IB- INTERDISCIPLINARY AND THE
MYP MODEL
INTERCULTURAL AWARENESS
COMMUNICATION
HOLISTIC LEARNING
The Following Help Foster Teachers
Efforts
"In the MYP interdisciplinary learning is
generally defined as the process by
which students come to understand
bodies of knowledge and modes of
thinking from two or more disciplines
or subject groups and integrate them to
create a new understanding."
(Interdisciplinary teaching in the MYP
Guide, 2010)
"Interdisciplinarity is excellent if it is firmly
rooted in disciplinarity. Each subject is not
an end in itself but it must be an efficient
tool. We must keep its identity and
especially its own methodology. Only on
that basis will we be able to construct a
serious interdisciplinarity. Otherwise we will
lead our students to mental confusion and
superficial surveys."
(Renaud, 1989)
…”teachers engage in interdisciplinary work because
they expect students to appreciate similarities and
differences in the ways particular disciplines shed
light on the world, much like theory of knowledge
teachers in the Diploma Programme. Teachers
motivated by this possibility value students’ capacity
to reflect about the nature of knowledge in ways that
prepare them as knowledge managers. For example,
students may compare what constitutes evidence in
art, history and biology as a way to enrich their
understanding of the nature of evidence. Other
teachers may examine the role of symbolism in
theatre, music and visual arts seeking to inspire
students’ original artistic productions.”
INTERCULTURAL AWARENESS
• Develops Students: Attitudes, Knowledge and
Skills
• Encourages Consideration of: Multiple
perspectives, goes beyond fostering tolerance
to developing Respect and Empathy
Communication
• Supports Inquiry and Understanding
• Allows For: Reflection and Expression
• Particular Emphasis on: Language Acquisition
with multiple forms of Expression
HOLISTIC LEARNING
• Directly Addresses the Interdisciplinary
Foundation
• “links the subjects to foster a wide scope of
understanding—concepts, ideas, and modes
of thinking that offer a global view of
situations and issues, are relevant to students
and society, and can be employed by students
in a variety of meaningful contexts.”(IB CW)
Planning For Interdisciplinary work a
five step process
Making a Multifaceted QuestionStep 1
• A good multi-faceted unit question is relevant to students,
teachers, and the societies in which we live. Because the
MYP places students at the centre of their learning and
recognizes the intellectual demands of interdisciplinary
work, it is especially important that the questions be
meaningful and engaging to students—they must connect
with students' prior knowledge, life circumstances, and
interests in developmentally appropriate ways. Similarly,
powerful questions engage teachers’ own expertise,
interests and commitments. Perhaps most importantly, the
MYP's multifaceted unit questions are vividly relevant to
the societies in which we live—capturing important aspects
of the world and human experience typically framed in the
areas of interaction.
Tools and Disciplinary Understanding
Selection of Disciplinary
Understanding- Step 2
1.
2.
3.
4.
Look into the subject aims and objectives that offer an overview of
important understandings to be examined in each subject group.
Decide which disciplines will best contribute to students' understanding
of the multi-faceted question in the interdisciplinary unit.
Use two criteria: strategically select disciplinary understanding and make
sure the understanding is robust.
Take from the subject aims and objectives the relevant specific
knowledge, modes of thinking, concepts that student will need to
address the unit question. Bear in mind four capacities that should be
nurtured in students and reflected upon.
• The purpose of disciplinary inquiry
• An essential knowledge base
• Disciplinary inquiry methods
• Forms of communication
Graphic Organizer-Integrating
Developing Integrative Understandings
Step 3
•
Have clarity regarding the kind of connections you would like students to make and the
learning opportunities they embody. An interdisciplinary integration can be described in
terms of "the way we expect that disciplines, at a basic level, will come together in a given
teaching design". In order to do this effectively it would be best if you:
– identify one, two, maximum three core integrative understandings to target
– consider integrative understandings as targeted learning goals
– communicate explicitly to your colleagues and students the type of connections you seek and
their relevance to the study of the multi-faceted unit
– consider using these strategies to describe clearly the integrative connections:
• share the specific contributions of each discipline to students' overall understanding of the
topic
• show exemplars such as inviting experts on the topic, or previous years' students who worked
on this unit or showing how scholars produce integrative work
• use integrative concepts as anchors by examining closely key complex concepts or phrases that
embody the unit’s topic
•
Make sure integration advances and deepens students’ understanding of the multi-faceted
unit question. It is more powerful when it is clearly addressing the purpose of the
interdisciplinary inquiry.
How can I make sure that disciplines will be successfully
integrated to deepen students' understanding?
•
•
•
•
To bring disciplines together meaningfully. You could start by: (not exhaustive-use
your discipline experience)
having the integrative goals clearly described, distinguish between potential forms
of relationship among subjects/ disciplines
brainstorming the kind of activities or performances of understanding to support
the chosen integrative goals
considering to explore these six ways to enable effective integration through:
– artistic synthesis when engaging in creating an aesthetic interpretation of a non-artistic topic
or issue
– personal resonance when exploring a concept by examining how it has been interpreted in
works stemming from multiple domains. This enables students to build a personal stance on
the meaning of the topic chosen
– crossover tool (-ing) when learning a concept or skill in one discipline and it can be applied
across subjects
– complex explanation when taking account of topics where multiple factors interact
– contextualization when situating a particular concept, issue in a larger context (historical,
social, etc) to throw more light into the issue under study
– technological/ practical solution when working with a clear practical, concrete outcome in
mind such as creating a product, finding a solution or developing an intervention.
examples
• Create informed historical monuments to revisit the
question of how monuments, art woks and propaganda
use visual symbols to tell a story about society.
• Organize an awareness poster campaign addressing the
problem under discussion.
• Make a video clip/ a documentary addressing the
problem under discussion to teach a younger class in
the school.
• Make the "Issue Year Book" to donate to the library
showing a deep and thorough study of the issue and
supporting the information with arguments and solid
bibliography.
Assessing multidisciplinary work
• What is the MYP approach to assessment?
The MYP offers a holistic approach to interdisciplinary work that is rooted
in the definition of interdisciplinary learning; this approach guides
teachers' attention to four criteria of the work.
• Purpose: What is the purpose of this work? How clear, interdisciplinary,
and focused through the areas of interaction is it?
• Grounding: Is the student drawing on the subjects' knowledge and modes
of thinking (concepts, skills, attitudes) accurately and appropriately?
• Integration: Are the subjects in this work integrated in ways that deepen
students' understanding?
• Thoughtfulness: Is the student thoughtful about his or her work and the
challenges and opportunities of making connections across subjects?
• The recommended assessment approach builds on the subject criteria
stipulated by the MYP and expands beyond them by inviting teachers to
examine interdisciplinary student work holistically in a systematic way.
How do I go about assessing interdisciplinary
work?
Some steps need to be followed:
Some steps need to be followed:
Purpose
• Describe: What is the
purpose of the work? –
usually the teacher…
• Assess: Is the purpose of
the work clear?
- Does the purpose
invite/require an
interdisciplinary approach?
- Is the work clearly focused
through an MYP area of
interaction?
• Guide: How can we support
the student to gain clarity
about the purpose of their
interdisciplinary work and
its relationship with the
areas of interaction?
Disciplinary grounding
• Describe: Which disciplines inform
this work in general?
• Assess: Are subjects/disciplines
selected in ways that fit the
purpose of the piece or are they
included in a forced manner? Is
there evidence of the student
developing mastery of key
objectives in the subjects
selected—that is, are knowledge,
skills, methods, languages,
values, used in accurate, rich and
effective ways?
• Guide: How can we further
support students in their efforts to
improve their understanding of
core relevant knowledge, skills
and attitudes in the chosen
subjects?
Assessing students' capacity to integrate
what they learn is perhaps the most
challenging step in assessing
interdisciplinary work. This is in part
because we are not used to looking
closely at how perspectives connect.
Missing evidence of integration calls
upon teachers to revise their designs so
that they can foster and support students
to integrate.
Integration
•
•
•
Describe: What are the key points of
integration proposed in the work—that
is, where are disciplinary perspectives
clearly brought together in a phrase,
metaphor, interpretation, or
explanation?
Assess: Are the integrations enabling
students to advance their
understanding effectively—for example,
to produce more comprehensive
descriptions, richer explanations, more
creative and new interpretations,
deeper explorations or effective
solutions that benefit from the
combination of perspectives?
Guide: How can we further support
students in their efforts to integrate
available disciplinary insights to
advance their understanding (if
applicable)?
Thoughtfulness
•
•
•
Describe: Does the work indicate
that the student has reflected
about the learning challenges and
possibilities of bringing disciplinary
insights together to address his or
her purposes?
Assess: Do the student's reflections
about the process and outcome of
the work reveal understanding of
key aspects of doing
interdisciplinary work—for
example, the possibilities opened
by integrative work, the insights
gained along the way, the
challenges of bringing disciplines
together, the tension of satisfying
conflicting standards?
Guide: How can we further support
the student to understand the
demands of interdisciplinary work
(if applicable)?
What is the MYP approach to assessment?
Current Approaches
• Make a list of your current
practices of assessment.
• What are the questions or
reflections you make before
constructing an
assessment?
Space to write current practices:
“Whether precise or more holistic, the
assessment of student work must be
grounded in samples of work that offer
evidence of interdisciplinary
understanding. It must be ongoing and
informative to students. Whenever
possible, interdisciplinary assessment
should be collaborative as well as using
multiple teachers' expertise on a
particular student's work.”
MYP- Holistic Approach rooted in
Interdisciplinary work-4 criteria
• PURPOSE: Usually teacher established, drives the work and
sets the standards for assessment.
• GROUNDING: How accurately
students have drawn info
from relevant discipline content?
• INTEGRATION: Integrative nature of student
understanding based on how the disciplines are sequentially
brought together.
• THOUGHTFULNESS: Student reflective piece- students
consider accomplishments and limitations of their own work
and the possibilities of disciplinary insights
Step 1: Purpose
Here teachers must examine three areas:
• Describe: What is the purpose of the work?
• Assess: Is the purpose of the work clear (whether
explicit or implicit)?
- Does the purpose invite/require an interdisciplinary
approach?
- Is the work clearly focused through an MYP area of
interaction?
• Guide: How can we support the student to gain clarity
about the purpose of his or her interdisciplinary work
and its relationship with the areas of interaction?
Step 2: Disciplinary grounding
• Describe: Which disciplines inform this work in
general?
• Assess: Are subjects or disciplines selected in ways that
fit the purpose of the piece or are they included in a
forced manner? Is there evidence of the student
developing mastery of key objectives in the subjects
selected—that is, are knowledge, skills, methods,
languages, values, used in accurate, rich and effective
ways?
• Guide: How can we further support students in their
efforts to improve their understanding of core relevant
knowledge, skills and attitudes in the chosen subjects?
Step 3: Integration
• Describe: What are the key points of integration proposed in the
work—that is, where are disciplinary perspectives clearly
brought together in a phrase, metaphor, interpretation, or
explanation?
• Assess: Are the integrations enabling students to advance their
understanding effectively—for example, to produce more
comprehensive descriptions, richer explanations, more creative
and new interpretations, deeper explorations or effective
solutions that benefit from the combination of perspectives?
• Guide: How can we further support students in their efforts to
integrate available disciplinary insights to advance their
understanding (if applicable)?
Step 4: Thoughtfulness
• Describe: Does the work indicate that the student has
reflected about the learning challenges and possibilities of
bringing disciplinary insights together to address his or her
purposes?
• Assess: Do the student's reflections about the process and
outcome of the work reveal understanding of key aspects
of doing interdisciplinary work—for example, the
possibilities opened by integrative work, the insights gained
along the way, the challenges of bringing disciplines
together, the tension of satisfying conflicting standards?
• Guide: How can we further support the student to
understand the demands of interdisciplinary work (if
applicable)?
Which challenges can emerge from
interdisciplinary assessment?
• What exactly will the purpose of student
inquiry be?
• What specifically are the disciplinary insights
to be developed?
• In what ways should understanding be
advanced?
• What insights will students gain about the
process of doing interdisciplinary work?
Use ongoing informative assessment
“…this approach to assessment is not just about
evaluating students’ understanding;
it is also about supporting and promoting it.”
“formal and planned, for example, written comments
on papers or project proposals or informal, occurring
spontaneously during class discussion or one-on-one
interactions with students) and foster peer feedback too
(opportunities for students to assess each other’s work
as well as to reflect on their own work, sometimes in
the form of journals or reflective pieces.”
Try to work with a collaborative assessment team
In terms of assessment the collaboration matters because
it enables teachers to draw on their particular areas of
expertise and their specific subject goals to assess
student work.
Analyzing purposes, disciplinary grounding and
thoughtfulness together based on several students' work
entails an important professional development
opportunity for teachers who begin to see how exactly
their subject areas interact, overlap or complement one
another.
Clarity about such disciplinary connections also enriches
assessment and instruction.
Teachers are encouraged to consider
the following assessment protocol
• Structure teachers’ conversation about a
particular student’s work to reveal strengths and
growth opportunities.
These steps include:
1. reminding the group of the questions to explore
2. looking at the evidence
3. describing the evidence
4. asking questions
EXAMINATION OF STUDENT WORK
ACTIVITY!
• Materials
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PowerPoint
Nuclear Bomb Victims Memorial By Brian N.
MYP Subject guide objectives
Reminder of Criteria Worksheet: Purpose, Disciplinary Grounding,
Integration and Thoughtfulness.
Method: Groups of no more than three; review
project, criteria, look for Purpose, Disciplinary
Grounding , Integration and Thoughtfulness
Discuss and write your thoughts on the Worksheet.