9th Grade Interdisciplinary Program

At Needham High School, 9IP is an interdisciplinary project-based learning approach to the ninth grade year that aligns with honors and accelerated level curriculum.  Students in this program will be signed up for Biology 9IP, English 9IP, Math 9IP, and World History 9IP.  Students have the option to enroll in the 4 classes all at the honors level, OR to enroll in 2-3 of the classes at the honors level with 1-2 at the accelerated level (Biology and English). Although each subject will be a distinct class, they will have shared experiences and curriculum will be connected through common thematic units: 

• • • • Observations and Patterns

      • Systems

      • Power and Influence

      • Disease

      • Revolutions

These units and the associated projects will be taught simultaneously with teachers making purposeful connections to the other courses, joining together classes for some activities, and students will collaborate on projects across subjects a various times throughout the year. These courses will be offered at the honors level and will also earn an interdisciplinary distinction which will be noted on their transcript. Along with the core content, the teachers will collaboratively and explicitly teach students additional skills from the Portrait of a Needham Graduate. Students will develop collaboration, communication, leadership, and problem-solving skills while making meaningful cross-curricular connections and working with their peers on interdisciplinary projects.

Are you interested in participating in 9IP? Please go to this google form to sign your 8th grader up. Deadline to sign up is Friday, March 7. Sign-ups after that point will be accepted if there is room in the program, otherwise you will be added to a waitlist.