Interdisciplinary Exhibition

Interdisciplinary learning is not just an integral part of IB curriculum but is also an essential skill for the development of the 'Z generation' learners. But, it is still a rare idea discussed and developed by many people around. Hence, to spread awareness of the learning and importance of interdisciplinary learning, an exhibition was organised by the students of MYP 1 to MYP 5 under my leadership, where they displayed their learning from various interdisciplinary links made in different subjects.

A glimpse of some of the activities conducted is provided below.

Artistic Birdie

-Art & Physics

The students of grade 8 made various models and sculptures using circles and also made a circuit model. They then explained what they made and explained how they made it. They explained how their knowledge of physics helped them make the models.

Design a sports bag

- Mathematics and Art

The students of grade 7 used their knowledge of Mathematics and Visual Art. The parents were asked to create a sports bag from a roll of chart paper one meter wide using measurements given by the students. They would cut, glue and stick the chart paper to form a sports bag. However, there was a catch. They were challenged to use as less chart paper possible. The parents had to use their knowledge of geometry to fulfill the measurements as well as try to conserve chart paper and still create a sports bag.

In the shoes of…

-History and Language & Literature

The parents were asked to imagine themselves to be one of the significant individuals , and present a 30 second autobiographical account of the individual. The students learnt about The Life of Significant Individuals in History and the techniques used to write biographies and autobiographies in Language and Literature. The parents had to use the knowledge of both the subjects to complete the activity.

War through Poetry

Language & Literature and History

The parents were made to write a poem using prompts/ words given explaining the feeling and emotion that a soldier has during wartime. They were first explained the types of poetry by the students of grade 8 and then were given case studies of soldiers during wartime and were asked to write a poem based off of the case studies of the soldiers imagining themselves in the place of the soldiers.

Let's use physics to play games

Physics & PAHE

The physics of sports has broad applications, and is useful for boosting performance in a variety of athletic disciplines. A lot of the time, good athletic performance is based on proper control and coordination of movement. Other times, it helps to have a good understanding of the physics taking place, and then using this knowledge to your advantage. In this IDL session, students have demonstrated the physics of various sports. Their focus is on the most interesting physics taking place in that particular sport. They made an effort to explain those concepts that can be directly applied to the sport itself. For example, knowing the torque formed by the racket produces the momentum to play a shot /smash which is according to the plan/player. And how does the angle of projection of a bullet/object affects its range.

The Sound of Science

Physics & Music

The parents were asked to perform multiple activities to understand the connection between Physics and Music. The students of grade 7 synthesised these subjects and asked the parents to do certain activities.

The first activity was where they had to identify a relationship between the amount of water in some glasses and the pitch produced by each glass. Then they were explained why the pitch changes as the water amount changes.

The second activity was where they listened to some guitar sounds on a laptop and were then asked to replicate them with the guitar given to them. After their attempt, they were explained why the guitar sounds from the laptop were different to the guitar sounds from the guitar given to them.

The third and final activity was where they were asked to play a steady beat along with the metronome from the laptop and then when they stopped the beat, they realized that they went off beat. The parents were then explained why they were not able to keep a steady beat, but why the metronome could. At the end, there was a feedback area where the parents gave their feedback and remarks on the presentation.

A Surgeon’s Dilemma

Language & Literature and Biology

The parents were given a situation by the students of grade 9 where they had to make a tough decision about an organ donation and were given the responsibility of making the right choice. Through this activity, they also expressed their thoughts and views on the moral and ethical side to making a decision about an organ donation, a decision which can be a life or death situation for many people in urgent need of care.