---
title: "A unit of inquiry on an island: how the six theme islands work"
description: "How the six theme islands of Explorisle carry a unit of inquiry: stations that ask the unit's own questions, a decision post with no wrong answer, an exhibit for the child's plot, and how a class uses one. Free."
---

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● For teachers

# A unit on an island

Each theme island has two units. A unit is a set of posts. Every post asks the unit's own questions, in plain words: where rain comes from, who sets out the stall, what a bin lorry collects. The maths stays on Numberground. Here is how an island unit works and how a class uses one.

Ameera Surekha, who built Explorisle at home for one child · 26 September 2026

## What a post is

A post is a place on the island with a name: the rain gauge, the stall, the bus stop. The child walks up, taps GO, and the post asks one question from the unit. A right answer pays a material for the child's bag and a **finding** for the unit's prize. A wrong one shows the answer and comes back later. Five or six posts make a unit. The questions match the year the child is in.

## The decision

One post on every unit asks the child to **decide**: the tank is low, the stall needs a price, the town has to choose what to keep. It has options and no wrong answer. The child picks one and says why. The reason goes on the class sheet.

## Two units on every island

The first time a child lands, the island asks which unit today. The child can change it from the menu (Units). If a teacher sets a class goal, everyone who joins gets that unit, and the island stops asking.

## Where the maths went

The theme islands used to borrow questions from the maths island: a chart at the survey, a jug at the rain gauge. That mixed two kinds of question on one island, so it is gone. Every post on a theme island asks the unit. The maths is on Numberground, where every strand has its own place. A class that wants chart reading next to the markets unit runs Graph Harbour the same week.

## How a class uses this

Tap **For teachers** on the first screen. Make a class. You get a six-letter code and a teacher key. Set the year for the class and pick this unit as the class goal. Children join with the code and a seat number. No names, no emails. The **class sheet** prints the big idea, what each post asked, and what every child found and decided. Keep it for your planning.

## What it will not do

It will not write your planning, choose your big idea or replace the talk in the classroom. The island's units are written for the island. They are not sample units from anyone's programme. Where your unit and the island's unit match, the posts give the children something to find out and a reason to give. Where they do not, the maths island still does the facts on its own.

On the island

[Open Explorisle](https://explorisle.asurekha.com)[About Explorisle](https://asurekha.com/explorisle?hsLang=en-gb)

**Not on the island yet:** a planner that writes the unit pages for you. That comes after the class test.

Read next

- [What the maths words mean](https://asurekha.com/explorisle/maths/scope-and-sequence?hsLang=en-gb)
- [Sharing the planet](https://asurekha.com/explorisle/units/sharing-the-planet?hsLang=en-gb)
- [How we organise ourselves](https://asurekha.com/explorisle/units/how-we-organise-ourselves?hsLang=en-gb)
- [Where we are in place and time](https://asurekha.com/explorisle/units/where-we-are-in-place-and-time?hsLang=en-gb)
- [How we express ourselves](https://asurekha.com/explorisle/units/how-we-express-ourselves?hsLang=en-gb)
- [Who we are](https://asurekha.com/explorisle/units/who-we-are?hsLang=en-gb)
- [How the world works](https://asurekha.com/explorisle/units/how-the-world-works?hsLang=en-gb)

Explorisle is an independent product of A Surekha (the registered business of Ameera Surekha). It is not endorsed by, affiliated with or licensed by the International Baccalaureate Organization. IB, PYP and International Baccalaureate are registered trademarks of the IBO.

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Backdrop: abstract study, AI-generated · 2026AI-generated backdrop · 2026

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