The IB within our pedagogy

By Anjou C. on Tuesday, 27 March , 2007 - 8:31 am

The MYP does not impose any content. Rather, the programme is meant to be followed in any country of the world with the possibility of following the local board syllabi or whatever the school decides.

At our school we decide on doing 2 or 3 main projects in every class. Every project will by its nature touch several disciplines. The faculty then takes up the syllabi of the State Board for the particular class and includes the parts that are covered. If anything is left, it can be covered in a smaller module.

Our school has chosen the MYP of the IB as it is the closest to our own philosophy of the learning process. What is of importance is not the content but the manner in which we learn. The content is not doled out in standard textbook formats. Children are encouraged to discover and seek information themselves from different sources. This can be done in several ways: books, encyclopedias, interviews oral and written, consulting CD-Roms, surfing the net, and interacting with people within and outside school. Children themselves then choose the information from these diverse sources and compile, interpret, discuss with peers and finally present it individually or in sub-groups. The IB also emphasizes that children become enquirers and not merely passive information receivers.

We use different modes of learning: the multi-sensorial approach, music, dramatics, verbal and non-verbal expression, visual and graphic arts, performing arts are used not just as a means to learn the content but also as a means to evaluate.
In terms of learning strategies, mostly and nearly exclusively the auditive mode is solicited from the learner in the traditional schools. When the visual is used, it is generally in the form of reading what is written on the black board. So the learner looks at what the teacher writes and is expected to listen to what the teacher says. The teacher is really active while the learners are passive recipients.
We have other modes of learning and perceiving the world that are at best neglected in the schooling system, worse discouraged. In the process we create children who are termed as having learning disabilities. We should actually rephrase it as teaching disabilities.
In brief, for us, the idea is to learn the content (and cover the syllabus which unfortunately appears to be the sole concern of some parents, regardless of whether the children have actually understood or not) using as many different channels and modes, employing as many diverse strategies that utilise and develop further the weaker modes of learning.

Finally, in terms of learning strategy, active and total participation from learners, a joyful co-construction of knowledge, we have one implicit motto: “Make it a game.” And children will become life-long learners.

The answer to the question “what method we are following” is again the same. We are really not following any one system. We have been inspired by several theories on education, we have been exposed to different practices and the result is a combination of these influences. We do not want this to become a fixed model so we have consciously not given it a name.

In terms of applicable practices we have combined elements of group dynamics, group psycho-therapy, art therapy, NLP, techniques of Yoga, Gestalt therapy… again the list is far from exhaustive.

Category: Research, Thoughts on Education, Administrative Information

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