What do we want students to know about?
Each year, all PYP students will conduct in-depth inquiries based on transdisciplinary
themes considered essential in the context of a program of international education.
These themes:
- Have global significance – for all students in all cultures.
- Are locally relevant – for all students living in the Mainfranken area.
- Offer students the opportunity to explore the commonalities of human experience.
- Are supported by knowledge, concepts, and skills from the traditional subject areas but utilize them in ways that transcend the confines of these subjects, thereby contributing to a transdisciplinary model of teaching and learning.
- Will be revisited throughout the Primary School, so that the end result is immersion in broad-ranging, in-depth, articulated curriculum content.
- Contribute to the common ground that unifies the curriculums in all PYP schools.
PYP Transdisciplinary Themes:
| Who We Are | An inquiry into the nature of the self; beliefs and values; personal, physical, mental, social and spiritual health; human relationships, including families, friends, communities, and cultures; rights and responsibilities; what it means to be human. |
| Where We Are In Place And Time | An inquiry into orientation in place and time; personal histories; homes and journeys; the discoveries, explorations and migrations of humankind; the relationships between and the interconnectedness of individuals and civilizations, from local and global perspectives. |
| How We Express Ourselves | An inquiry into the ways in which we discover and express ideas, feelings, nature, culture, beliefs and values; the ways in which we reflect on, extend and enjoy our creativity; our appreciation of the aesthetic. |
| How The World Works | 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. |
| How We Organize Ourselves | An inquiry into the interconnectedness of human-made systems and communities; the structure and function of organizations; societal decision-making; economic activities and their impact on humankind and the environment. |
| Sharing The Planet | An inquiry into rights and responsibilities in the struggle to share finite resources with other people and with other living things; communities and the relationships within and between them; access to equal opportunities; peace and conflict resolution. |
Students inquire into and learn about, globally significant issues in the context of units of inquiry, each of
which addresses a central idea relevant to a particular transdisciplinary theme. Lines of inquiry are identified in
order to explore the scope of the central idea for each unit.
These units collectively constitute the school’s program of inquiry. The full program of inquiry at ISM is
dynamic and subject to minor changes as teachers adapt and plan collaboratively to meet the needs of their
students and the changing context of the world around them.