IGBIS have chosen to become an Imagination Foundation Chapter because we believe every child is unique, competent and creative and deserves a right to play, experiment and investigate the world around them. Chapters use creative play, design thinking, tinkering and making to develop the natural powers of creativity, entrepreneurship and innovation that all children possess. Chapter projects and initiatives can focus on numerous themes, subjects areas of the curriculum and international campaigns. However, the most engaging projects spark from a child’s interests and passions. Simple projects may take two hours to complete; others may take weeks. As projects become more complex, children tackle real-world problems and follow a design thinking process to tinker, prototype, kickstart business and social ventures.

The IGBIS community values play and creativity as unique ways of expressing human ingenuity. Together, with other play-inspired Imagination Foundation Chapters around the world and inspired by the short film, ‘Caine’s Arcade’, we organize the Global Cardboard Challenge and Day of Play. These are annual events presented by the Imagination Foundation to celebrate children’s creativity and the role communities can play in fostering and promoting it. In September and October, children of all ages and their families are invited to build and play with anything they can think of (and find in our well stocked playground), using cardboard, recycled materials and their imagination. Since 2017, we spend a Saturday morning, sometime in September/October to play as a community, with all our learners and their families. It’s a day of playing, laughing, tinkering, designing sharing and telling stories of inspiration and wonder.

At IGBIS we understand that play is central to how children learn; the way they make sense of their world; the way they form and explore friendships; the way they shape and test intellectual, social, emotional, and ethical ideas. Much is known about the importance of play in children’s development. Yet very few schools have explored what it might mean to put play as a way children learn. What it means at IGBIS is: learners leading their own learning, experiencing choice and shared ownerships of their learning environments and how they learn/play best, making connections between life inside and outside the classroom, learners reflecting on their playful learning, cultivating a culture of playful learning for adults.

“Every great advance in science has issued from a new audacity of imagination.” – John Dewey, American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer

At IGBIS we believe in giving learners big and small abundant opportunities to use their imagination and creativity to inspire, tinker, build and innovate. IGBIS learners explore big concepts such as impact and sustainability - being a part of a Maker Movement means recycling, upcycling and reinventing the communities we belong to without the need to consume and produce more unnecessary waste. The Maker Movement supports inventors, entrepreneurs and activists in building a better sustainable tomorrow, starting today!

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it’s dressed in overalls and looks like work.”-Thomas A. Edison

A maker is anyone who chooses to create instead of destroying. Anyone who sees new ideas designs and solutions in old appliances, discarded materials or what may seem as hopeless situations. At IGBIS learners are seen as Makers. Their ideas, visions and solutions are treated with respect - valued and respected. No matter how big or small we support them in exercising and testing their wonderings, hypotheses and prototypes.

Our mission and vision state that IGBIS strives “To provide an inclusive learning community, embracing diversity by offering a challenging IB education which empowers its members to be caring, global citizens. To provide an innovative international education that inspires learners to make a positive impact on the world.”

To that end we create opportunities for our children to understand that using biodegradable materials or giving old resources and loose parts a new life is a way to make a positive impact on our community, by making our choices more sustainable for us and the planet. What is more, cardboard is a perfect material for “out of the box” thinking as it can be turned into anything our young innovators imagine.

"Lego inspires design thinking and creativity.

Lego encourages teamwork.

Lego develops problem-solving and mathematical thinking.

Lego improves communication skills.

Lego develops persistence and improves-self esteem.

Lego develops lateral thinking and planning skills.

Lego promotes fine motor skills."

-Lego Foundation

“In my vision, the child programs the computer and, in doing so, both acquires a sense of mastery over a piece of the most modern and powerful technology and establishes an intimate contact with some of the deepest ideas from science, from mathematics, and from the art of intellectual model building.” - Seymour Papert, Mindstorms: Children, Computers, And Powerful Ideas

At IGBIS learners are ‘digital natives’ - they were born and raised in the world that uses technology and media as a language of communication, social exchange and learning. We support the children in using technology to their safe and balanced advantage: playing and experimenting with it.

At IGBIS we believe in a creative power of play and the fact that we are never too old to play.

“Play fosters stronger relationships.

Play encourages to explore new opportunities.

Play is a universal language.

Play shapes the brain.

Play opens our imagination.

Play invigorates the soul.”

-Stuart Brown, Play

“Creativity is the process of having original ideas that have value. There are two other concepts to keep in mind: imagination and innovation. Imagination is the root of creativity.” -Sir Ken Robinson

At IGBIS, creativity and innovation go hand in hand and are weaved into the fabric of our everyday life and learning. In the classrooms, learning lounges, play spaces, maker spaces - children and adults alike - imagine, exchange ideas and look for answers and solutions. We make sure our learners will never get educated “out of creativity.”

At IGBIS we want to make sure that our children’s ideas, take shape and come to life. To that end we support the children in understanding and actively applying the design thinking process, across disciplines and interest areas. Learners: ask questions and find problems, ideate and brainstorm possible solutions, plan and prototype, test and improve on their inventions and share their findings with the community. Design thinking not only organizes our making and inventing process but also allows us to reflect on it.

Why is being a Maker special to you and IGBIS?