Curriculum

  • K-8  IB World School

    Philosophy

    Marie G. Davis strives through our mission and vision statement: “to create active, curious citizens who are passionate about making the world a better place and serving all inhabitants” to prepare students as they transition into high school. Assessments measure the extent to which students have mastered advanced academic skills like analyzing and presenting information, evaluating and constructing arguments, and solving problems creatively. 

    The curriculum at Marie G. Davis, IB School has merged standards for the State of North Carolina and the IB PYP and MYP Programme. The focus will allow our students to become active, compassionate lifelong learners.

    The International Baccalaureate® (IB) Primary Years Programme (PYP) balances the acquisition of significant and relevant knowledge and skills, the development of conceptual understanding, the formation of personal, positive attitudes and the capacity to take responsible actions.

     

     

    🔷The written curriculum, outlined below, is made up of five essential elements and details what students will learn.

    Essential elements in the PYP

    The five essential elements of PYP are:

      • knowledge, which is both disciplinary, represented by traditional subject areas (language, maths, science, social studies, arts, PSPE) and transdisciplinary
      • concepts, which students explore through structured inquiry in order to develop a coherent, in-depth understanding, and which have relevance both within and beyond subject areas
      • skills, which are the broad abilities students develop and apply during learning and in life beyond the classroom.
      • attitudes, which contribute to international-mindedness and the wellbeing of individuals and learning communities,  and connect directly to the IB learner profile
      • action, which is an expectation in the PYP that successful inquiry leads to responsible, thoughtful and appropriate action.

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    Essential elements in the MYP 

    Students learn best when their learning experiences have context and are connected to their lives and their experience of the world that they have experienced.

    Using global contexts, MYP students develop an understanding of their common humanity and shared guardianship of the planet through developmentally appropriate explorations of:

    • identities and relationships
    • personal and cultural identity
    • orientations in space and time
    • scientific and technical innovation
    • fairness and development
    • globalization and sustainability 

    🔹Conceptual understanding

    Concepts are big ideas that have relevance within specific disciplines and across subject areas. MYP students use concepts as a vehicle to inquire into issues and ideas of personal, local and global significance and examine knowledge holistically. The MYP prescribes sixteen key interdisciplinary concepts along with related concepts for each discipline. 

    🔹 Approaches to learning

    A unifying thread throughout all MYP subject groups, approaches to learning (ATL) provide the foundation for independent learning and encourage the application of their knowledge and skills in unfamiliar contexts. Developing and applying these social, thinking, research, communication and self management skills helps students learn how to learn. 

    🔹 Service as action, through community service 

    Action and service have always been shared values of the IB community.

    Students take action when they apply what they are learning in the classroom and beyond. IB learners strive to be caring members of the community who demonstrate a commitment to service—making a positive difference to the lives of others and to the environment.

    Service as action is an integral part of the programme, especially in the MYP community project.