EIBC7123-IB-Curriculum Processes

Learning Outcomes:
3. Evaluate critically findings from research as well as personal experience in relation to the curriculum,
4. Make informed decisions and implement plans, which show some originality, to address an aspect of the curriculum and monitor these, reviewing progress, making adaptations and amendments where appropriate,
5. Reflect critically on the factors which have an impact on children’s learning,
11. Identify contested areas of professional practice by evaluating some theories relating to an aspect of professional practice and evaluate their relevance to the classroom.


Programmes are planned based on the published documents from the International Baccalaureate (IB) and Cambridge International Examinations (CIE). e.g. subject guide, syllabus. I studied the syllabus in detail in order to create programme plan which is aligned to the Scope and Sequence, Scheme of Work and Unit Plans to suit our learners. I choose an appropriate framework (example, inquiry cycle) as a basic guideline for my lesson plans which allow me to observe the development process of my learners. I designed my lesson plans based on my learners’ needs according to their Multiple Intelligence, ages and levels.

The sources I used in designing this programme plan including:

1) MYP Art Guide, Principles to practice

As an International Baccalaureate school, I am using IB as a framework and CIE syllabus as my content reference in designing this programme plan. My aims is to instil learners’ conceptual understanding of the macro concept (for example: revolution) including social, politic and economic aspects in order to prepare them in real life situation. I am using CIE Art syllabus as my reference to decide which specific art skills and techniques to be instilled for my learners to communicate their artistic intention.

I need to make sure learners are able to meet all the MYP Art objectives (criterion) throughout the learning process. In order to achieve this, backward planning is essential. I thought about the final outcome and expectation of the summative task before I design the content of the programme plan.

And also to provoke their critical thinking skills throughout the process of creating the final artwork.

Thus, the content, teaching strategies, activities and summative task should be aligned in a holistic and progressive structure.

The programme plan was designed based on the inquiry cycle: Act, Knowledge and understanding, Reflection. Learners will start the learning journey from the “Act”, they will choose an ordinary object and capture from different viewpoints with their camera and also explore and experiment with principles of arts and composition in photography. Then they will move on to second stage, ”Reflection”.They will write down their initial thoughts and ideas on their Developmental workbook and discuss with their peers and teacher. Eventually, they will start to develop their initial idea into a final artwork which involves a lot of experiments, investigation and study of different art movements and artists (Knowledge and understanding).

Besides, I also studied different learning styles including Anthony Gregorc’s model, Cattell Horn Carroll, Honey and Mumford’s learning cycle as references. But I found that David A Kolb style is more relevant to this programme plan as “Experiential Learning Theory”.

2) David A. Kolb styles model

According to Kolb’s model, two related approaches toward grasping experience: Concrete Experience and Abstract Conceptualization, as well as two related approaches toward transforming experience: Reflective Observationand Active Experimentation. I felt that Kolb’s theory is very relevant to this “perception continuum” session which including thinking, feeling, doing and watching.

In the second learning session, learners as Diverges andAssimilators will grasp concrete experience from photo shooting activity and look at an ordinary object from different viewpoints. They will interpret a new definition to that object which will acquire their reflective observation skill.

Converges and Accommodatorslearners will explore and experiment with different medium during the process of developing their initial idea into the final artwork which is to develop the active experimentation in transforming experience. Besides, the process of software editing will required a lot of practical hands on experience which is also part of the active learning.

3) Bloom’ Taxonomy

In first learning session, I used Bloom’s Taxonomy as my guideline. Learners will develop their thinking skill based on knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation through different activities in the classroom. This is also related to the MYP commands terms which encourage learners to identify specific keywords in different formative and summative task.

Using Bloom’s structure as the basic framework of daily lesson will help me to determine the weakness and strength of my learners at every thinking stage. It also helps me to plan my classroom activities in a more consistent and progressive structure.

I also created a backup plan using Kath Murdoch’s inquiry learning to accommodate differentiated learners. As a facilitator, sometimes I feel that I am also a risk taker. We need to anticipate different learners’ need and learning styles in the class, thus a backup plan is always essential. Learners who are used to follow Kath Murdoch’s inquiry cycle since they were in the PYP will feel more comfortable to follow this learning style.

Besides, the CIDTT Guide is also a good overview to prepare myself for this module. It gave me good guidelines of what is required to complete for each section of the assignment.

The highlights of my planned programmes and learning sessions will be the combination of various approaches to cater Multiple Intelligences. For instance, one of the sessions in the programme plan is poem writing. Learners will write a poem to describe the photomontage they have created.

Besides, they will read the literature book “The little Prince” to develop the “perception quality”

(Anthony Gregory’s mind style model theory)

I found out that it is very useful for conceptual learning session. This quality allows learners to visualize,conceive ideas, to understand or believe that which we cannot actually see. When we are using our abstract quality, we are using our intuition, imagination, and looking beyond“what is” to the more subtle implications. "It is not always what it seems."

I would like to create different perspective for my learners to understand meanings are always different in various contexts. This is essential when they are creating a new definition for the object in their photomontages. I believe creativity start from “looking out of the box”.

In this module, I learned that the process of designing programmes and sessions require time, foresight and teaching experience to create plans which are comprehensive, flexible and realistic.

At first, I categorized the content into two part which are “concept”and “skill and techniques” in order to draft the timeline for the programme plan. Then, I need to consider the duration and timeframe to anticipate scheduling issues such as holidays, school events which will affect my programme plan.

I also studied different learning style while designing the programme. I think it is very important to determine different learners in the classroom, especially in Visual arts class. Every learner has their potential talent and artistic style to be discovered, as a facilitator, we should be able to inspire and encourage the “artist” within them. Theoretically, if there are 25 learners in the class, we might need 25 different approaches to inspire every learner’s unique and original ideas or thoughts. I think this is the biggest challenge to be art facilitator.

The planning process requires time to account all the details that go into programme and each learning session. I found it useful to use the inquiry cycle as my basic structure to design the programme plan. And it’s easier to follow the Bloom’s structure as my guideline to plan the learning session in a systematic way.

Finally, it was challenging for me to complete this module because some of the questions were really difficult to answer. Overall, this was a good experience and I am looking forward to receiving feedback from this module which could help me to develop my planning in the following module 2.