Balanced Curriculum
In the IB, teachers create units based off of student inquiry in order to get students to see the “big picture”. In Marion Brady’s article Thinking Big, Brady examines the current norm of American school systems and how the compartmentalized nature of them is preventing students from seeing the world from a broader perspective.
In the article Brady states that “the main task of education is to help students make more sense of the world, themselves, and others.” However with different disciplines taught in segmented periods, the education system is too narrow and “the division into subjects and periods encourages a segmented rather than an integrated view of knowledge.” The current system is one way to expand knowledge, but it is not the only way.
Brady brings up two theories of classrooms: Theory T and Theory R. Students in Theory T classrooms are passive absorbers of information; the information is transfer from the teacher to the student through notes, and memorization. Students in Theory R classrooms must be active processors of information. Theory T emphasizes recall; Theory R requires students to engage in every known thought process, to make connections, to perceive relationships, and to synthesize ideas.
In the IB, students are placed in to Theory R classrooms. They engage in units developed through the learner profile to engage and make sense of topics in order to see the bigger picture. If we want students to be real internationally minded, critical thinkers, it is essential we create classrooms like Theory R classrooms. As Brady stated, “if most of the great minds of the past had been forced to function within the arbitrary boundaries of our narrow academic disciplines, we might never have heard of them.” All students can learn and will learn, but imagine what they can do if we encourage them to question and think outside of the box.