PYP Curriculum Model​

10 Reasons

Curriculum Model

Mission Statement from the IB

The International Baccalaureate aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect. To this end the organization works with schools, governments and international organizations to develop challenging programmes of international education and rigorous assessment. These programmes encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right.

IB Education

Focuses on learners – the IB’s student-centered programmes promote healthy relationships, ethical responsibility and personal challenge

Develops effective approaches to teaching and learning – IB programmes help students to develop the attitudes and skils they need for both academic and personal success

Works within global contexts – IB programmes increase understanding of languages and cultures, and explore globally significiant ideas and issues

Explores significant content – IB programmes offer a curriculam that is broad and balanced, conceptual and connected.

IB learners strive to become inquirers, knowledgeable, thinkers, communicators, principled, open-minded, caring, risk-takers, balanced, and reflective. These attributes represent a broad range of human capacities and responsibilities that go beyond intellectual development and academic success.

The Primary Years Programme: preparing students to be active participants in a lifelong journey of learning

The Primary Years Programme (PYP) is a curriculum framework for young learners aged 3-12 designed by the international Baccalaureate (IB). Founded on a philosophy that recognizes a child’s natural curiosity,creativity and ability to reflect, the PYP generates a stimulating, challenging learning environment to nurture those assets and foster a lifelong love of learning in every child. The PYP, like all IB programmes, is transdisciplinary, meaning students learn across subject areas while investigating big ideas

The IB Primary Years Programme

Addresses students’ academic, social and emotional well-being

Encourages students to develop independence and to take responsibility for their own learning

Supports student’s efforts to gain understanding of the world and to function comfortably within it

Helps students establish personal values as a foundation upon which international-mindedness will develop and flourish.

The six subject areas identified within the IB Primary Years Programme:

Language

Mathematics

Science

Social studies

Arts

Personal, social and physical education

The most significant and distinctive feature of the IB Primary Years Programme are the six transdisciplinary themes

Who we are

Where we are in place and time

How we express ourselves

How the world works

How we organize ourselves

Sharing the planet.

These themes provide the opportunity to incorporate local and global issues into the curriculum and effectively allow students to “step up” beyond the confines of learning within subject areas.

Since these ideas relate to the world beyond the school, students see their relevance and connect with it in an engaging and challenging way. Students who learn in this way begin to reflect on their roles and responsibilities as learners and become actively involved with their education.

Authorization Letter

Subject groups/ disciplines in MYP

The MYP curriculum offers eight subject groups of at least 50 hours of teaching time in each year of the programme. At our AIV, we provide the following disciplines:

• Language and Literature- English.
• Language Acquisition- French, Hindi, and Spanish.
• Mathematics – It includes arithmetic, algebra, geometry and trigonometry, statistics and probability.
• Sciences- Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Practical.
• Design ( with STEM) – A single course that combines digital and product design.
• Individuals and Societies- It focuses on the study of multiple disciplines, from humanities, in which students receive one grade for individuals and societies.
• Physical education- Yoga, team sports, individual sports, and physical and health-
  related knowledge.
• Arts- It includes discrete disciplines. They are as follows:
1. Performing arts- Dance, theater, music- vocal and instrumentation in the form of keyboard and percussion (drums).
2. Visual arts- This includes emphasis on line, form, shape, texture, proportion, emphasis, value, rhythm, movement, pattern, tone, color, space, balance, contrast, repetition, and perspective.

These years are critical periods in the development of young people. Success in school refers to all-round physical, mental, and psychological development in an individual. IB program models highlight important shared features of an IB education.

• Developing the attributes of the learner profile
• Approaches to teaching and approaches to learning
• Age-appropriate culminating experiences
• An organized and aligned structure of subject groups or disciplines
• Development of international-mindedness as a primary aim and context for learning

Interdisciplinary Learning

In the Middle Years Programme (MYP), interdisciplinary learning supports students to understand bodies of knowledge from two or more disciplines or subject groups, in order to integrate them and create new understanding. Students demonstrate interdisciplinary understanding when they bring together concepts, methods, or forms of communication from two or more disciplines or established areas of expertise so that they can explain a phenomenon, solve a problem, create a product, or raise a new question in ways that would have been unlikely through a single discipline.

A clear and thoroughly explained purpose of integration includes descriptions of:

• The contributions of each participating subject to the integrated purpose of the unit.
• A description of how the learning from the participating subjects will be synthesized to create a solution to a real-life issue to solve or holistically understand a challenge or a specific real-life issue like migration, hunger, terrorism, global warming etc.

Service As Action (SaA) in MYP : Seva activities at AIV

“Behind all great and unforgettable events is the heart. Love and a selfless attitude underlie all truly great deeds. Behind any good cause, you will find somebody who has renounced everything and dedicated his or her life to it.”
– Mata Amritanandamayi Devi (Amma)

Service, as a subset of action, has always been a shared value of the IB community. IB learners strive to be caring members of the community who demonstrate a personal commitment to service and act to make a positive difference in the lives of others and to the environment. SaA encompasses a broad spectrum of actions, with an emphasis on reflection and learning from these experiences. It encourages students to understand the significance of taking action, developing empathy, and making a positive difference in their communities and the wider world. As students become more aware and acquire a better understanding of the context, and of their responsibilities, they become empowered to make choices about how to take thoughtful and positive action.

[from IB MYP – principles into practice]

Community Project / Personal Project

“Youngsters need to understand the purpose of life. They need courage and wisdom to face the challenges of life. With that understanding they become the light of the world. If we care for them responsibly, molding their whole character with love, then the future of the world will be safe.”
-Amma

According to Mata Amritanandamayi Devi (Our Beloved Amma), true education can be classified into two types:

• Education for life, which includes spirituality and
• Education for livelihood for developing the best form of knowledge, attitude and skill in service of oneself and the society with an ignited mind and a heart to uplift the world.

The personal project is a significant body of work undertaken by all MYP students over an extended period in the fifth year of the program. The community project can be undertaken from the third year.

It is an important aspect of the MYP and is the product of the student’s initiative and creativity, reflecting a personal appreciation of the areas of interaction and the application of approaches to learning skills. The personal project should be seen as the culminating activity through which students present, in a truly personal way, their understanding of real-world themes, concepts and issues using the areas of interaction. Students’ experience of approaches to learning should prepare them gradually for working independently and developing a project over an extended period of time. Students have an opportunity to choose a project that allows them to explore a topic of interest to them, and to present it in a way that reflects their learning style and is also relevant in global contexts. To summarize, through MYP Personal Project students demonstrate the practical application of knowledge, concepts, ideas and skills into real world, whereas MYP Community Project gives an opportunity to students to make a positive difference in the local and global community while developing valuable skills.

Student Led Conference (SLCs)

Student-led conferences (SLCs) within the framework represent a transformative approach to academic assessment and personal development. SLCs are characterized by the student taking an active role in presenting their learning progress, accomplishments, challenges, and aspirations to their parents or guardians and teachers. Through a prepared portfolio or presentation, students showcase their work, reflect on their strengths and weaknesses, and discuss their understanding of the IB learner profile attributes.
Integral to the SLC process is self-reflection and assessment, where students critically evaluate their academic performance, set goals, and articulate strategies to achieve them. This reflective practice fosters metacognition, empowering students to take ownership of their learning while enhancing their communication and presentation skills. SLCs encourage collaboration and dialogue among students, parents, and teachers, creating a shared responsibility for the student’s educational success. These conferences transcend mere academic assessment, nurturing holistic growth by emphasizing not only subject knowledge but also the development of critical thinking, communication, and self management skills essential for lifelong learning.
Student-led conferences serve as a platform for students to demonstrate agency, reflect on their learning journey, set goals, and engage in meaningful discussions that promote a deeper understanding of their academic progress and personal development.