To be part of the PYP Exhibition as a Mark Twain IS IB student is to be part of a celebration of learning and development. As a culminating event in the development as a PYP student, the PYP Exhibition offers a platform for students to showcase the skills, knowledge, and understanding they have built over the years in the Primary Years Programme, to display their growth as IB learners, and to evidence the passion, interest, and actions they take to show themselves as caring and involved citizens of the world.
The Primary Years Programme is designed for students aged 3 to 12 focusing on the development of the whole child as an inquirer, both in the classroom and in the world outside. It is a framework guided by six multidisciplinary themes of global significance, explored using knowledge and skills derived from six subject areas, as well as transdisciplinary skills, with a powerful emphasis on inquiry. In the final year of the programme, students undertake a collaborative, transdisciplinary inquiry process that involves them in identifying, investigating and offering solutions to real-life issues or problems. As the culminating experience of the PYP, the Exhibition offers students an exciting opportunity to demonstrate independence and responsibility for their own learning, as well as to brainstorm global issues.
This year, our fourth graders had the opportunity to showcase the learning they accumulated during their years in the PYP, and to share with the world their choices and voices, as they focused on stringent world issues connected to the transdisciplinary theme: Sharing the Planet. The Exhibition gave children the chance to plan the entire process and the freedom to choose their topic of investigation, the central idea, the inquiry lines, the resources, the final products they created, as well as the action they decided to take.
Animal Protection, Access to Clean Water & Sanitation, Zero Hunger, Reduced Inequalities, Good Health & Well-Being. These were all subjects researched upon and presented by our 4th grade students. The exhibition consisted of a series of team projects pertaining to each of the subjects mentioned above, which were realized through the means of an in-depth analysis of the issues that our world is currently facing. Guided by their teachers and mentors, the students created digital presentations, posters and 3D models to help them exhibit their findings and highlight their conclusions. The level of maturity they showcased when facing these global matters was truly inspirational. Not only had they had the courage to delve into these real-life problems, but they also managed to come up with pragmatic solutions that would diminish their impact on our day-to-day life.
We couldn’t be prouder of this year’s new edition of the PYP Exhibition for revealing, once more, our students’ daring spirit, inquisitiveness, creativity and knowledge.
Many thanks to students, teachers, mentors, directors and IB PYP Coordinator, Ms. Corina Popa, for making this event possible, for the hard academic and research work to this end, and for what promises to be an excellent exhibition for our school community!
Advancement Team
Mark Twain International School