The amazing learning opportunities for Northbridge students studying Individuals and Societies

The amazing learning opportunities for Northbridge students studying Individuals and Societies It has been a busy few months in Individuals & Societies at Northbridge International School Cambodia and here we are to share some of the highlights with you all.

It has been a busy few months in Individuals & Societies at Northbridge International School Cambodia and here we are to share some of the highlights with you all. 

In our DP Business Management classes, teachers got all three Business classes together to launch the Internal Assessment. For the Higher Level (HL) students this is an opportunity to apply the tools, techniques and theories seen in class to real world business scenarios and for the Standard Level (SL) students to use secondary sources to analyse business decisions.

Also in the Start Up Studio we had four different Cambodian entrepreneurs come to the campus to share their journeys with Grade 9 and students were given the opportunity to ask questions and challenge the entrepreneurs in order to collect ideas and inspiration for their own projects.

The Startup Studio then had their very first 'Pitch Day' on Wednesday 17th February where all of Grade 9 came together in the Primary cafeteria and pitched their ideas to each other and a panel of invited entrepreneurs.

In the MYP we have been working hard to update our units, embedding the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), developing more contemporary case studies, and giving students ownership over their Approaches To Learning (ATL) assessment and achievements.

Our Grade 8 students showed autonomy and collaboration investigating an SDG of their choice, and demonstrated their understanding by creating innovative products including a website, a board game, and a podcast.

They have also made leaflets highlighting the environmental and human impact on the production and trade of everyday items such as straws, plastic cups and styrofoam boxes in order to advocate sustainability among their peers.

This is all part of a unit where students will investigate the New Belt and Road initiative and evaluate who are the winners and losers of this giant trading network.

Also in Grade 8 we received high praise for our work as a department on the ATL’s where one student gave overwhelmingly positive feedback regarding our new ATL assessment tables. They said “They [the tables] were 100% clear and easy to understand, and really made sense when assessing the ATL’s for the unit. It’s much better than Semester 1 - I get it now. I approve!”. High praise indeed and much appreciated by all teachers involved!

The Grade 10 have been building on the units on the Industrial Revolution as well as Capitalism and Communism in our current unit in Natural Resources. They are currently learning about the Food, Energy, Food nexus and will have a summative project which sees them analyze the food, energy and water security of an assigned country. 

In the lead up to this we looked at the SDG’s and discussed what development was as well as how sustainable development could be reached. This is all part of the process to bridge the gap between MYP and DP making the transition easier for our students.

Overall our department has seen huge progress in unit development and conceptual understanding and continues to collaborate regularly to ensure we provide the best, most engaging and varied curriculum for our students.