Science is one of the most important subjects in the IB system. As they move up the ladder, students need to face more and more challenging skills that they need to master. During the MYP years we try to teach our students how to solve scientific problems, research scientific issues, explain in class subjects of a scientific nature and understand the impact of science in our daily life and the future.

As they move through MYP, students acquire many skills that will be vital for their success during the DP course, in which the students will carry most of the weight of the subjects and are expected to elaborate their own study systems guided by the teachers. They will start by learning to find information online, then teachers will help them differentiate between good and bad sources, analyze those sources and gather their own conclusion. 

I think we can all agree that it is very important to be able to research a problem or idea before we can agree or disagree, even if the idea is obviously wrong. In this spirit I have asked our grade 8, 9 and 10 students to gather information on a theory that still today some people believe, the “Flat Earth Theory”. Some people still believe that our planet is just a disk, but in order to disprove this, we need to understand their points and formulate a rebuttal based on experimentation to disprove them. Our students will have to do exactly that.

Equally important in science is the ability to apply scientific knowledge to practical problems, in other words to design experiments. During my classes the students are being taught how to make scientific inquiries, how to design an experiment, understand the results, draw conclusion and apply this knowledge to other situations. In our school, Science classes are not just an hour to listen to the teacher going on about this or that topics. In my classes, students choose what do they want to explore next in our topic, student based inquiry is the best way for learning that will last a lifetime.

Our grade 7s had a first-hand experience on this. When we talked about Thermal Physics and Heat Transfer we begun by exploring what is heat, how is transferred, and how to slow this down using different materials. They discovered by their selves how does a thermos work, and finally they had to design their own “heat saving devices” that they built with materials brought from home. To end the experiment we tested all the designs and discussed why differences appeared between their models.

In all, teaching Science is quite a challenge in MYP following the guidelines of the IB system. As a teacher, I need to be prepared for anything the students ask related with the subject and have examples ready to illustrate their questions. With a strong support from our academic leadership and our administration, I can always count with the resources I need to teach a high quality, competitive  and, most importantly, fun for the students course that I work hard to make memorable for them.

Doctor Francisco de asís De la Serna Sabate.