The IB Middle Year Program is a challenging course designed for students aged 11 to 16. It encourages active learning and helps students become global thinkers who can understand and discuss important issues from around the world.
Through this program, IB supports students in over 100 countries to think in creative and critical ways. By the end of the program, students gain knowledge, skills, and the confidence to make a positive impact on the world.
Requirements
The program requires students to spend 50 hours on each subject every year. In years 4 and 5, students can choose 6 out of 8 subjects, which give them more freedom to meet their personal interests and the school’s requirements.
Additionally, students must work on a collaborative project that connects two different subjects. Finally, they complete a MYP Personal Project, where they choose a topic based on their own knowledge and interests.
What Does IB MYP Curriculum Entail?
IB MYP curriculum focuses on eight subject groups. These subject groups are language acquisition, language and literature, individuals and societies, sciences, mathematics, arts, physical and health education, and design.
Language Acquisition
Language and acquisition are closely connected, and the MYP understands how important it is for students to learn different ways of communicating to help them express who they are.
There are two main reasons why learning languages is so important in the Middle Year Program.
- Being able to communicate in different ways and in more than one language is key to having an international education. It gives students the tools to connect with people from different cultures, which helps to build understanding and global awareness.
- The language acquisition course offers both academic and language challenges. By overcoming these challenges, students can improve their language skills and have a richer learning experience.
Language and Literature
The Middle Year Program language and literature focus on developing skills in six important areas, which are listening, speaking, reading, writing, viewing, and presenting.
At its heart, language learning emphasizes inquiry and encourages students to explore ideas on their own and with others. This helps them understand better by allowing them to investigate, take action, and reflect on what they’ve learned.
Language and literature in the Middle Year Program is more than just learning language skills. It’s also about building critical thinking, which is essential for promoting understanding between different cultures, both locally and globally.
Individuals and Societies
The Individuals and Societies subject group covers a variety of disciplines from humanities and social sciences.
In this group, students learn how to gather, describe, and analyze data to study societies. They also develop the ability to test ideas and learn how to understand complex information, such as original sources.
The curriculum focuses heavily on real-world examples, research, and analysis, which are key parts of what students will study.
Sciences
By exploring real-world examples of how science is applied, students learn about the complex connections between science and different parts of society, such as morality, ethics, culture, economics, politics, and the environment.
In the IB Middle Year Program, scientific inquiry helps students develop critical and creative thinking skills. They learn how to research, design experiments, and analyze data.
Scientific inquiry also teaches them to recognize their own assumptions and consider different explanations, promoting a balanced and thorough approach to scientific investigation.
Mathematics
The mathematics framework in the Middle Year program covers a wide range of math topics, including number, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, statistics, and probability.
Through engaging learning experiences, students learn how to represent information, explore different scenarios, and solve both familiar and new problems. These skills are valuable not only in math but also in subjects like social sciences and in the arts.
The main goal of MYP mathematics is to give all students the knowledge and thinking skills they need for more advanced math courses. It also prepares them to use math in their future studies, careers, and daily life.
Arts
In arts, students get the opportunity to participate as both creators and learners.
Arts play an important role in sparking imagination, expanding how we see the world, and helping students develop creative and analytical skills.
By engaging in the arts, students learn to understand different forms of artistic expression in their cultural contexts, deepening their knowledge of the history behind artworks. This process helps them develop curiosity and empathy for the world around them.
Arts also provide a way for students to explore their own identities while growing more aware of aesthetics in real-life situations. As Middle Year Program students experience different forms of art, they expand their views and gain a greater appreciation for the role of beauty and creativity in their lives.
Physical and Health Education
Physical and Health Education in the Middle Year Program helps students develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed for a healthy and balanced lifestyle.
Through active learning, students not only improve their well-being but also learn to appreciate and respect others’ ideas. They build important teamwork and communication skills, which strengthen relationships and promote social responsibility.
Teachers create a well-rounded curriculum that covers both physical health knowledge and hands-on activities like gymnastics, aerobics, and martial arts.
The program also includes team sports such as football, basketball, volleyball, and hockey, along with individual sports like golf, swimming, athletics, squash, and fencing.
Design
Design as taught in the Middle Year Program goes beyond just solving problems and focuses on developing both practical and creative thinking skills. It encourages students to understand the importance of design in both history and modern times, while also teaching them to make responsible decisions.
The challenges students face in design help them grow in different ways. By studying design, IB students learn to use their creative and practical thinking to solve problems more effectively.
Additionally, these challenges give students a deeper understanding of the role of design in the past and present. The subject also emphasizes the ethical and social responsibilities involved in making design choices and taking action.