The arts in the MYP seek to stimulate young imaginations, challenge perceptions and develop creative and analytical skills. Involvement in the arts encourages students to understand the arts in context and
the cultural histories of artworks, thus supporting the development of an inquiring and empathetic worldview. The arts challenge and enrich personal identity, and build awareness of the aesthetic in a
real-world context. Through development of the imagination, students can become more empathetic and compassionate, they can enrich their cultural lives and discover new ways to contribute actively both to their own communities and to the world.
The MYP values the processes of creating, performing and presenting artwork, and gives students opportunities to function as artists and to develop as learners. Students learn to use the arts to convey feelings, experiences and ideas about the world, and in doing so they acquire and develop techniques and creative skills. They learn the value of reflection and evaluation as a means of developing their ideas, their skills and their work.
The aims of MYP Arts are to encourage and enable students to:
• enjoy lifelong engagement with the arts
• explore the arts across time, cultures and contexts
• understand the relationship between art and its contexts
• develop the skills necessary to create and to perform art
• express ideas creatively
• reflect on their own development as young artists.
The MYP promotes inquiry in the arts by developing conceptual understanding within global contexts. Key concepts such as aesthetics, change, communication and identity broadly frame the MYP curriculum. Related concepts promote deeper learning grounded in specific disciplines. Examples of related concepts
in MYP arts include audience, expression and genre.
Students explore key and related concepts through MYP global contexts:
• Identities and relationships
• Orientation in space and time
• Personal and cultural expression
• Scientific and technical innovation
• Globalization and sustainability
• Fairness and development
The MYP curriculum framework offers schools the flexibility to determine engaging, relevant, challenging and significant content that meets local and national curriculum requirements. This inquiry-based approach explores factual, conceptual and debatable questions in the study of the arts. Student learning may be focused on one or more of the following arts disciplines:
• Dance
• Music
• Theatre
• Media Arts
• Visual Arts