In a move that aims to inspire students to become ‘active world citizens’, one Lethbridge, Alta., school has changed its programming by becoming an International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme intitution (IB-PYP).
“For the last two years, (Our Lady of Assumption School) has been working on becoming an IB-PYP school. We received our verification last week, so we are now officially an IB world school – we’re the first elementary school south of Calgary to have that designation,” said Caryn Swark, associate principal of the school.
The designation means students will now learn in new ways.
“It’s a lot about learning to learn. So, what we’re teaching is still the Alberta curriculum, but it’s as important how we’re learning it and the skilled we’re building and who we’re becoming as we learn, as it is what we’re learning,” said Swark.
During the process to becoming an IB-PYP school, students had been engaged in discovering world issues, then coming up with solutions. On Thursday, Grade 6 students showcased their work.
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“For our project, we did climate change affecting marine life,” said Devlyn Jackson, a Grade 6 student.
While a variety of world issues were on display, Jackson’s group wasn’t the only one working on the environment.
“For the past month, we’ve been researching about traffic-related pollution and for two months, we were researching about solar energy and how it impacts air pollution,” said Tejiri Ovwasa, another Grade 6 student.
It wasn’t just posters and papers, however. Students raised money and even donated to local charities to help make an impact immediately.
“It’s been really easy to guide because they’ve chosen something that they’re so interested in and they know that they want to do something to make the world better,” said Jorin Gaudet, a Grade 6 teacher at Our Lady of Assumption School.
Even as these students prepare for middle school next year, the early look at this program will stick with them well into the future.
“I think I’d want to do it again, it’s really fun,” said Jackson.
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