Student Learning
IB Primary Years Programme
IB Primary Years Programme at MBIS
For students in Pre K to Grade 5
WHAT IS THE PYP?
The PYP is an international curriculum for students between the ages of 3 and 11 years designed by the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO). The PYP curriculum aims to synthesize the best research and practice from a range of national systems with the wealth of knowledge and experience in international schools to create a relevant, engaging and rigorous educational framework for students.The PYP focuses on the total growth of the developing child, encompassing social, physical, emotional and cultural needs in addition to academic welfare. The school’s mission is to nurture students who can be described through the attributes of the Marist Expectations (based on the IB Learner Profile).
Early Years (Ages 3-6)
Students explore four transdisciplinary units each year, tailored to their
developmental needs. These units focus on creativity, self-expression, and early exploration of themselves and the world.
Grades 1-5
: Students engage in six transdisciplinary units of inquiry per year, each centered around one of the following PYP themes:
Who We Are – An exploration of identity, relationships, and well-being.Where We Are in Place and Time – A study of personal histories, journeys, and discoveries.
How We Express Ourselves – An inquiry into creativity, expression, and the ways people share ideas and
emotions.How the World Works – An exploration of natural laws, scientific principles, and technological advances.
How We Organize Ourselves – A study of human-made systems, structures, and the impact of decisionmaking.Sharing the Planet – An inquiry into rights, responsibilities, and the struggle to share finite resources with other people and living things.
Within these units, core subjects—including language (reading, writing, and speaking), mathematics, science, social studies, performing arts, religion and physical education—are thoughtfully integrated to
deepen students’ understanding of the central concepts. For example, a unit on environmental responsibility (Sharing the Planet) may include scientific investigations, persuasive writing, mathematical data analysis, and creative artistic projects. In addition to a transdisciplinary approach, we maintain a strong focus on building foundational skills in literacy and numeracy across Early Years to Grade 5. Through targeted instruction, students develop essential reading, writing, and mathematical skills that are necessary for academic success. By balancing inquiry with foundational skill-building, we strive to cultivate independent, reflective learners who are prepared to think critically and take action in a global context.
Constructivist approach to teaching and learning – students connect new knowledge to their existing knowledge and construct new meaning through carefully planned activities based on assessment of prior knowledge.
Guided Inquiry is the prevailing pedagogy used at the school in all subjects using a school-wide inquiry model. The written curriculum includes the six subject areas identified by the IB: Language, Mathematics, Social Studies, Science, Arts and Physical, Personal and Social Education.
THE PYP’S DEFINITION OF CURRICULUM
The PYP’s definition of curriculum comprises three interrelated components expressed in the form of
three open-ended questions, each of which is intended to compel educators to think deeply about their own teaching practice with regard to student learning:
Written Curriculum- What do we want to learn?
(The identification of student learning within a curriculum framework)
Taught Curriculum – How best will we learn?
(The theory and application of good classroom practice)
Learned Curriculum- How will we know that we have learned?
(The theory and application of effective assessment)
WRITTEN CURRICULUM – WHAT DO WE WANT TO LEARN?
WRITTEN CURRICULUM – WHAT DO WE WANT TO LEARN?
The written curriculum of the PYP incorporates five essential elements:
- Concepts
- Knowledge
- Skills
- Attitudes
- Action
DRIVEN CURRICULUM – WHAT DO WE WANT STUDENTS TO UNDERSTAND?
The PYP emphasizes meaning and understanding, and great importance is attached to the exploration of core concepts:
- Form: What is it like?
- Function: How does it work?
- Causation: Why is it like it is?
- Change: How is it changing?
- Connection: How is it connected to other things?
- Perspective: What are the points of view?
- Responsibility: What is our responsibility?
These concepts provide an underlying structure for the entire transdisciplinary programme and have relevance in all the traditional subject domains. They help shape the Units of Inquiry, which are the core feature of the PYP. MBIS teachers plan and implement between four (Pre-K – K) and six (Grade 1 to Grade 5) Units of Inquiry each year at each grade level. Collectively, these units form a coherent, schoolwide ‘Programme of Inquiry’ (POI). The PYP requires that traditional subjects are integrated through the Units of Inquiry in a transdisciplinary approach to learning. However, there is still scope for stand- one teaching subject specific bodies of knowledge, using an inquiry-based pedagogy. The subject- pecific bodies of knowledge (language; mathematics; social studies; arts; science and technology; personal, social and physical education), together with the Programme of Inquiry, provide a comprehensive, well-balanced curriculum that requires children to reflect on their roles and responsibilities, and expects them to participate fully in the learning process.
A BALANCE BETWEEN THE TRANSDISCIPLINARY PROGRAMME OF INQUIRY & TRADITIONALDISCIPLINES
The PYP acknowledges the importance of the traditional disciplines of subject domains, and the
knowledge and skills that constitute the essence of each of these subject domains are documented in ‘scope and sequences’, which set out the overall expectations for each subject within each age range.
These documents are provided to schools as exemplar material, and whilst some schools may wish to adopt these frameworks, other PYP schools may choose to follow their own, local or regionally determined subject-based curriculum. In this key sense the PYP must be viewed as a curriculum framework and not as a curriculum.
The PYP also recognizes, however, that educating children in a set of isolated subject domains, while necessary, is not sufficient. Of equal importance is the need to acquire skills in context, and to explore content that is relevant to children and transcends the boundaries of the traditional subjects. In the PYP, the idea of human commonalities (Boyer, 1995) shapes the transdisciplinary themes that are part of the common ground that unify the curriculums in all PYP schools. They provide the opportunity to incorporate both local and global issues in the content. They are:
- 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
Students at MBIS inquire into and learn about common human issues in the context of these units of inquiry, each of which addresses a particular transdisciplinary theme. Within each of these themes, children acquire and apply a set of approaches to learning – What do we want students to be able to do?
- Social skills
- Communication skills
- Thinking skills
- Research skills
- Self-management skills
ACTION: HOW DO WE WANT THE STUDENTS TO ACT?
The PYP believes that international education must extend beyond intellectual attainment to include not
only responsible attitudes but also thoughtful and appropriate action. International schools can and should
meet the challenge of offering all learners the opportunity and the power to choose their actions, to act and reflect on these actions to make a difference in and to the world.
The action component of the PYP involves service in the widest sense of the word: service to fellow students, to the faculty and to the community. Through such service, students can grow both socially and personally, developing skills such as cooperation, problem solving, conflict resolution and creative and critical thinking. These actions are, moreover, ways in which the students exhibit their commitment to the attitudes and character attributes that we seek to engender within the PYP classroom.
TAUGHT CURRICULUM – HOW BEST WILL WE LEARN?
The PYP offers guidance and support to teachers in three main ways:
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
All participating PYP teachers need to engage in an on-going process of professional development. Opportunities to do so will include in-school workshops during orientation, attendance at regional teacher training events at beginning, intermediate and advanced levels, as well as participation in regular school-based training.
CURRICULUM FRAMEWORK
All teachers at MBIS have access to the PYP documentation, “Principles into Practice” and exemplar material pertaining to planning, teaching and assessing. They are encouraged to use a diverse range of strategies appropriate to the needs of the students. In addition, teachers are provided with their own individual copy of all relevant documentation necessary to deliver the program.
LEARNED CURRICULUM – HOW WILL WE KNOW WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED?
The PYP offers guidance and support to teachers in three main ways:
DIAGNOSTIC ASSESSMENT
This kind of assessment happens at the start of the teaching and learning process and it identifies and diagnoses the existing levels of student knowledge, ideas and understandings; the process skills that students have – and those they don’t have; and the attitudes that students hold. Diagnostic assessment helps to ascertain the starting point for teachers when presenting new information and content.
FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT
This assessment is interwoven with daily learning and helps teachers and students find out what students already know to plan the next stage of learning.
SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT
Summative assessment happens at the end of the teaching and learning process and gives the students opportunities to demonstrate what they have learned. The PYP promotes the use of a range and balance of school-based assessment techniques, including conferences, writing samples, structured observations, tests, and performance tasks assessed by teachers and students themselves.
Profile of student learning and accomplishments that is an important way to document a student’s educational progress
Portfolio samples demonstrate learning and progress over time in all areas of the curriculum including Units of Inquiry, stand-alone mathematics and language work and pieces of work from specialist areas such as P.E., art, and music. The portfolios serve as a focus during Student Led Conferences where students reflect on their learning with their parents, and they may also assist student transfer between schools offering the PYP.
(GRADE 5)
Students in Grade 5 participate in the PYP Exhibition under the guidance of the Grade 5 teachers. The Exhibition is an extended inquiry and falls under one of the transdisciplinary themes. While the final year of the PYP involves the culminating Exhibition project, there are no prerequisites for participation in the programme at any stage; students may enter a PYP programme from any school system at any time.
IB Primary Years Programme
Learn more about the structure, philosophy, and learning approach of the IB PYP in the official guide from the International Baccalaureate.