IB Middle Years Programme

Required Courses

Further information on the MYP:   Programme Philosophy Curriculum Model Areas of Interaction Grade 10 Personal Project Assessment

 

MYP Programme Philosophy

• It provides learning in a broad base of disciplines.
• Its objectives include skills and processes as well as a framework of concepts to ensure that students are both knowledgeable about a subject area and able to understand and apply this knowledge in new contexts.
• It promotes ‘concurrent’ learning, whereby the student deals with a balanced curriculum each year.
• It encourages the use of a variety of teaching and learning methodologies enabling students to discover how they learn best.
• It emphasises the development of the ‘whole’ person: affective, cognitive, creative and physical.
• It promotes a balance between ‘formative’ and ‘summative’ assessment.

The MYP is based on three core ideas known as the ‘Fundamental Concepts’. These are:

1. Intercultural Awareness – concerned with developing the students’ attitudes, knowledge and skills as they learn about their own and others’ social and national cultures. It fosters tolerance and respect and leads to empathy and understanding.
2. Holistic Education – a focus on the interrelatedness of all subjects through the Middle Years Programme ‘Areas of Interaction’
3. Communication – a focus on the central importance of communication, verbal and non-verbal with a particular emphasis on language acquisition.

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The Areas of Interaction are common interactive themes embedded in the subject groups and developed naturally through them. They are designed so that the student will become increasingly aware of the connections between subject content and the real world, rather than considering subjects as isolated areas unrelated to each other and to the world.

The MYP provides structured learning in each of the eight subject groups every year to ensure a broad and balanced education. All the subjects are of equal importance.

MYP Areas of Interaction

The five Areas of Interaction give the MYP its distinctive core. They are taught over the five years of the programme primarily through the subjects, but also through interdisciplinary teaching, projects and special programmes. The five Areas of Interaction are:

Approaches to Learning – this is concerned with developing the intellectual discipline, attitudes, strategies and skills that will result in critical, coherent and independent thought and the capacity for problem-solving and decision making. Central to this is ‘learning how to learn’ and developing an awareness of thought processes and their strategic use.

Community Service – this extends beyond the classroom, requiring students to participate in the communities in which they live. The emphasis is on developing community awareness and concern, a sense of responsibility and the skills needed to make an effective contribution to society.

Health & Social Education – this aims to educate the whole person and should prepare students for a physically and mentally healthy life, make them aware of potential hazards and able to make informed choices. It should also develop in students a sense of responsibility for their own well-being and for the physical and social environment.

Environments – this aims to develop students’ awareness of their interdependence with the environment so that they accept responsibility for maintaining an environment fit for the future; each day students are confronted with global environmental issues – political and economic – which require balanced understanding. Students also face environmental situations at home and at school which require decision-making.

The MYP Personal Project

The Personal Project may take many forms. For example:

• An original work of art (dramatic, visual or performance)
• A written piece of work on a specific topic (literary, social, psychological or anthropological)
• A piece of literary fiction (creative writing)
• An original science experiment
• An invention or specially designed object or system
• The presentation of a developed business, management or organisational plan, a special event or the development of a new student/community organisation.

Whatever form the project takes, it must allow the student to investigate and focus on a theme, topic and/or issue closely connected to at least one of the Areas of Interaction. The student is required to complete a piece of structured writing in the form of a detailed personal statement. This structured writing is reviewed using specific assessment criteria, is moderated, and forms the final grade.

MYP Assessment

There are no external examinations in the Middle Years Programme. Rather, assessment is carried out by the teachers who use their professional expertise to make judgements based on the prescribed IB MYP Assessment Criteria as defined for each subject.

The Assessment Criteria echo the holistic nature of the MYP and require students to be reflective practitioners. Whilst each subject has its own unique criteria there are elements of commonality that assess the student from a variety of perspectives, including:

• The ability to demonstrate knowledge and understanding
• The ability to apply knowledge/understanding and skills
• The ability to reflect and self-evaluate
• The ability to actively engage with the learning process