What are the aims of my subject?

What does it mean to be 'good at' Math, for example? What does it mean to think like a scientist, for example?

An opportunity to go to the heart of each subject in the Diploma Programme through an exploration of subject aims. An activity that asks teachers to identify core concepts and thus gain an understanding of how the Diploma Programme is built on conceptual understanding and is not merely an assessed curriculum.

The page also provides an overview of the IB rubrics surrounding subject choices.

What we are trying to do?

At the heart of each group are subject aims. Every IB teacher should keep these constantly at the forefront of their minds. It is instructive to ensure that students are constantly reminded of these, not least in an age of high stakes assessment when it is tempting to teach to tests and lose sight of the reason for studying the subject discipline.

The IB Diploma Programme is focused on building conceptual understanding. These aims are rich in concepts. The concepts are the building blocks which help a student get inside a subject, develop a deep understanding of how the subject works and work like a scientist, a historian, an economist etc.

It is noticeable how certain leitmotifs occur across subjects, pointing to the trans disciplinary nature of the IB Diploma Programme and the need for horizontal and vertical articulation. This is especially the case in relation to aims which speak about appreciating the international dimension of subjects, the development of intercultural understanding, the development of critical and creative thinking, becoming globally aware and understanding the relationship of one subject with other subjects.

I am grateful to Jim Noble for the ideas in this page on his InThinking Maths Studies site.

Subject Aims

Aims of Studies in Language & Literature

Aims of Language Acquisition

Aims of Individuals and Societies

Aims of Science

Aims of Maths

Aims of The Arts

Play the whole subject game

The IB approach to learning is very much one of “learning by doing” rather than “learning by receiving”. A past Chair of the IB described it this way: “This begins in the Primary Years Programme where students are actively involved in inquiry and continues through to the Diploma Programme where, for example, students practice the arts rather than learn about them, where mathematical investigation is a key part of this subject and where during philosophy classes, students practice philosophical reasoning.” (Seefried, M., The IB, educating hearts and minds to meet the challenges of today’s world, IBO, 2008).

In his book Making Learning Whole, David Perkins (2009) talks of the tendency of schools to teach a subject in terms of its elements rather than letting students “play the whole game” of science, math, history etc. He calls this tendency “aboutitis”: teachers teach ‘about’ a subject rather than immersing them in the subject. This tendency is exacerbated in schools that feel pressure from high stakes standardized testing, which splits a subject into the bits that have to be learnt.

The IB advocates an opposite approach. Although students are assessed in each of their subjects the IB approach should be to immerse them in the subject, or to use Perkins’ analogy to ‘play the whole game’. Rather than learning about science students become scientists, rather than learning about literary criticism they become literary critics etc. Understanding a subject means being immersed in its processes and ways of thinking as well as knowing the content of a subject. In his book Creating cultures of thinking Ron Ritchhart explores how teachers can do this by, for example, framing learning objectives. He uses the following example: instead of a science teacher framing the objectives as “Today we are going to learn about chemical reactions” a teacher who is trying to immerse students into scientific process would say, “Today as scientists we are going to be investigating how chemicals react under various circumstances.” The student therefore takes on both discipline based roles (artists, historians, scientists etc.) and process-based roles (e.g. thinks, researchers, commentators etc.). Deep understanding of a subjects enables students to effectively communicate (to express, justify and communicate one's thinking and ideas) using the rich vocabulary of the subject.