Int’l Baccalaureate

TIS is the first school in the Pacific Northwest authorized to offer the Primary Years Programme.

inquiry cycle with heading - color

 

“We cannot be the center, the child is the center,” says TIS Spanish teacher Pilar Arias when she talks about the International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary Years Programme (PYP).  ”Before, I decided what the children should learn. With the PYP, children have the opportunity to create questions, so they are much more involved.”

The IB Primary Years Programme, offered at nearly 600 authorized IB schools worldwide, is a guided inquiry-based teaching method that centers on student questions.  Rather than working through a standard lesson and memorizing facts, students study a central idea by creating and exploring their own questions.   Through this concept-driven process, students gain deep understanding and learn the skills needed to acquire, organize, and communicate knowledge. It is those skills that enable children to become independent learners, capable of pursuing knowledge beyond the classroom and throughout life.

Each PYP unit of inquiry begins with the class assessing prior knowledge on a unit’s central idea through the teacher’s guiding questions.  Then the students formulate their own questions based on what they want to know. “They love the questions.  They own the questions,” says Arias.  ”When they feel some ownership in their learning, they are more motivated.”

The questions start the cycle of inquiry that guides every IB lesson, as shown in this diagram. Teachers support the student-led inquiry with age-appropriate resources and activities to guide and structure the learning.

Learn more!

From the International Baccalaureate Organization: