IB Diploma Programme Courses Description

Core Components

 

Creativity, Activity, Service (CAS)

CAS is one of the three core courses in the IB Diploma Program. This course aims to allow students to enhance their creative thinking, intra and interpersonal development, and self-discovery through hands-on experience. The three strands of the course work together in a balanced manner to provide an addition to the academic IB program experience. In CAS, Creativity is where students express themselves through their artistic talents including, but not limited to, fine and performance art; Activity involves physical application such as dance, performance, sports and so on that increases the students’ opportunities to work in collaboration with others; and Service is summarized as voluntary service that benefits the community (others) while providing personal growth for students. Students must show evidence that they have met all the seven Learning Objectives (LO) below over the two-year program period when executing the strands in order to successfully complete the CAS course and earn the IB Diploma.

LO 1: Identify own strength & develop areas for growth.

LO 2: Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing skills in the process.

LO 3: Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience.

LO 4: Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experience.

LO 5: Demonstrate skills and recognize the benefit of working collaboratively.

LO 7: Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions.

 

Theory of Knowledge (TOK)

The Theory of Knowledge course is one that truly embodies the IB program with all its values and learner outcomes. The course truly challenges the students to look once again at all that they have learned and to become aware of themselves as thinkers. The course focuses on several central questions such as "What is knowledge?” and "How do we know what we know? Due to this, students will continually be asked to reflect critically on how and what they have learned. With questions surrounding beliefs, certainty, culture, evidence, interpretation, intuition, and truth being examined throughout the duration of the course, allowing the students to take what they have learned outside the TOK classroom and into the real world. Not only does the course allow the students to become critical thinkers, but it gives birth to individuals who question everything around them, allowing themselves to build their own knowledge throughout their entire life. During the course, class time will largely be devoted to examining questions and engaging in discussions based on reading as well as the students’ own knowledge and experiences. Moreover, students will be required to synthesize their thoughts in both speaking and writing.


Extended Essay (EE)
Based on the "IB Extended Essay Guide,” the extended essay is an in-depth study of a focused topic chosen from the list of available Diploma Programme subjects for the session in question. This is normally one of the student’s six chosen subjects for those taking the IB diploma, or a subject that a course student has a background in. It is intended to promote academic research and writing skills, providing students with an opportunity to engage in personal research in a topic of their own choice, under the guidance of a supervisor (an appropriately qualified member of staff within the school). This leads to a major piece of formally presented, structured writing, in which ideas and findings are communicated in a reasoned and coherent manner, appropriate to the subject chosen. It is mandatory that all students undertake three reflection sessions with their supervisor, which includes a short, concluding interview, or viva voce, with their supervisor following the completion of the extended essay. An assessment of this reflection process is made under criterion E (Engagement) using the Reflections on planning and progress form.

The extended essay is assessed against common criteria, interpreted in ways appropriate to each subject.

 

 

 

Subject Groups

 

Group1 – Studies in Language and Literature
Arabic/English A Language & Literature SL/HL

Language & Literature comprises the study of a range of texts and text-types, literary and non-literary, in various media. It involves the close study of language itself as well as the ways whereby it defines culture and identity, and is defined by them.

Diverse approaches will be taken: literary theory, sociolinguistics, media studies and the analysis of critical discourse. Students study a range of non-literary texts, plus four or six literary works, at SL and HL respectively. Time spent teaching and learning at each level are in a similar ratio. In line with the international flavor of the IB, these texts are drawn not only from the target language but promote understanding of a range of cultures by including some in translation.

The course offers interesting possibilities to help complete the CAS program: through learning about characters in such a range of texts, students can enhance their aptitude for empathy for real people, thus helping them to plan and reflect on the experiences and effects of their projects. The TOK course encourages IB students to reflect on their general learning, and the ways whereby knowledge is constructed, and the Language & Literature course similarly encourages them to think about the nature of human experience and the ways that one’s personal vision is created and conveyed to others.

The Learner Portfolio is an individual collection of student work compiled during the course, and is a mandatory and central element of Language A: Language and Literature. Although it is not assessed, it is a basis for assessment, a collection of evidence of the student’s work, and a space to explore and reflect on the studied texts and the student’s responses to them. 

 

 

Group 2 – Language Acquisition
French ab initio

Ce cours de langue ab initio est un cours d’acquisition de la langue française destiné aux apprenants qui ne connaissent pas cette langue ou qui en ont un aperçu très limité. La durée d’enseignement de ce cours est de 150 heures réparties sur deux années consécutives. Cinq thèmes seront traités avec quatre sujets chacun; par conséquent un total de 20 sujets variés seront couverts dans ce cours de langue ab initio. Le programme ainsi conçu initie les apprenants à:

- développer leur capacité à communiquer en français dans des contextes différents

- développer leur sensibilisation internationale

- favoriser leur curiosité, leur créativité et l’apprentissage des langues tout au long de la vie

- avoir une prise de conscience des liens entre les différentes cultures

Au cours de leur apprentissage, les apprenants seront amenés à passer par différentes formes d’évaluations, les préparant, entre autres, à l’évaluation qui aura lieu à la fin de la deuxième année. Cette dernière est composée d’une:

- évaluation interne (orale)

- évaluation externe constituée de 2 épreuves

En somme, ce programme, comme tous les programmes de l’IB d’ailleurs, a pour mission de former des apprenants ouverts d’esprit, informés, chercheurs, communicatifs, altruistes et intègres.

 

Group 3 – Individuals and Societies
Business Management HL/SL

The Business Management course outline shows the distribution of the topics in year 1 and year 2. The course is divided into five units.

Unit 1 : Business Organization and Environment

Unit 2 : Human Resource Management

Unit 3 Finance and Accounts

Unit 4 Marketing

Unit 5 :Operations Management

The course also shows examples of topics and their links to the following: TOK, international mindedness, development of IB, approaches to learning, and the resources used to build and develop it.

 

Psychology SL
The IBDP psychology course is designed to develop understanding of the diversity of human behavior and mental processes. The curriculum provides a holistic approach that covers biological, cognitive, and sociocultural levels of analysis. In addition, the course requires an in-depth study of one area in psychology.

Students are expected to develop their critical thinking and research skills throughout the course and are required to complete an "Internal Assessment” where they research and plan an experiment. The ethical concerns raised by the methodology and application of the psychological research are key considerations in IBDP psychology.

 

Group 4 - Sciences
Chemistry HL

The IB DP Chemistry HL course connects academic study with the acquisition and development of practical, investigational, and digital technology skills. It promotes critical analysis of scientific literature while developing the students’ manipulative and experimental skills through classwork, Group 4 collaborative project and internal assessment. Topics include quantitative chemistry, structure of the atom, periodicity, chemical bonding, energetics, kinetics, chemical equilibrium, acids and bases, redox reactions, organic chemistry, and instrumental analysis. The course shows examples of links to TOK, ATL, NOS, international mindedness, and the development of the IB learner profile which are essential in the 21st century scientific endeavor and are important life-enhancing, transferable skills.

Biology HL
The content of this course prepares learners for IB internal assessments and external examinations. At the end of this course, learners are expected to develop an understanding of the scientific method and of the international collaboration among scientists in the 21st century. The course also introduces a breadth of subjects at the higher level ranging from the single cell to the interactions of cells within ecosystems, nucleic acids, inheritance of traits, natural selection and evolution, and links these subjects to Nature of Science and Theory of Knowledge. Moreover, learners will develop questions and design collaborative and individual investigations to answer these questions through data collection and analysis. Investigations, internal assessments, and the Group 4 project expose learners to the practical skills and methods used the laboratory, as well as the communication and collaboration skills implemented by researchers in the scientific community.

Physics HL
The aim of this course is to engage the students in critical thinking and problem solving by challenging them to examine what they already know and learn new concepts and develop new thinking strategies. This course is designed to be inquiry-based on investigation, discussion, interpretation, evaluation, research, and application (conceptual and mathematical) of new knowledge to the understanding of the world around us.

Many of the nature phenomena and problems facing our planet can be investigated and solved by looking at them through the perspective of Physics. Our course will challenge students to think about these issues from a global international scale.

The students will be required to demonstrate knowledge and to think through the use of written assessments, lab reports, and oral assessments.

 

Group 5 - Mathematics
Analysis and approaches SL

This course is designed for learners who already have knowledge of basic mathematics and who can use their skills to apply simple mathematical techniques in a correct way. The majority of these students are expected to have a strong math background that can help them in real life situations as they prepare for their future studies such as Business, Economics …

 

Analysis and approaches HL
This course is designed for learners who have a strong background in mathematics who can think critically and possess a high level of analytical and technical skills. The majority of the learners are expected to have math as a major subject in their university studies such as Engineering, Mathematics, Physics …

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