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Identity and Innovation
Identity and Innovation
This academic year marked the introduction of two tenets to the Al Tarbiyeh Essential Agreements document. (Identity and Innovation) Identity and Innovation were emphasized on the Essential Agreements document and a clear vision for their integration into all aspects of school life was developed.
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Identity
In addition to focusing on identity and celebrating our local culture through national, cultural and religious assemblies, a more curricular approach is in place. Representatives from the school community met several times to decide on a set of aspects that would reflect a Jordanian IB student. For the first time, 16 aspects were identified and will be incorporated into the written and taught curricula where relevant.
In compliance with the Ministry of Education (MoE) directive, national education topics mandated by the MoE for PYP students were mapped and identified in the PYP programme of inquiry (PoI) content.
An additional lesson was added for all grade 6-8 MYP students and an identity-based curriculum was backward planned building on the service as action (SaA) model. The model takes into consideration that all teachers reinforce national identity, and the 16 agreed upon aspects are well balanced and addressed in the first three MYP grades.
This plan was later changed to build on the objectives of the Individuals and Societies (I&S) subject group with I&S teachers responsible for teaching and reinforcing the concept of identity. The curriculum was mapped against mandated Ministry of Education national education topics and the ABS developed identity aspects.
All students from KG - grade 8 are required to be exposed to the 16 aspects across the student’s KG 8 journey.
Identity Aspects
Across the ABS KG - 8 journey, the student will become aware of and understand the following: - The meaning of positive citizenship and the rights and duties of a positive citizen; - The importance of human dignity, dialogue and societal peace; - Student’s role in building, developing and serving one’s country and nation; - The words and meaning of patriotic songs; - The geographical distribution of Jordan; - The ties between Jordan and other Arab countries; - The history of Jordan’s Hashemite Leadership and their message; - The country’s economy; - Issues that impact the Arab nation; - The integral components of the Jordanian social fabric; - The Hijri calendar and dating system; - Students’ contributions to solving the problems facing family and country; - The importance of respect for diversity and rejection of extremism; - The national holidays, cuisine, social practices and traditions; - The importance and significance of civic and national symbols such as the national anthem and the salutation of the Jordanian flag; - Finally, the importance of taking pride in one’s culture and language.
The Interfaith Conference:
The first ABS Interfaith Conference took place under the Patronage of HRH Princess Sumaya bint El Hassan, and in cooperation with the Royal Institute for Interfaith Studies (RIIFS) and the Global Young Ambassadors Association. The Conference was organized under the theme of “The Role of Religions in Promoting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)” . Participating schools were approximately 9 IB schools and 150 students participated in the conference. This year’s goal is to make this conference an annual event and to incorporate more participating schools. This completely student-led conference emphasized not only the collaboration between our ABS students but also those from other schools.
Depending on the evolving Covid 19 situation, future conference might remain face-to-face or move to an online platform
Innovation
Representatives across all school sections agreed on a set of “innovator attributes” that align with the IB learner profile and the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) standards. These attributes will support innovative practices within all subjects and across all IB programmes. A hybrid approach for the integration of innovation was agreed on for the PYP as follows: - Grades KG - 3 will be working with LEGO kits that will help them implement basic coding principles. - Grades 4 and 5 will be learning native coding language, which they will implement in solutions for real life problems. This will be taking place in IT classes and in the PYP maker space, which was established last year as part of the PYP media centre. As for the MYP, grades 6 - 8 will be working on innovative Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) based interdisciplinary units (IDUs). The MYP Science, Math and Design departments are currently developing STEM based units which will be implemented according to a staggered schedule for the above indicated grades. A special space in the Innovation and Design Department will be used as a STEM and innovation lab, in addition to the MYS maker space that is currently located in the main media centre. Teachers from across the school sections have been trained by an expert to use “Arduino: as an innovative tool to support the creation of smart products. Plans are in place to continue with Robotics and 3D printing and to introduce “Fusion 360” as an additional tool.
Grades 9 and 10 will be integrating innovation as they follow the service as action (SaA) model to address problems in the community and generate innovative solutions to tackle these problems. With regard to the IB College, grades 11 and 12 are currently integrating innovation through creativity, activity and service (CAS) and through the group 4 project. For the first year, grades 10-12 students participated in a school competition that consisted of multi-disciplinary teams that identified and addressed problems pertaining to the impact of Covid19 on the local community. Different innovative solutions were presented in front of a panel of judges, comprising experts in the fields of Engineering and Medicine and under the supervision of teachers. The jury members were extremely impressed with the creativity of the presented ideas, the professionalism of the teams and the thorough research that they undertook.
The DP Group 4 team are currently preparing for an “innovative challenge day” for DP students that will see students competing to generate innovative solutions for authentic problems.
ABS Innovator Attributes
An ABS Innovator is:
