International Baccalaureate
The five-year Middle Years Programme (IB MYP) for 6th through 10th grade students, offers an educational approach that embraces yet transcends traditional school subjects. The IB MYP is offered at Robbinsdale Middle School and Cooper High School. The aim of all IB programs is to develop internationally minded people who, recognizing their common humanity and shared guardianship of the planet, help to create a better and more peaceful world. As IB Learners we strive to be: Inquirers, Knowledgeable,Thinkers, Communicators, Principled, Open-Minded, Caring, Risk-takers, Balanced and Reflective.Students in the MYP study all the major disciplines, including Language and Literature, Individuals and Societies, Sciences, Mathematics, Arts-Visual and Performing, Design, and Physical and Health Education. The MYP seeks to help students make connections between disciplines to give them a broader perspective, and encourages them to participate actively in their communities.
MYP Students
The MYP teaches tools for lifelong learning and fosters responsible attitudes that help students discover how to use what they learn to take principled action. The MYP’s focus on independent learning makes it the ideal preparation for the IB Diploma Programme (DP) for 11th and 12th grade students at Cooper High School.
The MYP is characterized by:
- Highest educational standards/expectations
- Quality national and international teacher training
- Focus on the whole child
- Holistic view of knowledge
- Communication and study skills development
- Second-language acquisition
- Intercultural awareness and sensitivity
- Community awareness and participation through service
- Reputation and recognition by worldwide school systems and communities
MYP Features
In the MYP, students study eight subject groups, with a minimum of 50 teaching hours per subject group each year. Distinctive features of the MYP include:
- Key and related concepts are big ideas, which form the basis of teaching and learning in the MYP. They ensure breadth and depth in the curriculum and promote learning within and across traditional disciplines.
- Global contexts provide shared starting points for inquiry into what it means to be internationally minded, framing a curriculum that promotes multilingualism, intercultural understanding and global engagement.
- Approaches to teaching and learning, a unifying thread throughout all MYP subject groups, are skills which help students manage their own learning. They provide a foundation for success in further education and the world beyond the classroom.
- Action and service, essential components of the MYP, set out clear learning outcomes that grow from students’ participation in local and global communities. MYP projects are informed by respected models of service learning and provide stepping stones toward the Diploma Programme’s core requirements for Creativity, Action and Service (CAS).
- The personal project, for students completing the programme in year 5, is a culminating experience in which students apply their approaches to learning skills to complete an extended, self-directed piece of work. This required component provides opportunities for creative and truly personal demonstrations of learning.