IB Diploma Programme
The IB Diploma Programme (DP) is a rigorous, academically challenging, and balanced programme of education designed to prepare students aged 16 to 19 for success at university and life beyond. The DP aims to encourage students to be knowledgeable, inquiring, caring, and compassionate, and to develop intercultural understanding, open-mindedness and the attitudes necessary to respect and evaluate a range of viewpoints.
To ensure both breadth and depth of knowledge and understanding, students must choose at least one subject from five groups:
their best language
additional language(s)
social sciences
experimental sciences, and
mathematics.
Students may choose either an arts subject from group 6 or a second subject from groups 2 to 4. At least three and not more than four subjects are taken at the higher level (240 recommended teaching hours), while the remaining are taken at standard level (150 recommended teaching hours). In addition, three core elements—the extended essay, theory of knowledge and creativity, activity, service—are compulsory and central to the philosophy of the programme.
-https://ibpublishing.ibo.org
IB Core Subjects
Credit: 2.0
Course length: 2 years
Grade: 11 and 12
Creativity, Activity, Service
Creativity, activity, service (CAS) is at the heart of the DP. With its holistic approach, CAS is designed to strengthen and extend students’ personal and interpersonal learning from the Middle Years Programme (MYP).
CAS is organized around the three strands of creativity, activity, and service defined as follows.
● Creativity—exploring and extending ideas leading to an original or interpretive product or performance.
● Activity—physical exertion contributing to a healthy lifestyle.
● Service—collaborative and reciprocal engagement with the community in response to an authentic need.
All CAS students are expected to maintain and complete a CAS portfolio (on ManageBac) as evidence of their engagement with CAS. The CAS portfolio is a collection of evidence that showcases CAS experiences and student reflections; it is not formally assessed.
The CAS programme formally begins at the start of the DP and continues regularly for at least 18 months with a reasonable balance between creativity, activity, and service. A CAS experience must:
● fit within one or more of the CAS strands
● be based on a personal interest, skill, talent or opportunity for growth
● provide opportunities to develop the attributes of the IB learner profile
● not be used or included in the student’s DP course requirements.
Extended Essay
The extended essay is a compulsory, externally assessed piece of independent research into a topic chosen by the student and presented as a formal piece of academic writing. The extended essay is intended to promote high-level research and writing skills, intellectual discovery, and creativity while engaging students in personal research. This leads to a major piece of formally presented, structured writing of up to 4,000 words in which ideas and findings are communicated in a reasoned, coherent and appropriate manner.
Students are guided through the process of research and writing by an assigned supervisor (a teacher in the school). All students undertake three mandatory reflection sessions with their supervisor, including a short interview, or viva voce, following the completion of the extended essay.
Theory of Knowledge
Theory of knowledge (TOK) is a course about critical thinking and inquiring into the process of knowing, rather than about learning a specific body of knowledge. It plays a special role in the DP by providing an opportunity for students to reflect on the nature of knowledge, to make connections between areas of knowledge, and to become aware of their own perspectives and those of the various groups whose knowledge they share. It is a core element undertaken by all DP students, and schools are required to devote at least 100 hours of class time to the course. The overall aim of TOK is to encourage students to formulate answers to the question “how do you know?” in a variety of contexts, and to see the value of that question. This allows students to develop an enduring fascination with the richness of knowledge.
Admission to IB Diploma Programme
KCIS has been offering the IB Diploma Programme to our G11 to G12 students since 2015. The two-year programme prepares students for their university life and studies.
Course Selection Process
All throughout the year, the DP coordinator conducts information seminars for parents and students, particularly for grade ten students. By the 2nd semester, the coordinator has conducted detailed information seminars about the IB Diploma Programme for students.
Students complete a survey indicating their interest in joining the IB Diploma Programme.
The DP coordinator contacts students who are interested and distributes a detailed information & application packet which includes policy documents and writing prompts.
Students who submit the application packet by the deadline will be invited for an interview.
The DP coordinator liaises with subject teachers for recommendations of the applicants.
As a result of the application packets, interviews, and teacher recommendations, students are invited to become candidates for the next year's cohort.
The DP coordinator arranges course selection seminars so students have a better understanding of the subjects they would like to study.
Students complete a subject interest form to determine whether there is sufficient interest to open a class, based on school policy.
Once classes are determined, the DAA finalizes the DP course final offerings and students make their final course selection.