Learning @ISP

The International School of Prague is in the final stages of authorisation to become a Full IB Continuum World School, adding the PYP (Primary Years Programme) and MYP (Middle Years Programme) to our CP (Career-related Programme) and long-standing DP (Diploma Programme).

Learning stories

Edge in Education

The Edge in Education is a series of seminars and workshops which take place each academic year on campus at ISP. The series brings together eminent international speakers from the field of education and beyond with ISP educators and parents.

The sessions cover a range of thought provoking presentations on current and future trends in education. The links below show video coverage of the Edge in Education sessions.

Living between languages & cultures

Barbara Noel, Bilingual Education and Literacy Director talking about living between languages & cultures.

Taking Action in the IB: The path to developing Changemakers with Aaron Moniz, Inspire Citizens

Inspire Citizens’ Co-Founder and Director, Aaron Moniz, in exploring what opportunities the PYP, MYP & DP students have to become Changemakers. 

Learning for a Complex World

Best-selling author Julie Stern, that explores the science of learning and specific strategies that can be used with our children at home to better prepare them for our complex world.

Sustainable Future

Inspire Citizens’ Co-Founder and Director, Aaron Moniz, in looking at examples of education for sustainable development, the impact on students, and their local communities.

Making a Difference

Tom Vander Ark, amazing thinker and CEO of GettingSmart, joined ISP faculty, staff, parents, interested students, and invited guests for a community-wide Edge in Education on 21 January 2021. An entrepreneur, educator, prolific writer and speaker, Tom has co-authored more than 50 books, chapters, and white papers and has published thousands of articles. He writes regularly on GettingSmart.com, LinkedIn, and contributes to Forbes. This session focused on why “Learners persist with relevant and rich challenges”, a key learning principle at ISP and how learners in this area might be supported.

Curious – The Desire to Know

Ian Leslie, author of Curious – ‘The Desire to Know and Why Your Future Depends On It‘ argues that everyone is born curious, but only some retain the habits of exploring, learning, and discovering as they grow older. Those who do so tend to be smarter, more creative, and more successful. But at the very moment when the rewards of curiosity have never been higher, it is misunderstood and undervalued, and increasingly monopolised by the cognitive elite. A “curiosity divide” is opening up. Ian joined the ISP Community for the First ever online Edge in Education on 30 September 2020.

Breaking the Voice and Brain Barrier: Evidence-based language learning

Dr Gianfranco Conti: Finding ways to effectively and efficiently acquire additional languages is a key to Empowered Learners, our theme for this year as we aim to “Unleash our Collective Potential” here at ISP. Dr. Gianfranco Conti joined us for our first Edge in Education of 2019-20. In this session, he … framed the discussion in the context of the latest research evidence in second language acquisition, debunked common myths and misconceptions, provided an evidence-based account of how the human brain processes language, laid out the key principles underpinning effective language teaching and learning, and suggested research- informed steps parents can taketo support and enhance the development of their children’s lifelong language learning skills.

From the International Space Station to the International School of Prague

Ricky Arnold has a fascinating life story, having made the transition from international school teacher to international astronaut. Mr. Arnold returned from his most recent mission less than a year ago, returning to earth in October 2018, having spent several months in space with the International Space Station. Before being selected by NASA in 2004, Mr. Arnold was an international educator. He started his teaching career in his native Maryland, USA, before teaching at international schools in Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and Romania. At ISP, Ricky and Elloise Arnold spent most of their time with the students, but luckily our community also had the opportunity to hear from them during this Community Edge in Education.

Help your child navigate Friendship, School and Social Media

Rosalind Wiseman is the New York Times best-selling author of “Queen Bees and Wannabes” (upon which the movie “Mean Girls” was based!) and spent several days working with faculty, students and parents at ISP . Rosalind’s time working with the ISP Community culminated with her session for parents entitled ‘Help your child navigate Friendship, School and Social Media.’

Preparing Students for Future Relevance

With Dr. Marc T. Frankel: A central question for schools today is how to prepare students to “adapt and contribute responsibly to our changing world.” The good news is that we know the answer. This answer has less to do with traditional markers of success—test scores and elite university admissions—and more to do with habits of mind and heart that students can take with them to a multiplicity of schools and workplaces. The challenge of the future is to stay continuously relevant, and the great schools will be those that prepare students to find and sustain their own relevance. Learn what makes a great school and how international education can be at the vanguard of preparing students “to lead healthy, fulfilling, purposeful lives” in an ever-changing world.

Transformative Learning Through Deep Engagement – Garfield Gini-Newman

Garfield Gini-Newman, Professor at the Ontario Institute of Education at the University of Toronto, speaks once more to ISP parents on the theme of engagement. In this session Garfield clarifies what is meant by educational engagement at levels from low to transformative. This session is about how educators and parents can support deep learning through engagement and thinking, both critical and creative.

How can the inquiry approach help your children learn? – Kath Murdoch

In this session, Kath shares with parents the ways in which an inquiry approach to learning really engages students and helps them build a strong skill set for learning at school and for life. This session also includes suggestions for ways in which parents can support their child to be curious questioners and problem solvers.

Empowering Learners – Garfield Gini-Newman

Linked to ISP’s Mission to Empower learners,Garfield Gini-Newman, professor at the Ontario Institute of Education in the University of Toronto, and highly respected teacher, author and consultant returned to ISP to deliver a talk that focused on: -Inspiring wonder, opening students’ eyes to a world of possibilities;-Developing intellectual capacity, building students’ intellectual toolkit so that they become effective thinkers in all domains; and-Nurturing creativity, helping unleash students’ potential for innovative responses to complex and often unique challenges.

Mathematics Learning for the 21st Century – Dr. Yeap Ban Har

ISP welcomed Dr. Yeap Ban Har, Professor of Mathematics Education at Singapore’s sole teacher education institute, the National Institute of Education at Nanyang Technological University. Since 2010, he was the principal at a teacher professional development institute and concurrently Director of Curriculum and Professional Development at Pathlight School in Singapore. He is also Academic Director at Anglo Singapore International School, an international school in Thailand. Linked to ISP’s Mission to Empower learners, Ban Har’s presentation was a conversation about what and how students should learn through mathematics. The presenter will share some data of student learning and outline learning experiences that are critical in high-level learning in mathematics.

School: At the Centre of Changing the World – Ewan McIntosh

This session was led by Ewan McIntosh – the passionate and energising tour de force behind NoTosh. A highly-regarded keynote speaker at events around the world, he’s also the author of How To Come Up With Great Ideas and Actually Make Them Happen. The world is screaming out for young people who can do more than just follow the rules. Following the rules is not enough anymore to create the products and services that people need, or to find and resolve the planet’s greatest challenges. (#ISP2020Change) And yet, so much of our schools’ values and systems present a challenge of their own: they are all about rule-following, and doing ‘well’ against pre-set criteria. What if school wasn’t about meeting the criteria, but exceeding them. What if school wasn’t about following all the rules, but helping students learn when they should really go about breaking them? Sharing insights from his work with some of the world most innovative engineering and creative firms, and first-rate schools, Ewan McIntosh will show how school can be less about preparing students for an unpredictable world, and more about putting them at the centre of changing it.

Talk at Reggio Conference @ISP – Christine Cahille

Christine Chaille, Professor and Department Chair, Curriculum & Instruction at Portland University visited ISP and spoke to an audience of parents about children as theory builders. The session focused on: how children learn by building theories how to support our children’s theory-building parents AS theory-builders the value of “not knowing”

Great Leaders, Great Teachers, Great Parents – Ewan McIntosh

What is the most burning question you have about the way your child learns, the way teachers teach, about what you can do as a parent to support your child as they thrive long into the future? Ewan McIntosh, originally a high school teacher who learned the most by teaching three year olds now works with some of the world’s most innovative engineers, fashion designers, media folk and yes, teachers. He helps them understand how they can work together to create something bigger.

3 C’s of Quality Thinking: Critical, Creative and Collaborative – Garfield Gini-Newman

Garfield Gini-Newman, professor at the Ontario Institute of Education in the University of Toronto, and highly respected teacher, author and consultant led a session on quality thinking for ISP Parents. Garfield, co-author of “Creating Thinking Classrooms”, is working with educators around the world to nurture critical, creative and collaborative thinking.

Cultivating Curiosity – Kath Murdoch

Kath Murdoch, Kath Murdoch is an experienced teacher, author, university lecturer and popular consultant who has worked for many years in schools throughout Australia, New Zealand, Asia, America and Europe. Kath’s session for ISP parents focused on why curiosity and wonder are such vital dispositions for learning (and living!).

Children as Theory Builders – Christine Cahille

Christine Chaille, Professor and Department Chair, Curriculum & Instruction at Portland University visited ISP and spoke to an audience of parents about children as theory builders. The session focused on: how children learn by building theories how to support our children’s theory-building parents AS theory-builders the value of “not knowing”

Developing your Child’s Thinking – Mark Church

ISP welcomed back Mark Church, co-author of “Making Thinking Visible” to address parents. Creating a culture where learning is relevant, connected, and driven by curiosity is central to the ISP strategic plan, ISP2020. The language we use, the questions we engage with and deeply understanding how learning happens matter greatly. This session focused on: How our motives and vision for learning give shape to the kinds of language we use with children Language patterns that typically dominate our interactions with children Routines that develop productive language and interactions for meaningful learning with our children.

The Power of Principles – Kevin Bartlett, Greg Curtis and Peter Mott

ISP is proud to be the first international school to pilot the new NEASC (New England Association of Schools and Colleges) accreditation protocol, known as ACE (Architecture, Culture, Ecology). Why is this new approach to accreditation necessary? Great schools are those where directions and decisions are framed by powerful, shared, research-based principles, not constrained by an over-abundance of complicated rules and regulations. Our concept of ‘learning’ – what ‘it looks like’, how it is nurtured or hindered, where and how it occurs, and what it means to be a learning-focused organization – has significantly changed thanks to social, economic, and technological shifts and dramatic new insights and understandings provided by brain research. Yet, despite many efforts at reforming and reinventing the place we call ‘school’, education has made little progress in liberating itself from a 19th century factory model designed to produce mass literacy – and a compliant work force. For the most part ‘school’ continues to be a place where learning is equated with academic outcomes, content mastery, and uniformity of process and practice. ‘Learning’ remains largely de-personalized, is often confused with high stakes test results, and does not equip our children with the understandings, aptitudes, dispositions, values, and competencies needed to deal with the global dilemmas and challenges of our times. The preliminary accreditation team joined us during the first week of May, and spoke with the ISP community about the link between the principles embedded in our learning experiences and those arising from educational research.

What do today’s employers look for in students entering the workforce? – Michael Del Nin, Eva Shaw and John Westby

Edge in Education Breakfast Mixer and Panel Discussion, April 24, 2015: The final session of the “Edge in Education” Series* of the 2014-15 academic year at the International School of Prague. As the ISP mission states, our school strives to prepare learners to adapt and “contribute responsibly to our changing world.” In other words, we want our students to be “future-ready.” Figuring out what this means has never been more complex or challenging. With the help of a panel of professionals (and ISP parents!) from a number of fields, the fifth and final Edge and Education of the year addressed the question, “What do today’s employers look for in students entering the workforce?” Thank you to Michael Del Nin (Co-CEO, CME), Eva Shaw (Partner & Country Manager, Czech Republic & Slovakia, Lansdowne International), and John Westby (AVP, IT Global Innovation Center at Merck).

Design Thinking Workshop

The heart of our ISP Mission is to prepare learners to adapt and contribute to our changing world by engaging them in an authentic global education. In order to realise this mission, we examine trends to better anticipate what may be “life worthy learning.” “Design Thinking” is a structured, engaging and dynamic process that develops learners’ empathy while developing critical and creative thinking, as the learner generates and develops ideas for identified needs (see this video for a two minute video intro to Design Thinking. Tinkering, making, and/or inventing for authentic needs provide powerful opportunities for learners to fail and bounce back from getting stuck, nurturing the key dispositions for future success: risk-taking, tenacity, resilience, and grit. This fourth session of the 2014-15 ISP Edge in Education series at the International School of Prague discusses “Design Thinking: How can we inspire our learners to act with empathy, while applying critical and creative thinking to meet authentic needs.” As stated in “Design Thinking for Educators” from the d. School at Stanford University, “Design Thinking is the confidence that everyone can be part of creating a more desirable future, and a process to take action when faced with a difficult challenge. That kind of optimism is well needed in education.” Attendees were asked to watch this five-minute video before the meeting – it’s about a teenager using Design Thinking to authentically contribute to the world.

Service Learning Workshop

The heart of our ISP Mission is to prepare learners to adapt and contribute to our changing world by engaging them in an authentic global education. In order to realise this mission, we examine trends to better anticipate what may be “life worthy learning.” Click on the image below to watch the video. In the Jan. 16th session, we discussed how students at ISP investigate issues, prepare for service, take action, reflect on their steps, and document their learning; how can we inspire our learners to act with compassion and intercultural understanding? Parent, students, and faculty members shared their experience with Service Learning.

Experiential Learning Workshop

The heart of our ISP Mission is to prepare learners to adapt and contribute to our changing world by engaging them in an authentic global education. In order to realise this mission, we examine trends to better anticipate what may be “life worthy learning.” The subject of our second Edge in Education session of 2014-15 was “Experiential Learning: How can we engage, inspire, and empower our learners through authentic learning experiences?” As the Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (OECD) states, “There is broad consensus that in innovation-driven societies, schools have to guide students in solving complex, unfamiliar and non-routine tasks.”

The Relevance Gap

The heart of our ISP Mission is to prepare learners to adapt and contribute to our changing world by engaging them in an authentic global education. In order to realise this mission, we examine trends to better anticipate what may be “life worthy learning.” The title of this first Edge in Education session of 2014-15 was “The Relevance Gap: will today’s content be relevant in the future of our current students?” Attendees were encouraged to watch this six-minute interview with David Perkins of Harvard University which acted as a springboard for the discussion about the challenges the relevance gap poses and how we’re addressing some of these challenges here at ISP.