Learning@ISP

CURIOUS: Learners inquire to uncover and connect ideas that transfer to other contexts

The IB Learner profile aims to develop internationally minded people who, recognising their common humanity and shared guardianship of the planet, help create a better and more peaceful world. Two attributes related to being a curious changemaker are being inquirers and risk-takers. 

Inquirers: We nurture our curiosity, developing skills for inquiry and research. We know how to learn independently and with others. We learn with enthusiasm and sustain our love of learning throughout life. 

Risk-Takers: We approach uncertainty with forethought and determination; we work independently and cooperatively to explore new ideas and innovative strategies. We are resourceful and resilient in the face of challenges and change. 

All IB programmes are rooted in inquiry-based teaching and learning with the following two goals:

1. Students are engaged, critical thinkers and problem-solvers, and lifelong learners.
2. Students develop the dispositions and skills to pursue meaningful questions that are not only interesting to them and others but that also lead to a better, more peaceful world.

Inquiry, as the leading pedagogical approach in all of the IB programmes, recognises students as being actively involved in their own learning and as taking responsibility for that learning. As part of the learner profile, students are supported in becoming “inquirers”. ​​Inquiry nurtures curiosity and promotes enthusiasm for life-long learning. Effective inquiry encourages students to think, challenge and extend their ideas; it prompts students to reflect and take action. 

Inquiry is purposeful and authentic, extending students’ learning when the exploration of initial curiosity generates new questions and wonderings. By situating inquiry in meaningful contexts, connections are made between personal experiences to local and global opportunities and challenges.

What does inquiry look like?

Inquiry is the process initiated by the students or the teacher that moves the students from their current level of understanding to a new and deeper level of understanding. This can look and sound like:

• exploring, wondering and questioning
• experimenting and playing with possibilities
• making connections between previous learning and current learning
• making predictions and acting purposefully to see what happens;
• collecting data and reporting findings
• clarifying existing ideas and reappraising perceptions of events
• deepening understanding through the application of a concept
• making and testing theories
• researching and seeking information
• taking and defending a position
• solving problems in a variety of ways

Two of ISP’s Learning Principles ensure we create the conditions for learners to truly become curious changemakers:

1. Learners’ curiosity drives what and how they learn. 
2. Learners persist and apply their learning in diverse and challenging contexts. 

COMPETENT: Learners continually grow and transfer their ability to think, research and communicate.

The IB Learner profile aims to develop internationally minded people who, recognising their common humanity and shared guardianship of the planet, help to create a better and more peaceful world. Three of the attributes related to being a competent changemaker are being knowledgeable, thinkers and communicators. 

Knowledgeable: We develop and use conceptual understanding, exploring knowledge across a range of disciplines. We engage with issues and ideas that have local and global significance. 

Thinkers: We use critical and creative thinking skills to analyse and take responsible action on complex problems. We exercise initiative in making reasoned, ethical decisions. 

Communicators: We express ourselves confidently and creatively in more than one language and in many ways. We collaborate effectively, listening carefully to the perspectives of other individuals and groups. 

In all IB programmes, students acquire critical transferable ideas and transferable skills that ensure they become highly competent changemakers. 

Transferable Ideas

Central to all the IB programme philosophies is Concept-based inquiry, a powerful vehicle for learning that promotes meaning making and depth of understanding, challenging students to engage with significant ideas. Students learn to think critically about big transferable ideas by identifying and investigating key concepts. Key concepts drive learning experiences and help to frame units of inquiry.

Concepts facilitate depth and complexity in learning and provide a structure for conceptual understandings that build upon the knowledge and skills to extend and deepen student learning. 

The exploration and re-exploration of concepts lead students to an appreciation of ideas that transcend disciplinary boundaries and a sense of the essence of each subject. Students gradually work towards a deepening of their conceptual understandings as they approach those concepts from a range of perspectives.

Transferable Skills

When learning about and through the subjects, students acquire skills that best help them to learn those subjects. For example, in language, the students become literate, and in mathematics, they become numerate. The acquisition of literacy and numeracy skills, in their broadest sense, is essential, as these skills provide students with the tools to inquire.

Beyond literacy and numeracy skills, there is a range of interrelated approaches to learning that are transferable across contexts. These skills support purposeful inquiry and set the foundations for lifelong learning. The development of these skills is frequently identified in education literature as crucial in supporting students' effective learning and success inside and outside of school (Trilling and Fadel 2009; Wagner 2014). 

Learners develop their competencies to think critically and creatively, to research efficiently and to communicate effectively to a wide range of audiences for multiple purposes. In the IB, these competencies are called Approaches to Learning (ATL’s).

Approaches to Learning (ATL).

Approaches to learning (ATL) are grounded in the belief that learning how to learn is fundamental to a student’s education. 
Through a variety of strategies, teachers collaboratively plan for implicit and explicit opportunities to develop ATL both inside and outside the programme of inquiry.

Lastly, two of ISP’s Learning Principles are foundational in nurturing learners who can transfer the knowledge, skills, and understandings they acquire in any context. 

1. Learners persist with relevant and rich challenges.
2. Learners consider and connect complex ideas. 
    

COMPASSIONATE: Learners use self-knowledge, self-management and empathy to contribute to a caring team.

The IB Learner profile aims to develop internationally minded people who, recognising their common humanity and shared guardianship of the planet, help to create a better and more peaceful world. Three attributes related to being a compassionate change maker are being principled, open-minded and caring. 

Principled: We act with integrity and honesty, with a strong sense of fairness and justice, and with respect for the dignity and rights of people everywhere. We take responsibility for our actions and their consequences.

Open-minded: We critically appreciate our own cultures and personal histories, as well as the values and traditions of others. We seek and evaluate a range of points of view, and we are willing to grow from the experience.

Caring: We show empathy, compassion, and respect. We have a commitment to service, and we act to make a positive difference in the lives of others and in the world around us. 

Learners develop lifelong social and self-management competencies. In all IB programmes, these social-emotional skills are called Approaches to Learning (ATL).Social Competencies

• Developing positive interpersonal relationships and collaboration skills: using self-control, managing setbacks, supporting peers, sharing responsibility for decision-making, managing and resolving conflicts; and
• Developing empathy and social-emotional intelligence involves making fair decisions, actively listening to other perspectives, and advocating for one's own rights and needs.

Self-Management Competencies 

• Organisation: managing time and tasks effectively;
• Managing our states-of-mind: mindfulness, perseverance, emotional management, self-motivation, resilience.

Lastly, ISP’s foundational Learning Principle is key to creating the conditions for nurturing compassionate changemakers:

Learners feel a sense of safety and belonging.

CHANGEMAKERS:  Learners leverage their curiosity, competencies, and compassion to take action that positively impacts the community.

At ISP, being a changemaker is a continuous process that goes beyond a single unit or school year. Being a changemaker is woven throughout the fabric of our curricular and extracurricular learning programmes.

The IB Learner profile aims to develop internationally minded people who, recognising their common humanity and shared guardianship of the planet, help to create a better and more peaceful world. Three attributes related to being an impactful changemaker are Caring, Risk-Taking and Thinking. 

Caring: We show empathy, compassion and respect. We have a commitment to service, and we act to make a positive difference in the lives of others and in the world around us. 

Risk-Takers: We approach uncertainty with forethought and determination; we work independently and cooperatively to explore new ideas and innovative strategies. We are resourceful and resilient in the face of challenges and change.  

Thinkers: We use critical and creative thinking skills to analyse and take responsible action on complex problems. We exercise initiative in making reasoned, ethical decisions. 

Action involves learning by doing, and service to the community is a key element of all IB programmes. Being a changemaker means students make a positive difference in the lives of others and in the environment by addressing a genuine need in the community. 

Lastly, two of ISP’s Learning Principles are key in creating the conditions where we nurture impactful changemakers: 

1. Learners persist with relevant and rich challenges. 
2. Learners apply their learning in diverse and challenging contexts.