The International Baccalaureate® (IB) Middle Years Programme (MYP) emphasizes intellectual challenge.
It motivates students aged 11 to 16 to apply their learning to real-world situations, equipping them for success in both future studies and life.
What the MYP offers students:
The MYP seeks to cultivate active learners and globally minded individuals who are empathetic and strive for lives of purpose and meaning.
The program encourages students to explore a broad spectrum of important issues and ideas, both locally and globally. This fosters young people who are creative, critical, and reflective thinkers.
IB’s Approach to Teaching and Learning:
The MYP strives to assist students in developing their personal understanding, growing sense of self, and responsibility within their community.
The teaching and learning in the MYP is grounded in the following concepts:
- Teaching and learning in context: Students learn most effectively when their learning experiences are meaningful and connected to their lives and personal experiences of the world. Through global contexts, MYP students gain an understanding of their shared humanity and collective responsibility for the planet by engaging in developmentally appropriate explorations of:
- identities and relationships
- personal and cultural expression
- orientations in space and time
- scientific and technical innovation
- fairness and development
- globalization and sustainability.
2. Conceptual understanding: Concepts are broad ideas that hold significance within specific disciplines and across subjects. MYP students use these concepts to explore issues and ideas of personal, local, and global importance, while examining knowledge in a holistic manner. The MYP outlines sixteen key interdisciplinary concepts, along with related concepts for each discipline.
3. Approaches to learning: A consistent theme across all MYP subject areas, approaches to learning (ATL) form the foundation for independent learning and promote the use of knowledge and skills in new contexts. By developing and applying social, thinking, research, communication, and self-management skills, students learn how to learn.
4. Service as action, through community service: Action and service have long been core values of the IB community. Students engage in action by applying what they learn both in the classroom and beyond. IB learners aim to be compassionate community members, dedicated to service—making a positive impact on others and the environment. Service as action is a key component of the program, particularly within the MYP community project.
5. Inclusion and learning diversity in MYP: As part of the MYP curriculum, schools address differentiation within the written, taught, and assessed curriculum. This is reflected in the unit planner and teaching environment, both of which are evaluated during program authorization and review. The MYP enables schools to continue meeting state, provincial, or national legal requirements for students with access needs. Schools are required to develop an inclusion/special educational needs (SEN) policy that outlines assessment accommodations, classroom modifications, and curriculum adjustments tailored to meet the unique learning needs of individual students.
6. STEM education in the MYP: The MYP curriculum emphasizes STEM as a key perspective for integrating teaching and learning in concepts and skills related to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
At Lehigh Valley Academy RCS, the Middle Years Programme empowers students to become thoughtful, globally minded individuals who connect learning to real-world challenges. By fostering critical thinking, inclusivity, and service, the MYP equips learners with the skills and perspectives needed for lifelong success.
Lehigh Valley Academy RCS 