Programme of Inquiry (POI)

The Curriculum Model

The IB/PYP curriculum model has structured inquiry at the centre of learning and teaching for the following four reasons:

- Children are active inquirers by nature. The big ideas, the subject matter and skills theyare learning must engage them and empower them to control themselves and theirworld. Encouraging them to inquire is a central part of motivating and inspiring them tolearn.

- Children must be challenged to learn about topics and ideas which take them beyondtheir normal interests and their current understanding of the world. They must bechallenged to think in new ways about the familiar, to make connections, to see thingsfrom different points of view, and to think about how they know what they think theyknow. They must be challenged to meet standards which are age appropriately difficult,in the sense that all .good. education takes people beyond what they think they can do.

- Children do not see knowledge as belonging to different disciplines. This meanslearning cannot always be as neat and tidy and separate as our adult minds have beentrained to think of science, history and math. Children learn best in context and whenthey can apply their learning to relevant situations.

- Children, especially international children, come to school with different levels of priorknowledge and ability. This is recognised and built upon within the group learningsituation. It means listening and responding to other students’ inquiries and learningfrom each other, not only from the teacher.

Within the PYP, inquiry is the cornerstone of critical thinking and real world problem solving. There are usually no correct answers, only better answers. Students are encouraged to ask questions that challenge the text books, current practices and other people’s statements (including the teacher’s). They also question why something is worth learning. Students learn there is no such thing as an irrelevant question, but there are questions which may have no answers right now. Six organising questions provide the framework for the exploration of knowledge. Teachers are guided by these questions as they design units for study, called Units of Inquiry.

Six Units of Inquiry are studied in one school year, one unit for each of the organizing questions. Each unit lasts about 6 weeks and students explore conventional subject disciplines through these questions, often in ways which transcend these conventional school subjects.

Significant features of the Program of Inquiry

- It is a coherent, six year program planned and taught across the grades and across the subjects.

- It is made up of transdisciplinary units developed around organising questions which are of importance in understanding ourselves and our world.

- These units represent a selection of important knowledge from the traditional school subjects of history, geography, science, literature, art, math and language but transcend these subjects.

- Each unit of inquiry focuses on depth of study rather than coverage of many topics.

While the guidelines for the Program of Inquiry are provided by the (International Baccalaureate Organisation) IBO, the actual program is developed by each school taking into account the host country, location, school population and local circumstances.

Inquiry is a tool and a way of thinking in the PYP. Not everything is learned in the transdisciplinary Units of Inquiry. MZIS continually reviews grade level objectives for language, mathematics, the arts, information retrieval (computer and library) and physical education . When appropriate these objectives are learned in the context of the transdisciplinary Units of Inquiry. For example, Grade 2 students understand linear measurement through the construction of kites in the unit Is Air There?

Not everything is best learned through the Units of Inquiry. Some specific aspects of what parents probably think of as the basics: reading, writing and mathematics are more appropriately learned in their own right and there are “stand alone” lessons for some math, reading and writing topics. While taught outside of the Programe of inquiry, the inquiry approach is also used , along with other instructional techniques in these areas. The IB/PYP emphasis is always on relevance of the learning to the learner.