven PYP Specified Concepts

The seven specified concepts offer a shared set of questions for planning and inquiry. Ecctis (2025) identifies these seven concepts in its account of the PYP and also notes that schools may use additional concepts. The table gives a quick classroom reference.

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Form: reveal significant features

Form makes observation purposeful. Instead of asking, “What can you see?”, ask, “Which features help us classify this, and which features might mislead us?” Learners might annotate specimens, sort objects using their own criteria, draw a labelled cross-section or compare two structures. Their final explanation should identify significant features and justify why those features matter.

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Function: explain how something operates

Function moves a lesson from naming parts to explaining relationships between them. Replace “Label the parts of the digestive system” with “How do these parts work together, and what happens if one cannot do its job?” Learners might create a flow diagram, test a model, narrate a process or diagnose why a designed system fails.

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Causation: build an evidence-based account

Causation helps learners avoid single-cause answers. Ask, “What factors contributed, which evidence supports each factor, and which factor had the greatest influence?” Learners might produce a causal chain, rank contributing factors or distinguish an immediate trigger from a longer-term condition. The concept changes the task from recalling an event to explaining why it occurred.

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Change: trace transformation and continuity

Change directs attention to sequence, rate, scale and what remains stable. A stronger prompt than “How did this change?” is “Which change mattered most, who noticed it first, and what stayed the same?” Learners might build an annotated timeline, compare before-and-after data or explain a turning point. This makes change analytical rather than merely chronological.

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Connection: map relationships and systems

Connection asks learners to show how elements influence one another. Rather than “What is this connected to?”, ask, “Which link is strongest, what travels along it, and what would happen if it were removed?” Learners might draw a system map, follow the journey of a resource or compare local and global networks. Arrows should be labelled so the relationship is explained, not simply displayed.

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Perspective: examine how viewpoints are formed

Perspective is more demanding than collecting opinions. Ask, “What experiences, interests or evidence might shape this view, and what could change it?” Learners might compare sources, write two reasoned interpretations or hold a structured discussion using role evidence. They should separate a viewpoint from a verified fact and recognise that not every claim is equally well supported.

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Responsibility: reason about obligations and action

Responsibility connects understanding with choices without forcing every inquiry into a campaign. Ask, “Who has the power to act, what are they obliged to consider, and what might the consequences be?” Learners might draft criteria for a fair decision, evaluate possible actions or justify a proportionate response. Thoughtful inaction can also be examined when action would be unsafe or poorly informed.

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How to Choose Concepts for a Unit

As a practical starting point, Structural Learning recommends testing one or two concepts to see which lenses best expose the intended conceptual understanding and essential subject knowledge. This is not a universal IB rule, so authorised schools should follow their current controlled programme guidance. Start with the central idea, not a favourite activity. The selected concepts should narrow attention, improve the lines of inquiry and make the expected transfer clearer.

Begin by underlining the relationship in the central idea. “Communities design systems to distribute limited resources” contains ideas about systems, distribution and choice. Function could reveal how a distribution system operates.

Responsibility could help learners judge decisions about access. Form would be possible, but it may produce description when the intended understanding is about operation and fairness.

Next, check the subject knowledge learners will need. A concept cannot replace accurate content. If learners will explain why settlements develop near particular resources, causation may sharpen the geography.

If they will compare how different groups experienced the same development, perspective may be more productive. The concept should create a reason to use disciplinary knowledge carefully.

Use three planning tests:

1. Question test: Does the concept generate questions that are more precise than the topic alone?
2. Evidence test: Does it change what learners need to observe, read, measure or compare?
3. Transfer test: Can learners use the same conceptual relationship in a different example?

If a concept fails two of these tests, leave it out. Two well-developed lenses are usually more useful than four briefly mentioned ones. During PYP unit planning, record why each selected concept matters and where learners will demonstrate it. This keeps collaborative planning focused on the intended understanding.

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Turn Concepts into Better Inquiry Questions

A strong conceptual question joins a lens to worthwhile content and invites an evidence-based explanation. It is open enough to investigate but bounded enough for learners to make progress. Good inquiry questions lead towards comparison, reasoning or transfer, not unstructured searching.

Start with the core question, then add content, a relationship and a demand for evidence. “What are the points of view?” becomes “How do residents, farmers and planners view the proposed flood barrier, and what evidence supports their priorities?” “How is it linked?” becomes “How do surface materials, drainage and river levels affect one another during heavy rain?”

Plan a short question ladder rather than opening with the broadest question. Factual questions establish shared ground: “Where does rainwater travel on our school site?” Conceptual questions interpret relationships: “How does the surface affect the speed and direction of flow?” Debatable questions invite judgement: “Who should be responsible for reducing flood risk?” Each level needs the knowledge built below it.

Learner questions still matter, but agency is not the absence of guidance. Invite learners to sort their questions by concept, identify what evidence each question needs and revise questions that are too broad. A routine such as See, Think, Wonder can surface initial thinking before the class turns promising observations into investigable questions.

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Plan a Concept-Based Inquiry

Plan concept-based inquiry by aligning the central idea, selected concepts, subject knowledge, lines of inquiry, learning experiences and assessment evidence. The inquiry cycle can organise the journey, but the route should respond to what learners notice, misunderstand and become ready to investigate.

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Worked Year 4 example: water systems and communities

Central idea: The way communities manage water systems affects people and environments. This statement contains a relationship that learners can investigate and transfer. It avoids promising that every management decision has the same effect.

Selected concepts: Causation and responsibility. Causation helps learners explain how rainfall, land use, infrastructure and behaviour contribute to water quality or flooding. Responsibility helps them judge who can act, what constraints exist and how consequences should be considered. Connection remains useful language, but it does not need to be a selected concept.

Lines of inquiry:

• How water moves through natural and designed systems.
• Factors that affect water availability, quality and flood risk.
• Responsibilities and choices in managing a shared resource.

Teacher questions: “Which factors changed the water's route?”, “How do we know this factor contributed?”, “Who can influence this part of the system?”, and “What trade-offs does each response create?” These prompts repeatedly return learners to causes, evidence, obligations and consequences.

Learner evidence: Learners annotate a local drainage map, run a simple surface-flow investigation, compare accounts from residents and water managers, and construct a multi-cause explanation of a flooding event. They then use criteria to recommend one realistic school or community action. Different products are acceptable, but each must show the same conceptual reasoning.

Transfer task: Present a fictional community with a different climate, settlement pattern and water challenge. Ask learners to identify relevant causes, explain which earlier relationships still apply and propose a responsible response. The new setting prevents simple copying. It reveals whether learners can transfer causation and responsibility while adapting to different evidence.

This sequence keeps knowledge and inquiry together. Learners need vocabulary such as permeable, runoff, catchment and treatment, plus enough local evidence to reason well. Explicit teaching, field observation, texts, models and discussion all have a place. Concept-based learning is not content-light learning.

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Assess Conceptual Understanding

Assess conceptual understanding by looking for explanation, comparison, application and transfer. Naming “causation” or matching seven concepts to definitions is not evidence of understanding. Learners must use the lens to organise knowledge and explain a relationship in a way that survives a new example.

Collect evidence during the inquiry, not only in a final performance. A learner's diagram may show an emerging connection that their writing cannot yet express. A conference may reveal that they can explain a cause but treat it as the only cause.

A revised model may show that feedback changed their understanding. Use these signals to decide what to teach next.

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A small evidence checklist

• Explanation: Does the learner explain how or why, using relevant knowledge?
• Comparison: Can the learner identify a significant similarity, difference or pattern?
• Application: Can the learner use the concept to interpret a less familiar example?
• Transfer: Can the learner adapt the relationship when the context or evidence changes?
• Justification: Can the learner select evidence and explain why it supports the claim?

Success criteria should name the reasoning, not the format. “Explains at least two interacting causes and supports each with evidence” is more useful than “creates a colourful poster”. Learners may respond through speech, writing, diagrams, models or performance, provided the response makes their conceptual reasoning visible.

Medwell et al. (2019) found broad support for concept-based teaching across IB programmes, while also identifying variation between intended frameworks and classroom implementation. That gap matters for assessment. A planner may name a concept, yet learner work may still reward recall. Moderate examples of work together and check that the criteria reward conceptual relationships, not polished presentation alone.

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Specified and Additional Concepts

Specified concepts are the seven shared PYP lenses in this article. Schools may choose additional concepts to extend inquiry beyond those seven when the unit's content, goals or learners' needs call for greater precision. Authorised schools should follow their current controlled programme guidance when choosing and labelling concepts.

The seven specified concepts provide continuity across ages, subjects and units. Learners can meet change in science, history, arts and personal development, gradually building a richer understanding. Ecctis (2025) describes both the seven specified concepts and the scope for additional concepts within PYP implementation.

An additional concept may become valuable because the content demands it. In a unit on migration, identity, belonging or adaptation might focus an important relationship that none of the seven names precisely. A locally chosen additional concept can also add disciplinary precision, such as habitat in science, place in geography, character in literature or equivalence in mathematics. The PYP category here is additional concepts; related concepts belong to MYP terminology.

Do not add concepts merely to make a planner look comprehensive. Define the chosen term in the context of the unit, identify the knowledge that gives it meaning and decide how learners will use it. If “systems” appears as an additional concept, for example, learners should examine interacting parts, boundaries, inputs, outputs or feedback, not simply mention the word.

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Reflection, Agency and Approaches to Learning

Reflection remains active within the current PYP framework, but it is not an eighth specified concept. Learners reflect as they notice changes in understanding, evaluate strategies and decide what to do next. Agency grows through informed choices, while Approaches to Learning help learners carry out the inquiry.

Build reflection into transitions. Before research, ask learners what they already think and what evidence could challenge that view. During inquiry, ask which source, model or strategy is helping.

After a comparison, ask what changed in their explanation. These prompts make reflection part of knowledge building rather than an end-of-unit diary entry.

Offer bounded choices that protect the conceptual goal. Learners might choose which local example to investigate, which source to pursue or how to communicate a justified conclusion. They should not have to guess the success criteria or discover essential background knowledge alone. Agency becomes meaningful when learners understand the purpose and consequences of their decisions.

Connect ATL skills to an immediate intellectual need. Research skills help learners judge whether a source supports a causal claim. Communication skills help them represent a system clearly.

Social skills support a perspective discussion in which participants listen, paraphrase and challenge evidence respectfully. The IB Learner Profile can support reflection on dispositions, but it should not replace specific feedback on the reasoning learners have shown.

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Make Abstract Concepts Accessible

Make concepts accessible by moving between concrete examples, visual representations, precise language and varied forms of response. Keep the conceptual demand high while reducing avoidable language, memory and recording barriers. Support should be available by need, not reserved for a separate group after the main lesson.

Begin with examples learners can inspect. To introduce function, compare familiar tools and ask what each part enables. To introduce perspective, show two accounts of the same playground change and identify what each writer knows, values or overlooks. A concrete case gives abstract language something to attach to.

Use worked contrasts to define the boundary of a concept. A change is not simply any difference between two objects. Causation is not the same as events occurring in sequence.

Perspective is not permission to treat unsupported claims as facts. Present an example and a near miss, then ask learners to explain which one fits the concept and why.

Visual tools can hold relationships in view. Timelines support change, causal chains support causation and system maps support connection or function. Use graphic organisers only when their structure matches the thinking. A generic mind map may collect ideas but hide whether one factor causes, contains, follows or conflicts with another.

Offer sentence stems as temporary supports:

• “A significant feature is ___ because ___.”
• “___ contributes to ___ when ___.”
• “These viewpoints differ because ___, but both use ___.”
• “This example connects to our earlier case because ___; it differs because ___.”

Let learners show reasoning through talk, labelled drawing, physical modelling, photographs, audio or writing. A teacher can probe any format with the same conceptual question. Well-chosen thinking routines create predictable participation structures, but do not let the routine become the objective. Fade prompts when learners can organise the explanation independently.

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Limitations and Critiques

The seven concepts are curriculum organisers, not a complete theory of learning. They do not tell teachers which subject knowledge to teach, how to sequence it or when direct explanation is needed. Medwell et al. (2019) found broad alignment between concept-based teaching principles and IB curriculum documents, but also identified gaps between curriculum structures and concrete classroom action.

Concept labels can create an illusion of depth when tasks remain descriptive. They can also become too broad to assess if learners are not given precise examples, vocabulary and success criteria. Treat the concepts as questions that organise disciplinary knowledge, then judge their value by the quality of learner explanations and transfer.

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Common Questions About PYP Key Concepts

Teachers most often ask how many concepts to select, whether reflection is still included and how concepts differ from topics or skills. The short answer is to use the seven as lenses, select only those that sharpen the inquiry, and judge success through learner reasoning and transfer.

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What are the seven PYP key concepts?

They are form, function, causation, change, connection, perspective and responsibility. Their core questions are: What is it like? How does it work?

Why is it as it is? How is it transforming? How is it linked to other things?

What are the points of view? What are our obligations?

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Are there seven or eight PYP key concepts?

The current framework uses seven specified concepts. Reflection remains important across inquiry, assessment and action, but teachers should not present it as an eighth specified concept. The International Baccalaureate's current account of how the PYP works places reflection within the wider learner-centred framework (International Baccalaureate, 2026).

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Should every unit use all seven concepts?

No. As a practical starting point, Structural Learning recommends selecting one or two concepts that best reveal the intended relationship and subject knowledge, while authorised schools should follow their current controlled programme guidance. Other concepts may appear naturally in discussion, but naming all seven can scatter attention and produce shallow activities. Revisit different concepts across the programme of inquiry so learners experience breadth over time.

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What is the difference between a topic and a concept?

A topic is the content or context, such as rivers, migration or stories. A concept is a lens for thinking about that content, such as change or perspective. Topics vary between units. Concepts recur, allowing learners to recognise and transfer patterns of thought.

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Can learners choose the concepts?

Learners can propose or notice useful concepts, particularly once they understand the lenses. Teachers still hold responsibility for curriculum coherence, subject knowledge and a viable conceptual goal. A productive compromise is to preselect one concept and invite the class to justify a second as evidence and questions emerge.

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How do I know whether an inquiry is genuinely concept based?

Look at the questions and learner work. Learners should explain relationships, compare examples, apply the lens and transfer an idea into a different context. If the work mainly lists facts, completes activities or repeats definitions, the concept is present in the planner but not yet driving the learning.

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Do key concepts reduce the importance of knowledge?

No. Concepts organise knowledge; they do not substitute for it. Learners need accurate vocabulary, examples, procedures and disciplinary methods to form a defensible conceptual explanation. The current PYP curriculum framework describes a concept-driven, transdisciplinary model rather than content-free discovery (International Baccalaureate, 2026).

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References

These are the four sources cited in this article. They cover the current PYP framework, the seven specified concepts and additional concepts, and research into concept-based teaching across IB programmes.

• International Baccalaureate. (2026). PYP curriculum framework. https://www.ibo.org/programmes/primary-years-programme/curriculum/
• International Baccalaureate. (2026). How the PYP works. https://www.ibo.org/programmes/primary-years-programme/how-the-pyp-works/
• Ecctis. (2025). The International Baccalaureate Primary and Middle Years Programmes: Alignment with India's National Education Policy and National Curriculum Framework. IB research study page.
• Medwell, J., Wray, D., Bailey, L., Biddulph, M., Hagger-Vaughan, L., Mills, G., Oliver, M., & Wake, G. (2019). Concept-based teaching and learning: Integration and alignment across IB programmes. https://www.ibo.org/research/curriculum-research/cross-programme/concept-based-teaching-and-learning-integration-and-alignment-across-international-baccalaureate-programmes-2019/

For your next unit, write the central idea at the top of the planner, circle its most important relationship, then choose one concept that will change the questions, evidence and transfer task you plan.