Sciences

The IB MYP Sciences program at FIS sets out to educate students for life in the 21st century. The sciences and their methods of investigation offer a way of learning through inquiry that can contribute to the development of an analytical and critical way of thinking. MYP Sciences encourage the development of not only scientific inquiry skills but also transferable thinking skills. Students are encouraged to investigate science by formulating their own questions and finding answers to those questions, including through research and experimentation. The FIS Sciences curriculum explores the connections between science and everyday life. As they investigate real examples of science applications, students discover the tensions and dependencies between science and morality, ethics, culture, economics, politics, and the environment. Scientific inquiry also fosters critical and creative thinking about research and design, as well as the identification of assumptions and alternative explanations. Students learn to appreciate and respect the ideas of others, gain good ethical-reasoning skills and further develop their sense of responsibility as members of local and global  communities. Students are also encouraged to engage with the complexities, intricacies and beauty of science, which arouses their curiosity and heightens their learning. The MYP Sciences course at FIS is structured around interdisciplinary science units that explore concepts, skills and processes from two or more science disciplines. The course provides a balanced selection of Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Environmental Systems within this integrated framework. This means that students have experience in the key science disciplines in every year of the program. 

Aims 

The aims of MYP Sciences are to encourage and enable students to: 

• Understand and appreciate science and its implications.

• Consider science as a human endeavor with benefits and limitations.

• Cultivate analytical, inquiring and flexible minds that pose questions, solve problems, construct explanations and judge arguments.

• Develop skills to design and perform investigations, evaluate evidence and reach conclusions.

• Build an awareness of the need to effectively collaborate and communicate.

• Apply language skills and knowledge in a variety of real-life contexts.

• Develop sensitivity towards the living and non-living environments.

• Reflect on learning experiences and make informed choices.

Assessment Criteria 

Criterion A: Knowing and understanding 

Criterion B: Inquiring and designing 

Criterion C: Processing and evaluating 

Criterion D: Reflecting on the impacts of science