IB Community Theme: Sharing our humanity

PYP Exhibition

“Sharing Our Humanity”

At Sekolah Ciputra we decided to use the IB Community Theme for this year’s PYP Exhibition.  Placing the Exhibition under the Transdisciplinary Theme Sharing the Planet, provided students with the lens to explore their chosen topic -

Poverty

Education for All

Natural Disasters and Mitigation

Peace Keeping and Conflict

The Digital Divide

Global Infectious Diseases.

Sekolah Ciputra is located in Surabaya, the second largest city in Indonesia, on the densely populated island of Java. It only took a walk into the villages surrounding the compound which houses the school to find examples of people affected by each of the topics embraced under the Community Theme.

From the beginning of the Exhibition,  student learning was scaffolded to ensure that the action taken led to a sustainable change, as opposed to the charity work that is often  a ‘one hit’ distribution of goods. The central idea was;

‘ Accepting social responsibility can contribute towards a sustainable future.'

From this central idea students developed lines of inquiry that would lead them to explore the issues relating to their specific topic and guide them towards their action.Community resources emerged as the students planned and explored primary resources. This frontloading and contacting beyond the school gave scope for the planned action too.

As steps towards the action unfolded, each of the 15 groups had to submit a proposal, that outlined their purpose, predicted results, budgets and logistics  to the school administration, funds had to be arranged independently of the school. The time for the action was well planned to ensure that it was not rushed, spanned more than one occasion (in many cases) and that time for reflection and follow- up was available.

Some examples of the action planned and delivered by the students included;

A mini – peacekeeping conference, where students from 6 local schools representing different aces, religions and socio economic backgrounds spent the day engaging in team building activities, investigating origins of conflict and planning strategies to resolve conflict, Students led all events on the day. The conference culminated in the development of a ‘declaration of peace’ that was signed by all participants and taken back to their schools, where they would lead some action with their fellow students.

For eradication of infectious diseases, the groups visited a puskesmas (community health centre) in the nearby village. They ascertained the needs of the people by working with a doctor and returned to present the women and children of the community with some hygiene strategies that they could employ in their homes to alleviate infections disease such as typhoid, diarrhea aand dengue fever in the village. Similar sustainable action was planned, implemented and reflected on by each group.

For the grade 6 students exploring the Community Theme proved them with a tool to recognize that whilst they live’ sheltered’ lives in this city there are many people in the world and right on their doorsteps who will never have the privilege of experiencing their lifestyles. But beyond the students, the learning process and the sharing on Exhibition Day challenged and inspired parents and members of the broader community to consider the action that they may take as result of the significant work of children who were only 11-12 yrs old.     

Images

Images