INTERNATIONAL Secondary School Suva held its PYP (Primary Years Program) Exhibition on Monday, September 17 at the school's multi-purpose hall in Suva.
The primary year's exhibition portrayed the very essence of learning through the Primary Years Program.
Through the use of an integrated and inquiry-based approach to learning, students portrayed the essential elements of the program.
These elements include, key concepts, which are big questions that help to develop lines of inquiry which are worth answering; knowledge, attitudes, transdisciplinary skills and action. It is the culmination of the Primary Years Program for their Year Five students.
The exhibition was a summative assessment and celebration of students' learning in the final year of their primary education. Students were engaged in the development of a major project and were expected to conduct a research on real life issues that was of interest to them.
Students followed a process to develop a central idea based on the transdisciplinary theme "How We Organise Ourselves".
Through the development of this eight-week project, students needed to show how human-made systems are interdependent; the structure and functions of organisation; how societies make decisions and the impact of economic activities on humankind and the environment.
The PYP Exhibition provided an opportunity to share how they learn through inquiry and use concepts to integrate their understanding of big ideas.
Some of the concepts students chose this year were sustainability, social justice, tradition and religion, history and progress, choices and technology. Other staff are also involved in the role of mentors to students.
Students demonstrated their learning through a performance on the opening night, using drama, dance and music. The written component of their work, included, poetry, reports, surveys, science experiments and posters including visual arts and Chinese studies.
Finally students decide on how best they can take action to develop awareness in the community of what they had discovered through their learning.