The PYP Exhibition: What is the PYP Exhibition?
Grade 6 students have been busy this week (as always!) as they have started the main research phase for their upcoming PYP Exhibition. I would like to use this as an opportunity to talk about the PYP Exhibition and its importance.
The Primary Years Programme (PYP) provides students with many opportunities, both formal and informal, to show how they’ve developed and applied their knowledge and skills through the inquiries they undertake. One notable example of such opportunities is the PYP exhibition. This exhibition is a culminating or consolidating learning experience that all IB programmes include in their final year. Other programmes have their own culminating experiences, such as the personal project in the Middle Years Programme (MYP), the extended essay in the Diploma Programme (DP), and the reflective project in the Career-related Programme (CP).
During the PYP exhibition, students demonstrate their understanding of an issue or topic they’ve chosen to explore. They work on their investigation both individually and with their peers, with the guidance of their homeroom teachers and also an assigned mentor. This way, students demonstrate their ability to take responsibility for their learning and their capacity to take action as they plan, present, and assess their learning. The exhibition is a powerful way for students to showcase their agency in learning.
This year we have 11 PYP Exhibition groups, inquiring into topics including climate change, gender equality in sport, healthy lifestyles, and the impact of ocean exploration. Students have been working on preparing for this stage of the PYP Exhibition at various points throughout the year, considering what they are passionate about and finding out more about the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, for example. They are now at the stage where they have written their own central ideas and lines of inquiry and have used these to co-create success criteria. Over the next 3 weeks the students will research their chosen topics to become experts and plan and devise ways in which they could take action to make a positive difference or to raise awareness.
We are excited to share the results of their work, and to share the learning journey and the process that will have been worked through, during the PYP Exhibition celebration days scheduled for the 10th and 11th May. Further details of these days will be shared shortly.
If you have any questions about the PYP Exhibition, please ask.
Best regards,
Matthew Richmond
PYP Coordinator