Through this Exhibition, students experience real life situations in which they are challenged to plan and carry out action, solve problems, make decisions, work collaboratively in a team, negotiate with other people from different places and practice many other skills that they might not use or show on a written test. They have to face what happens when they are out in the community and know how to respond to what happens in their surroundings.
The 2015 PYP Exhibition is taking place under the transdisciplinary theme of ‘How The World Works”. This theme is An inquiry into the natural world and its laws; the interaction between the natural world (physical and biological) and human societies; how humans use their understanding of scientific principles; the impact of scientific and technological advances on society and on the environment. The Central Idea of the Exhibition is, “Exploration in science leads people to discover how the world works which has impact on people’s lives.” Although the focus of this year’s Exhibition is under “How The World Works”, students should also make connections with the other 5 Transdisciplinary Themes.
Students work in groups based on their area of interest. They proposed some terms for the central idea and made their own lines of inquiry to direct their learning. Each group has one teacher in charge (TIC) from PYP 6 and mentor(s) from other grades and institutions. The role of the mentor is to guide the students as they move through the process of completing the Exhibition. The guidance may come in many ways, such as assistance with the research, listening to the students’ ideas about the topic, providing additional information to help students gain a better understanding of their topic, and help with the organization of time, ideas and materials. This year we work collaboratively with some institution in the community around the school to support student’s inquiry learning.
To display their understanding, each group will present what they learn from the issue(s) that they are concerned about and probably offer solution for it through scientific exploration. This may include scientific experiment, cooking product, blue print or prototype, model, proposal of ideas and thoughts, and demonstration of their artwork. With the spirit of risk taking and curiosity, let’s welcome the future scientist of Sekolah Ciputra to work for a better world!