What is the MYP science curriculum?
Science is one of the core subjects of the MYP program. Students from MYP Year 1 to Year 5 will take science as a compulsory subject, so understanding how the curriculum works is greatly beneficial. However, many parents may find the MYP science program challenging or difficult to grasp, and as a result find it difficult to help their kids do well.
MYP Science differs from “traditional” science curricula, such as GCSE, A-Levels, etc., in which the contents for study are set by topic. In these conventionally structured syllabi, students will, for example, learn Biology starting from Topic 1: Cells, and then move onto Animals, Classification, and so on. Parents and students are probably better acquainted with these content-driven classes, where students aim to absorb knowledge or understand the concepts and apply them.
Conversely, MYP prioritizes inquiry-based learning. Inquiry and the ability to ask questions related to science is an important skill that MYP teachers aim to train in their students in their five years of learning. Rather than having set topics, teachers will typically bring out statements of inquiry each semester.
What is inquiry-based learning, and why is it so important?
Below is an example of a statement of inquiry.
A person’s health is influenced by cultural and conditional changes to diet.
Through this statement, teachers will help students to formulate questions which can be factual or conceptual. These questions will form a project the student engages in. The ability to ask questions inspired by these statements of inquiry is crucial, and also ties in with the assessment rubrics for MYP.
Year 1, 3, and 5 MYP students will each face different, increasingly difficult assessment rubrics that match their progression. Throughout the course, students should gain better confidence in formulating good, complex questions that help them understand science. In this way, they will not only understand scientific concepts, but also how to generate scientific knowledge in an independent, self-motivated way.
Teachers will help students to formulate questions in Years 1 and 2. But, as students reach MYP Years 4 and 5, the quality of their learning will heavily rely on how skillfully they are in thinking of questions to base their projects on. As a result, many upper-year students may struggle in MYP if they never understood the importance of learning to ask questions. If students only focus on content and are able to understand, explain, and describe what they have learnt, they may be able to do well in MYP science for the first couple of years. However, this becomes a major weakness in later years. Without meaningful questions, they will not be able to synthesize the scientific data they gather, whether from internet research or a designed experiment. Therefore, it is crucial to make sure students are picking up the skill of inquiry rather than just focusing on content, especially during Year 1 and 2, when teachers will still guide students to ask questions.
MYP Science Assessment Rubric
Like all MYP subjects, MYP science has four assessment criteria which remain the same throughout a student’s five years of study. Of course, there are expectations that students will raise their standards in each criteria as they progress through the course.
Criteria A: Knowing and Understanding
This criteria mainly assesses students’ ability to describe and explain scientific concepts and knowledge. Students should be able to use these concepts to solve problems in familiar situations, or suggest solutions using their scientific knowledge in unfamiliar situations. They must also be able to judge whether a statement is scientifically supported using different informational sources.
This criteria is largely assessed using conventional unit exams. For example, if students have just learnt and made inquiries about food chemistry, different types of nutrients and what they do to our bodies, there may be a topic test to ensure they understand how nutrients enter the body and how the body processes them. Students can then be scored different levels of achievement, from 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, up to 7-8, which is the highest. The highest achievement requires students to answer questions in an unfamiliar context, which can be extremely challenging. There are often one or two questions in a unit test which are levels 7-8. For instance,if students have learnt content about how humans use nutrients to grow, the extra difficult questions may require them to interpret and apply this logic to a different species, like a fish or a plant.
Criteria B: Inquiring and Design
This criteria is about outlining the research question and making sure it can be tested by scientific investigation. Students are required to design their own experiments with different variables: independent, dependent, and control. They are assessed on the ability to collect data and design a fair test. Level 7-8 achievers should be able to design a logical, safe, and complete method of investigation, select the appropriate materials and equipment, and collect sufficient information to answer their guiding question.
In Year 1, teachers give ample guidance and suggestions for students to design their experiments. Often, younger students just repeat a popular, standard experiment so they can understand the concepts of dependent, control, and independent variables. They also learn what constitutes a fair test, familiarise themselves with the different types of instruments and equipment, and consider why investigations are designed a certain way.
By Year 3, expectations will be higher, and students have increased control over the direction of their experiment. They must be able to explain their hypothesis when they make educated guesses for the question they set out. They must also detail why they think a possible outcome is logical, and also describe how they will control or manipulate various variables.
Finally, Year 5 students will have the greatest independence over their experiments. They will not be given a clear-cut problem to investigate. Students should be able to start from inquiry, set out their own question, and explain why they want to investigate this question. Then, they must design an experiment and methodology and conduct the whole process by themselves. Year 5 may therefore be challenging for some students who do not understand the importance of asking the right question and making inquiries,or for those who lack confidence in research or data collection. These skills must be accumulated and acquired consciously throughout the earlier years of MYP.
Criteria C: Processing and Evaluating
This criteria is about processing the data collected from an experiment. Students learn how to transform, present, and interpret data. They can manage data in several ways - creating graphs, numerical calculations, presenting it visually, to name but a few, and then draw conclusions from the data analysis and compare it to their original hypothesis. By assessing the validity of their conclusion and how confident they are in it, students show the ability to evaluate their own work. Finally, they may suggest improvements to create a better experiment next time.
Criteria B and C will often be assessed together in scientific investigation, through a traditional lab exercise. In this way, students will learn the concepts of uncertainty, variables, evaluation, and drawing conclusions from data over their five years of MYP study. If this seems like a lot, note that sometimes data processing and experiment design may be given as separate tasks. For example, students might be asked to design an experiment but do not have to actually conduct it, or teachers may provide sets of data for students to analyse, but they will not be required to formulate their own research questions. These separated tasks are more common at lower levels and aim to improve specific skills.
Criteria D: Reflecting on the impact of science
This criteria looks at the way science is applied to solve or address a specific, often real world issue. The key to fulfilling this criteria is being able to discuss and reflect on the applications of science and technology in current society. What is their impact? What are some of the implications? For example, students may reflect on the impact of genetically modified food, the use of fertilizers, the development of renewable energy, and any other science that is applicable to our everyday life.
Students can be creative when presenting their reflections. In addition to essays, posters, videos and multimedia presentations are common ways students might be asked to show their ideas. No matter the medium, they are graded on their actual understanding of the science and how it has been applied to the particular problem. Moreover, students will be assessed on how they have considered diverse factors in their impact evaluations. For instance, they might discuss how the impact of scientific progress may be multifaceted in ethical, social, political, environmental, or cultural terms. Proofreading and the correct use of vocabulary is also paramount. Students should strive to use accurate and appropriate scientific vocabulary in the correct context, rather than resorting to common, everyday terms. Finally, students are expected to write clear bibliographies in an academic format.
If you have any questions regarding the information above or would like to speak to someone well versed in the curriculum feel free to contact us here. Tutors at CANA Elite are thoroughly trained and experienced with the MYP curriculum. They are available to help your child achieve their full potential and give you peace of mind knowing you have done what is best for them.
