Middle Years Programme

middle years programme

IB MIDDLE YEAR PROGRAM (MYP)

What is the Middle Years Programme?

  1. The Middle Years Programme (MYP) is a curriculum framework designed for learners aged 11–16 by the International Baccalaureate (IB).
  2.  The MYP is a five-year programme, which can be implemented in a partnership between schools or in abbreviated two-, three- or four-year formats.
  3.  In an MYP classroom, you’ll notice that the students are at the centre of learning. They are drawing connections between all subject areas, learning is explicitly linked to the world around them, participation in a foreign language is required, and a variety of formal and informal assessments are used to inform teaching and learning.
  4.  MYP learning experiences infuse global points of view wherever possible in order to promote understanding of other cultures, an awareness of the human condition and an understanding that there is a commonality of human experience.

 

MYP Teaching and learning in context

Students learn best when their learning experiences have context and are connected to their lives and their experience of the world that they have experienced.

Using global contexts, MYP students develop an understanding of their common humanity and shared guardianship of the planet through developmentally appropriate explorations of:

  • identities and relationships
  • personal and cultural expression
  • orientations in space and time
  • scientific and technical innovation
  • fairness and development
  • globalization and sustainability

 

MYP Curriculum

The MYP requires at least 50 hours of teaching time for each subject group, in each year of the programme. Each year, students in the MYP also engage in at least one collaboratively planned interdisciplinary unit that involves at least two subject groups.

 Students take the core courses:

  1. Language and Literature: ELA
  2. Language Acquisition: French or Spanish
  3. Individuals and Societies: African American History/World History
  4. Sciences: Chemistry/Biology
  5. Mathematics: Algebra I/Geometry/Algebra II/Pre-Calculus
  6. Arts: Band, Chorus, Film, Orchestra, Theatre, Visual Arts
  7. Design: Agriculture/Business/Accounting

Personal Project (10th grade)-

    1. MYP students also complete a long-term project, where they decide what they want to learn about, identify what they already know, discovering what they will need to know to complete the project, and create a proposal or criteria for completing it.

 

Approaches to Learning

Approaches to learning (ATL) are skills designed to enable students in the IB Middle Years Programme (MYP) to “learn how to learn.” They are intended to apply across curriculum requirements and provide a common language for teachers and students to use when reflecting and building on the process of learning. The ATL’s include:

 

  1. Communication-Exchanging thoughts, messages and information effectively through interaction
  2. Collaboration-Working effectively with others
  3. Self-Management
    • Organization-Managing time and tasks effectively
    • Affective-Managing state of mind
    • Reflection-(Re-)considering what has been learned; choosing and using ATL skills
  4. Research
    • Information Literacy-Finding, interpreting, judging and creating information
    • Media Literacy-Interacting with media to use and create ideas and information
  5. Thinking
    • Critical Thinking-Analyzing and evaluating issues and ideas
    • Creativity Innovation-The skills of invention – developing things and ideas that never existed before
    • Transfer-Utilising skills and knowledge in multiple contexts

What are the advantages of an IB education?

  1.  IB World Schools (the only schools authorized to offer IB programmes) are subject to a strict accreditation process monitored by the IB, ensuring that schools provide a high-quality education.
  2.  IB teaching methods and curriculums are research-based and draw from the best educational practices from systems around the world.
  3. IB teachers are required to participate in many professional development opportunities to continually promote their awareness of current educational practices and new thinking.
  4. IB programmes are recognized internationally and ease the educational transition of mobile students so that their education is not adversely affected if their families relocate.