BOMBAY INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL
IB DIPLOMA PROGRAMME 2018-2019
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INTEGRATED SKILL BUILDING
TRANSITION PROGRAMME
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The Transition Programme was conducted from 1 April to 5 April, 2019 for students joining the IB curriculum from a National Board. The programme focused on helping students develop the necessary, but unfamiliar skills for the IB Diploma Programme.
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MATHS:
The Maths Transition Programme was designed for external students joining the IBDP at BIS keeping in mind that they come from diverse curricula. It encouraged students to build upon their mathematics skills and conceptual knowledge that is required as prerequisites in the IBDP maths programme. A diagnostic test was also conducted to recommend the appropriate levels and the subject route in the new curriculum framework.
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The modules were designed to introduce students to investigations, modelling and problem solving in math. Students got an opportunity to explore probability with games, quadratics with modelling projectile motion using games as well as using mathematical generalisations to optimise stacking of cannon balls.
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ENGLISH:
The English Transition Programme aimed to equip students with skills they might not have engaged with in their younger grades. Since the ability to carefully scan a text to unravel its deeper meanings is essential for an IBDP English student, we focused on helping students understand the process of close reading, annotating, and engaging with a text's connotative meanings. The first session was devoted to exploring the difference between connotative and denotative meanings of texts. Using tools they were equipped with during the session, students analysed D.H. Lawrence's poem "The English are so Nice" to see how literal and figurative meanings can often clash in literary works, and that the true meaning of such texts lie in this friction. On the second day students answered an essential literary question : "What function do figures of speech serve?". Through a collection of short, assorted texts, students explored how metaphors and hyperboles, among other figures of speech, enrich and layer literature. The third day was devoted to annotating texts using some of the concepts the students had understood so far. On this day the process of annotation was made simple(r) and students used their knowledge to annotate an extract from Gerald Durrell's My Family and Other Animals. On the last day students explored how dramatizing texts can unravel several aspects such as the tone and mood of texts. Students understood that in order to successfully dramatize any text they have to explore the piece at metaphorical and connotative levels.
All in all the Transition Programme hoped to strengthen students' ability to engage with literature and language closely and creatively.
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CRITICAL WRITING
The Critical Writing segment of the Transition Programme required students to represent groups of parents and teachers in the school who had made a proposal to the school board. In their proposal, they are to suggest that the school join in a national movement called “Shut Down Your Screen Week.” Parents and teachers in the group believe that not using any electronic media for an entire week would be good for students for many reasons. They had to read three articles to read relating to the issue: “Social Media as Community,” “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” and “Attached to Technology and Paying a Price.” As students read and re-read these texts, they had to think about what position they would take and what evidence they would use to support their thinking. Finally, they had to write an essay explaining their rationale thinking.
Focus Question for the essay was:
"Should the school participate in 'Shut Down Your Screen Week?' " Use evidence from the texts provided, as well as your own knowledge, to support and develop your line of reasoning.
17 students participated actively. They reflected upon how they had started thinking much more about opinions, perspectives, justified arguments and evidence based lines of reasoning after the session.
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SCIENCE:
The session on introduction to research methodology particularly focused on primary research. Through a guided discussion, the concepts of independent, dependent and controlled variables were introduced and consolidated by using simple experimental examples. Then the students were introduced to the concept of hypothesis and how it varies from a theory. Finally, the students worked in groups and designed a simple experiment using a prop given to them. They came up with the specific IV, DV and CV. They framed a hypothesis for the experiment and collected data for the same.
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This session on graphing techniques focussed on introducing students to the purpose of graphs and different types of graphs like line, scatter, bar, pie. The students were also apprised about which type of graph to choose for different contexts and data. They were given raw data which they organized into proper tables which met the requirements and then plotted graphs using the data. The session was conducted with the IB requirements specifically in mind.
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The last session aimed at familiarizing students with common lab apparatus and developing basic laboratory skills, as they will conduct mandatory and individual practical investigations in the IB. The session focused on three aspects: (a) Introduction to commonly used lab apparatus and their uses, (b) Selection of appropriate and precise apparatus for measurement and (c) Preparation of standard solutions using the appropriate procedure. In one activity, students measured a definite amount of a liquid using different apparatus and explained the reason for the observed differences. This activity helped them understand that apparatus with smaller least counts give more accurate measurements and learn the proper position and angle to take measurements.
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ACADEMIC WRITING
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The academic writing sessions focused on strengthening students' reading, writing and thinking skills. Features such as objectivity and neutrality of language were the focus of early sessions, and elements such as arguments, claims, counterclaims, synthesis of ideas were explored during the initial period. Later sessions were geared towards impacting students' ability to write well thought-out research papers. During these sessions, students evaluated articles to understand elements that were valued and accepted in different disciplines. Students explored various ways they could support their research using effective evidences and arguments. They were made aware of various places they could visit (both inside and outside of the net) to find credible and effective sources to aid their study. Bibliographical appraisal was a critical skill taught during these sessions, as was research methodology, which can differ vastly (while maintaining certain similarities) between disciplines.
These sessions focused on strengthening students' ability to conduct discipline specific research and communicate their findings through well communicated papers.
INDUCTION PROGRAMME
The Induction Programme for the Grade 11 students was conducted on 6 and 7 August, 2018. Over the course of these 2 days, students were introduced to some essential skill building, and were given an introduction to some of the subject groups.
SKILL SESSION 1: Reasoning and Fallacies
The first skill building session conducted by Dr. Vakil and Dr. Meher Ursekar focused on fallacies in reasoning, and the qualities of good and bad arguments. During the 2 hour session, students were encouraged to reflect on the kind of thinkers they are, and to identify and understand features of good and sound reasoning. Students also evaluated various arguments, ranging from excerpts from popular television series to the more academic and intellectually stimulating Munk Debates on Geopolitics.
TIME MANAGEMENT:
The session on Time Management was conducted by Zia Pochkhanawala and was an activity filled session, which highlighted the importance of time management in the Diploma Programme. Through the session, links between procrastination and time management were made evident, and students were guided on the skill of prioritizing, using the Mayo Jar ideology. The session ended with an exercise that showed students how to estimate time spent on various daily activities on a typical school day. They were shown how to create a simple pie-chart illustrative of their own 24 hours. This visual illustration of the division of number of hours in their day gave the students a clear idea of how to identify 'time wasters' and time spent on routine activities and thus subsequently identify how they could get 'mine time' to increase their productive, effective, and efficient time usage.
INTRODUCTION TO SCIENCE:
The session started with the importance of science and scientific discovery, and led to students’ understanding the aims and objectives of the Group 4 subjects and the skill sets that are essential to fulfill these aims. Students then worked in groups to demystify the command terms that are used in science and distinguishing between similar command terms.
INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH:
Both the Language and Literature and the Literature and Performance course offered by the IB require students to be familiar with various text types such as speeches, advertisements, news broadcasts and song lyrics. During the induction students were presented with an Amul advertisement which functioned as a prompt which foregrounded the concept of unity.
Students were expected to translate the concept behind the advertisement into diverse text types. They were also expected to layer their work with additional concepts such as gender, race and class disparities. The class ended with enthused student presentations, which allowed for a strong entry point into the course material.