Developing Curiosity

Primary Years Programme (PYP)

• Early Childhood Foundations at ISP recognises that young children are curious learners from birth. Within the PYP framework, we draw our foundational inspiration from the Educational Project in Reggio Emilia. Our classes are rooted in inquiry that nurtures and leverages learners’ curiosity to drive what and how they’re learning. 
   
• Grades 1 to 5 at ISP are rooted in the Primary Years Programme (PYP) which is framed by six transdisciplinary themes. These units provide children with authentic learning experiences that are not confined to the boundaries of traditional subjects. Although subjects play an important role in learning, PYP learners explore real-world problems by going beyond subject boundaries and by taking action in their community and the wider world. 

The PYP learning culminates in the Grade 5 Exhibition, an authentic in-depth inquiry in which learners explore, document, and share their understanding of an issue or opportunity of personal significance. All exhibition projects are student-initiated, designed and collaborative.  
 

Middle Years Programme (MYP)

In the Middle Years Programme (MYP) classes, clear statements of inquiry and global contexts in all of the courses lead our curious learners to explore multiple perspectives and develop depth of disciplinary and interdisciplinary conceptual understandings.

Learners become powerful researchers through Interdisciplinary Units (IDU) in each grade level as well as the community project in Grade 8 and the Personal Project in Grade 10.

Where we see learners come most alive is when they are building on their varied and evolving curiosities, which are nurtured significantly through our extensive elective programmes in both the Middle and Upper Schools. 

Diploma and Career-related Programmes (DP & CP)

In the Diploma Programme (DP) and Career-related Programme (CP), the courses are rooted in inquiry with deep conceptual knowledge and understanding in their chosen disciplines of study. Learners follow their curiosity when executing their Internal Assessments (IAs) in each course. 

Learners demonstrate their accumulated capacity as researchers in their Extended Essay (EE) in the DP or the Reflective Project (RP) in the CP.

• The EE is an externally assessed piece of independent research into a topic chosen by the student and presented as a formal piece of academic writing. Their high-level research and intellectual discovery results in a formally presented structured piece of writing up to 4,000 words in which their ideas and findings are communicated in a reasoned, clear and coherent manner.
   
• For the RP, CP students choose an ethical dilemma related to their career focus and document their investigation and their suggested resolution with an in-depth body of work and a record of their process and reflections. The final product includes writing and an additional format (film, oral presentation, etc.).