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September 30, 2014

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Home » Supplement » Education

Unique opportunity to get head start

By Bevan Graham | September 30, 2014, Tuesday | Print Edition

WE live in a world of rapid change, where innovation and creativity are highly sought after commodities in an increasingly competitive job market. In the modern world, a successful education will equip learners with skills such as the ability to solve elaborate problems, manage complex interpersonal relationships, create groundbreaking perspectives as well as uphold self-awareness and compassion. It will support young people in the realization of their unlimited potential, thereby equipping them with invaluable life skills.

The International Baccalaureate Diploma Program is the pinnacle of this formative educational journey, giving students the opportunity to become part of the worldwide IB community of more than 1 million students in 146 countries and regions, and affording them an outstanding, unparalleled educational experience.

The IB Diploma Program is characterized by an academically demanding, internationally focused agenda. The program offers students a broad, balanced and holistic educational experience because it has been carefully designed by experienced educators over many decades.

In addition to the formal academic components, the program is designed to support students to develop the values and life skills needed to live a fulfilled and purposeful life. It has been most gratifying over the years to witness how positive engagement with the program has transformed the lives of so many students and teachers. Alumni have consistently expressed their appreciation of the distinct advantage they have enjoyed at university as a result of completing the IB program.

The academic program of study requires students to study six concurrent subjects. Each student’s selection must include courses in literature, a second language, a social science, a natural science and mathematics.

Subject offerings allow students to formulate a range of personalized portfolios that are well suited to their interests, abilities and career aspirations. As a holistic educational experience, subjects are delivered under the guidance of our experienced and well-qualified IB practitioners, enabling students to make connections across academic disciplines.

Core components

The three compulsory core components — Theory of Knowledge (TOK), Creativity, Action and Service (CAS), and the Extended Essay — are the keystones of the program, specifically designed to enable students to engage with their learning in a critical, reflective and interconnected manner.

The TOK experience provides a forum for discussion and instruction that supports the development of interdisciplinary understanding.

CAS is an important part of developing compassionate and well-informed citizens who become actively involved in their communities. Very often it is CAS learning experiences such as service trips, musicals, IB choir, charity and environmental work, as well as the camaraderie of the sports field, that form the most enduring and cherished memories.

The third element of the IB Diploma, the 4,000-word Extended Essay, affords students the ultimate experience of academic ownership. Students learn various strategies and acquire vital skills that allow them to monitor and control their own learning and develop powers of reflection, self-confidence and self-awareness, a willingness to communicate ideas without fear of losing face, and a willingness to take risks and to be open-minded.

The International Baccalaureate Diploma Program is without doubt the most advanced, rigorous and unique opportunity for any aspiring lifelong learner. Most importantly, however, is that as an IB world school we will teach students how to think and not what to think.

Bevan Graham is IB coordinator of
BISS Pudong.

Education


 

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