Essential Elements

At Skagerak International School we prepare you for studies or work anywhere in the world. We help you set your ambitions – and reach them.

Essential elements of the IB Primary Years Programme

The Primary Years Programme revolves around five essential skills and qualities that Skagerak International School promotes in all students to help them become global citizens.

Thes five essential elements are:

Knowledge

The PYP recognises that ‘educating students in a set of isolated subject areas, while necessary, is not sufficient’. It is important to acquire skills in context while exploring content that is relevant to students, and to transcend the boundaries of traditional subjects. For this reason, students at Skagerak study trans disciplinary units of inquiry. The six trans disciplinary themes are:

Who we are
Where we are in place and time
How we express ourselves
How the world works
How we organize ourselves
How we share the planet

Attitudes

Alongside the curriculum, students are explicitly encouraged to practice certain Attitudes. These help to define a person who is a responsible citizen of the local and world community.

Students should demonstrate

  • Tolerance
  • Respect
  • Integrity
  • Independence
  • Enthusiasm
  • Empathy
  • Curiosity
  • Creativity
  • Cooperation
  • Confidence
  • Commitment
  • Appreciation

Concepts

The PYP’s fundamental concepts are articulated as key questions and they drive the inquiry process. Each question is comprehensive and integrates many ideas.

Form – What is it like?
Function – How does it work?
Causation – Why is it like it is?
Change – How is it changing?
Connection – How is it connected to other things?
Perspective – What are the points of view?
Responsibility – What is our responsibility?
Reflection – How do we know?

Skills

Inquiry Based Learning aims to provide students with skills that are the foundation for life long learning.

Thinking skills – Acquisition of knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, evaluation, dialectical thought, metacognition

Social skills – Accepting responsibility, respecting others, cooperating, resolving conflict, group decision making, adopting a variety of group roles

Communication skills – Listening, speaking, reading, writing, viewing, presenting, non-verbal communication

Self-management skills – Gross motor skills, fine motor skills, spatial awareness, organisation, time management, safety, healthy life style, codes of behaviour, informed choices

Research skills – Formulating questions, observing, planning, collecting data, recording data, organizing data, interpreting data, presenting research data

Actions

Student initiated demonstrations of deeper learning are essential to the PYP and encouraged during each unit of inquiry and throughout the school.

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