Since our authorization to implement the IB PYP in 2014, Kuei Shan has tirelessly (faithfully) developed the program to make it future-focused for students to be able to respond to the challenges and opportunities in our rapidly changing complex world as lifelong learners. Our program evolves mainly in areas of inquiry, transdisciplinary learning, conceptual understanding, and dual-language immersion.
Learning through Inquiry
Inquiry, as the leading pedagogical approach of the Kuei Shan PYP, recognizes the importance that students actively involve in their own learning by taking responsibility. Designing an inquiry takes consideration of challenges and opportunities of confirmation, structured, guided and open inquiries. The majority of Kuei Shan PYP inquiries are structured or guided inquiries in order for teachers to scaffold the cognitive processing of all necessary steps. Independently, students have opportunities to do confirmation inquiries like potting up plants in Grade 1 to perform open inquiries for their Grade 5 Exhibition project. Inquiry-based learning contains play, problem-based learning, collaborative learning, experimentation, and explicit teaching. A “Wow” moment for teachers is where students extend their initial curiosity to new questions and wonderings which sometimes lead to next level or further inquiries.
Learning through Transdisciplinary Themes
Transdisciplinary learning unifies learning in all subjects and focuses on personal and social significance. Regardless of where PYP learners are in the world and with which ethnic or cultural group, the following six themes are considered worth exploring: Who we are, Where we are in place and time, How we express ourselves, How the world works, How we organize ourselves, and Sharing the plants. At Kuei Shan, we are committed to designing and implementing six unit of inquiries (UOI) in each grade level of Grades 1-5 to provide our students with opportunities to experience the real world which are not confined to the boundaries of traditional subjects. For each UOI, Kuei Shan teacher teams aim to transcend subjects. They start at the exploration of the central idea, make subject-specific teaching around opportunities to connect to the UOI theme, collaborate with single subject teachers to find shared conceptual understandings by identifying lines of inquiry, ensure learning experiences reflect real-world contexts, and end with reflection of further enhancement. Their practice of this kind of curriculum-organizing approach has enabled big ideas of human commonalities to rise above subjects in the Kuei Shan PYP.
Building Conceptual Understanding
The six themes of the PYP are already models of application of using concepts for organizing the entire Program of Inquiry (the school curriculum). Concepts are useful when organizing content to be learned. On each grade-level and for each unit of inquiry, Kuei Shan teachers take great consideration to connect the aims, objectives, assessment and learning experiences with their carefully selected target concepts. IB’s definition of conceptual understanding as the chart on the left, the idea can be much straightforward though. It simply means people can use a sentence or a phrase to demonstrate their understanding of a relationship between multiple concepts. Kuei Shan teachers teach such understanding which often results in students learning enhancement of the process and outcome of inquiries. Learning tasks that teachers designed for students are aimed to be around concepts, not on isolated facts which are locked in place and time. The learning tasks, for example, are often seen as open-ended, about complex issues, to compare and contrast, to promote transfer to new situations, or to evaluate. See following examples on how conceptual understanding helps Kuei Shan students gain a deeper understanding of content and transfer to new contexts.
Kuei Shan
Dual-Language Immersion
“The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.”
- Wittgenstein (1921)
Student Language Profile
The Kuei Shan student language profile now (2024) has changed significantly compared to what was in 2013 shown on the left. The August 2024 elementary PYP enrolment has 17 nationalities which comprises 72% ROC passport holders and 28% other passport holders. Throughout years of development, the school’s language programs have successfully responded to such demographic changes. Currently, Kuei Shan PYP implements dual-language immersion programs to develop students' high levels of language proficiency and literacy in both English and Chinese, attain high levels of academic achievement, and develop an appreciation and understanding of cross-cultural understanding. For both languages, support programs are available to help students who have not reached grade-level expectations for them.
Taking the Chinese Program Forward
Sample unit overview: Grade 4, Unit 2 「精緻語文向前行」四年級第二單元 超學科主題：我們是誰 (角色和榜樣) 選文 : • 為國爭光 -- 紀政 • 向著標竿直跑 -- 李愛銳 • 勤能補拙 -- 喬丹 • Other - 國語、自然、社會等課本選文 單元概述 : 四年級學生在學習超學科主題「我們是誰」時，將於國語課中學習傳記文本；透過探究英雄人物，並發現人物的生活如何激勵人們追求卓越；期待學生最終也能撰寫一篇人物傳記。為此，學生除將閱讀數篇著名運動員的文章外；也將學習傳記文本的結構、語言特徵和寫作常識。形成性評量將包括詞彙和語法練習、與核心文本相關的閱讀理解/分析、問題回答以及其他活動。 總結性評量: 傳記是人們生活的窗口。請採訪一位家庭成員，有關如何克服困難並成功的3至5個事件，並以生動的敘述方式書寫。注意僅能寫好的，讓家長可以享受孩子的甜言蜜語；文章中需引述被採訪者所說的話；最後，要敘述這位家庭成員的哪種價值觀或品格影響了你。