IB Middle Years Programme

 Questions & Answers – November

Q. What are the important goals for the IB MYP at Smiley?

A. The goals of the IB MYP at Smiley are to provide an internationally recognized academic program for academically capable and motivated students; to stimulate and strengthen students' intellectual curiosity and to recognize relationships between school subjects and the outside world; to foster students' ability to combine knowledge, experience, and critical observation while encouraging the students' growth toward self-reliance and responsible participation in society.

Q. Is the MYP designed only for high performing students?

A. The MYP is designed to meet the needs of all students, including students with special needs. 

Q. How can I support my child’s national and international awareness?

A. You can support your child’s awareness and learning by reading, watching, or listening to national and international news and discussing the impact.

Q. How can I encourage and support the Learner Profile attribute of “Inquirer” in my child?

A. You can ask open-ended questions to allow her/him to define and express their opinions.

Q. What are the Areas of Interaction; what is their role?

A. The Areas of Interaction include: 1) Approaches to Learning, 2) Community & Service; 3) Health & Social Education; 4) Environments; and 5) Human Ingenuity.  They are used in the MYP as a lens to explore subject matter, to see connections between subjects, to forge meaningful links between subject content and the real world, and to understand that knowledge is an interrelated whole.

Q. On my tour, I saw a UNIT QUESTION on the board; what is that?

A.  A Unit Question (also called a guiding or essential question) is an overarching question that provides focus for a unit or work.  It is often used across subject groups to provide an interdisciplinary focus, as students would endeavor to answer the question from different subject perspectives.