The International Baccalaureate® (IB) Middle Years Programme (MYP) comprises eight subject groups:

Language acquisition.

Language and literature.

Individuals and societies.

Sciences.

Mathematics.

Arts.

Physical and health education.

Design.

The MYP requires at least 50 hours of teaching time for each subject group in each year of the programme.

Each year, students in the MYP also engage in at least one collaboratively planned interdisciplinary unit that involves at least two subject groups.

MYP students also complete a long-term project, where they decide what they want to learn about, identify what they already know, discovering what they will need to know to complete the project, and create a proposal or criteria for completing it.

Source: International Baccalaureate

The MYP eight subject groups:

1-  Language acquisition

The study of additional languages in the Middle Years Programme (MYP) provides students with the opportunity to develop insights into the features, processes and craft of language and the concept of culture, and to realize that there are diverse ways of living, viewing and behaving in the world.

MYP language acquisition is a compulsory component of the MYP in every year of the programme. Schools must provide sustained language learning in at least two languages for each year of the MYP.

Language and identity

Learning to communicate in a variety of ways is fundamental to students’ identity affirmation.

What is the significance of language acquisition in the MYP?

The ability to communicate in a variety of modes, in more than one language, is essential to the concept of an international education. The language acquisition course provides a linguistic and academic challenge for students in order to facilitate the best possible educational experience.

Source: International Baccalaureate

Students are given the opportunity to develop their language skills to their full potential, as well as the possibility of progressing through various phases over the course of the MYP.

How is language acquisition structured in the MYP?

In this subject group, teaching and learning is organized into six phases. The phases do not correspond to particular age groups or MYP year levels. Students do not necessarily begin in phase one – they can begin at any phase, depending on their prior experiences, and may exit from any phase on the continuum.

2-  Language and literature

Middle Years Programme (MYP) language and literature courses develop skills in six areas:

The six skill areas are:

- Listening

- Speaking

- Reading

- Writing

- Viewing

Presenting

Source: International Baccalaureate

Inquiry is at the heart of MYP language learning, and aims to support students’ understanding by providing them with opportunities to independently and collaboratively investigate, take action and reflect on their learning.

What is the significance of language and literature in the MYP?

All IB programmes value language as central to the development of critical thinking, which is essential for cultivating intercultural understanding and responsible membership in local, national and global communities.

Language is integral to exploring and sustaining personal development and cultural identity, and provides an intellectual framework that supports the construction of conceptual understanding.

As MYP students interact with a range of texts, they generate insight into moral, social, economic, political, cultural and environmental domains. They continually grow in their abilities to form opinions, make decisions, and reason ethically—all key attributes of an IB learner.

How is language and literature structured in the MYP?

Schools are strongly encouraged to offer language and literature courses in multiple languages and to support students’ mother tongues.

Source: International Baccalaureate

MYP language and literature courses are designed to:

engage a student in the study of many aspects of the language and literature of a communities and their cultures

offer a study of a wide range of literary and non-literary text types, writing styles and techniques, allowing students to comment on the significance of any possible contexts, audiences, purpose, and the use of linguistic and literary devices.

3-  Mathematics

In the International Baccalaureate® (IB) Middle Years Programme (MYP), mathematics promotes both inquiry and application, helping students to develop problem solving techniques that transcend the discipline and that are useful in the world beyond school.

The MYP mathematics framework encompasses number, algebra, geometry and trigonometry, statistics and probability.

Students in the MYP learn how to represent information, to explore and model situations, and to find solutions to familiar and unfamiliar problems. These are skills that are useful in a wide range of arenas, including social sciences and the arts.

Source: International Baccalaureate

What is the significance of mathematics in the MYP?

MYP mathematics aims to equip all students with the knowledge, understanding and intellectual capabilities to address further courses in mathematics, as well as to prepare those students who will use mathematics in their studies, workplaces and everyday life.

Mathematics provides an important foundation for the study of sciences, engineering and technology, as well as a variety of application in other fields.

How is mathematics structured in the MYP?

MYP mathematics can be tailored to the needs of students, seeking to intrigue and motivate them to want to learn its principles. Students see authentic examples of how mathematics is useful and relevant to their lives and be encouraged to apply it to new situations.

In the MYP, the topics and skills in the framework for mathematics are organized so that students can work at two levels of challenge:

Standard mathematics, which aims to give all students a sound knowledge of basic mathematical principles while allowing them to develop the skills needed to meet the objectives of MYP mathematics

Extended mathematics, in which the standard mathematics framework supplemented by additional topics and skills, providing greater breadth and depth.

4-      Science

The Middle Years Programme (MYP) sciences framework encourages students to investigate issues through research, observation and experimentation, working independently and collaboratively.

As they investigate real examples of science application, students will discover the tensions and dependencies between science and morality, ethics, culture, economics, politics, and the environment.

What is the significance of sciences in the MYP?

Scientific inquiry fosters critical and creative thinking about research and design, as well as the identification of assumptions and alternative explanations.

Through MYP sciences, students will learn to appreciate and respect the ideas of others, gain good ethical-reasoning skills and further develop their sense of responsibility as members of local and global communities.

How are sciences structured in the MYP?

MYP sciences courses usually include biology, chemistry and physics, but schools may develop and offer other sciences courses that meet the subject group’s aims and objectives.  

Source: International Baccalaureate

Additional courses could include:

environmental sciences

life sciences

physical sciences

sport sciences

health sciences

earth sciences.

MYP science courses can include interdisciplinary science units that explore concepts, skills and processes from two or more science disciplines.

5-      Individuals and societies

Individuals and societies incorporates disciplines traditionally studied in the humanities, as well as disciplines in the social sciences. 

In this subject group, students collect, describe and analyse data used in studies of societies, test hypotheses, and learn how to interpret complex information, including original source material.

This focus on real-world examples, research and analysis is an essential aspect of the subject group.

What is the significance of individuals and societies in the MYP?

The subject encourages learners to respect and understand the world around them and equips them with the necessary skills to inquire into historical, contemporary, geographical, political, social, economic, religious, technological and cultural factors that have an impact on individuals, societies and environments.

It encourages learners, both students and teachers, to consider local and global contexts.

How is individuals and societies structured in the MYP?

To provide a broad and balanced curriculum, schools should develop individuals and societies courses that involve a range of relevant disciplines.

Schools can organize the study of individuals and societies in the MYP as:

• discrete courses, focused on individual disciplines, in which students receive a grade for each discipline (for example: world, local or national history; geography; economics; global politics or international relations; civics; philosophy; business management; sociology; psychology; anthropology)
• modular courses, focused on the study of multiple disciplines, one at a time, in which students receive one grade for individuals and societies

integrated courses, focusing on inquiry from a number of perspectives, bringing together knowledge and conceptual understandings from multiple disciplines within the subject group, in which students receive one grade for individuals and societies (for example: social studies or humanities).

         6- Design

As part of the Middle Years Programme (MYP), design challenges all students to:

• apply practical and creative thinking skills to solve design problems
• explore the role of design in both historical and contemporary contexts
• consider their responsibilities when making design decisions and taking action. 

MYP design focuses a holistic design process rather than final products and solutions.

What is the significance of design in the MYP?

MYP uses the design cycle as a way to structure:

• inquiry and analysis of design problems
• development and creation of feasible solutions
• testing and evaluation of students’ models, prototypes, products or systems.

How is design structured in the MYP? 

Design courses can be offered as:

• a distinct digital and/or product design course
• a series of distinct digital and/or product design courses
• a single course which combines digital and product design

In the International Baccalaureate® (IB) Middle Years Program (MYP), physical and health education empowers students to understand and appreciate the value of being physically active and to develop the motivation for making healthy life choices. 

Physical and health education focuses on both learning about and learning through physical activity.

Both dimensions help students to develop  approaches to learning (ATL)  skills across the curriculum.

MYP physical and health education courses must engage students in physical education activities for at least half of the total teaching time allocated to the subject group.

What is the significance of MYP physical and health education?

Physical and health education courses foster the development of knowledge, skills and attitudes that will contribute to a student's balanced and healthy lifestyle. Through opportunities for active learning, courses in this

 subject group embody and promote the holistic nature of well-being.

Through physical and health education, students can learn to appreciate and respect the ideas of others, and develop effective collaboration and communication skills.

This subject area also offers many opportunities to build positive interpersonal relationships that can help students to develop a sense of social responsibility.

How is MYP physical and health education structured?

In order to give students an opportunity to meet the MYP physical and health education objectives at the highest level, teachers should plan a balanced curriculum that includes significant content.

This content might include:

• physical and health-related knowledge ,  such as components of fitness, training methods, training principles, nutrition, lifestyle, biomechanics, exercise physiology issues, in sport and first aid
• aesthetic movement , such as gymnastics, aerobics, martial arts, jump rope, yoga or capoeira
• team sports,  such as football, basketball, handball, volleyball and hockey
• Individual sports , such as golf, athletics, swimming, squash or fencing
• international sports and activities , including athletic traditions and forms of movement beyond students' personal and cultural experiences

    8-Arts

In the International Baccalaureate® (IB) Middle Years Program (MYP), students develop through creating, performing and presenting arts in ways that engage and convey feelings, experiences and ideas.

It is through this practice that students acquire new skills and master those skills developed in prior learning.

Students have opportunities to function as artists, as well as learners of the arts. 

What is the significance of arts in the MYP?

Arts stimulate young imaginations, challenge perceptions and develop creative and analytical skills.

Involvement in the arts encourages students to understand the arts in context and the cultural histories of artworks, supporting the development of an inquiring and empathetic world view.

Arts challenge and enrich personal identity and build awareness of the aesthetic in a real-world context.

How is arts structured in the MYP?

Source: International Baccalaureate

In MYP years 1 to 3, arts course structures include a minimum of one visual arts discipline and one performing arts discipline.

The arts disciplines offered in the MYP at RADHWA are:

• Visual art.
• Media.
• Drama.

Schools can organize the study of arts in the MYP as:

• discrete disciplines , focusing on each discipline separately
• integrated courses , in which a combination of either performing arts disciplines or visual arts disciplines are studied. Schools are not permitted to combine performing and visual arts as one integrated course
• modular courses . Students undertake a consecutive rotation of disciplines for a set period of time each, though not necessarily a full school year. These modules each focus on a single arts discipline - such as visual art, music or drama.

Source: International Baccalaureate