They take to the stage to showcase their personal projects, service learning ideas and more
Middle Years Programme (MYP) students at The International Academy-Amman, in Jordan, produce so much inspiring work for it to go unnoticed. That’s why MYP coordinator Nadia Abdallah created MYP Day, an event dedicated to celebrating their work.
The event, which was launched two years ago, offers students the opportunity to get on stage and present their interdisciplinary units, service as action units, ICT skills, and community and personal projects to the community.
“We wanted to show the school community how we link MYP to the real-world,” says Abdallah, who is also the MYP and IB Diploma Programme (DP) English Language and Literature Teacher. “By having a big event, we were able to show parents of over 400 students MYP displays from units.”
Students organize an ‘MYP gallery walk’, which includes a science and IT fair, community project exhibition, and mini personal project exhibition. Teachers, parents and students from other grades give feedback on personal project ideas, and students use this information to finalize their idea.
Students also have the opportunity to transform their community project into a presentation similar to a TEDX talk. For example, student Masa Shaka’a spoke about her Hydroponic agriculture project – the method of growing plants without soil and minimal water. Masa believes this approach could solve water scarcity in Jordan and improve the quality of food.
Masa investigated ways to grow crops faster, healthier and in environments that don’t require much water. She planted many different plants based on her research – such as cucumber, strawberry and zucchini — and promoted hydroponics on social media to raise awareness of its benefits. Next year, Masa is planning to sell her homegrown vegetables to big supermarkets.
“Students learn to appreciate their work on MYP Day,” says Abdallah. “They are so proud of themselves after hearing positive feedback from other members of the school community. They also display concrete understanding of the approaches to teaching and learning (ATL) skills.”
She adds: “Students adopt many of the IB learner profile attributes. They are risk takers, communicators, principled, open-minded and caring.”
This article is part of a series of stories from IB World magazine that bring to life the wonderful initiatives undertaken by IB students and educators from around the globe. Follow these stories on Twitter @IBorganization #IBcommunitystories. Share your great stories and experiences: email editor@ibo.org