AISG to Adopt IB Middle Years Program for 2023-2024 School Year

Big changes are coming to AISG starting next year, the school will adopt the IB Middle Years (MYP) program for grades 6-10. As a result, AISG will become an IB “continuum school,” with all three IB programs in place: PYP, MYP and DP. 

According to members of the English department, the MYP will allow better preparation for the Diploma Program, while encouraging interdisciplinary learning. The MYP is an inquiry-based curriculum, so students can expect plenty of project where students have more control over their learning. “The MYP gives choice and voice” to students, developing their critical thinking skills by encouraging their independence,” says Mr. Webster, an English teacher at AISG. Mr. Webster also mentioned that the MYP program united all the classes a student takes by focusing on the same concepts. When a unit in a class is focused on concepts, it encourages teachers to work across national and cultural boundaries. “Concepts promote a broad approach to education that can encompass many ways of thinking, inspire a variety of experiences,” said Webster. 

Another feature of the MYP is interdisciplinary learning. Two or more classes can create a unit together. Some students might be reminded of their favorite units in Grade 5, or the last year of PYP. Webster notes that plans are already in the works for interdisciplinary units next year. 

Lastly, a final feature of the MYP experience for students is the personal project, which happens at the end of grade 10. Students choose a topic to investigate, do research experiments about, or even make a product and present it to the school community. A personal project can be on anything that interests the student even if it is not directly connected to a class. 

Overall, the MYP will help make a student’s experience at AISG more unified and allow teachers to think more clearly about how the years before the DP program should be organized.