Dalian EtonHouse offers the International Baccalaureate® (IB) Middle Years Programme (MYP) comprises eight subject groups:
Language and literature.
Individuals and societies.
Sciences.
Mathematics.
Arts.
Physical and health education.
Design.
The MYP requires at least 50 hours of teaching time for each subject group in each year of the programme. Each year, students in the MYP also engage in at least one collaboratively planned interdisciplinary unit that involves at least two subject groups.
MYP students also complete a long-term project, know as a Personal Project where they decide what they want to learn about, identify what they already know, discovering what they will need to know to complete the project, and create a proposal or criteria for completing it.
Middle Years approach to teaching and learning
The MYP aims to help students develop their personal understanding, their emerging sense of self and responsibility in their community.
Teaching and learning in the MYP is underpinned by the following concepts:
Students learn best when their learning experiences have context and are connected to their lives and their experience of the world that they have experienced.
Using global contexts, MYP students develop an understanding of their common humanity and shared guardianship of the planet through developmentally appropriate explorations of:
identities and relationships
personal and cultural identity
orientations in space and time
scientific and technical innovation
fairness and development
globalization and sustainability.
Conceptual understanding
Concepts are big ideas that have relevance within specific disciplines and across subject areas. MYP students use concepts as a vehicle to inquire into issues and ideas of personal, local and global significance and examine knowledge holistically. The MYP prescribes sixteen key interdisciplinary concepts along with related concepts for each discipline.
Approaches to learning (ATL)
A unifying thread throughout all MYP subject groups, approaches to learning (ATL) provide the foundation for independent learning and encourage the application of their knowledge and skills in unfamiliar contexts. Developing and applying these social, thinking, research, communication and self management skills helps students learn how to learn.
Service as action, through community service (S and A)
Action and service have always been shared values of the IB community. Students take action when they apply what they are learning in the classroom and beyond. IB learners strive to be caring members of the community who demonstrate a commitment to service—making a positive difference to the lives of others and to the environment. Service as action is an integral part of the programme, especially in the MYP community project.
