What are the Grade 10 students working on?

 

Every Wednesday, during PIE, the Grade 10 students gather in MP1 in order to touch base with teachers, and with each other, about their MYP Personal Projects. This is a time to collaborate, to get advice, to document progress and just to get on with their projects.

In this Buffalo Voices Podcast, on AISM Radio, seven of them chat with Sam Sherratt about what they're doing for their MYP Personal Projects and how it's going so far. Enjoy listening to Elisa, Hayden, Helen, Sydney, Tyra, Misa and Daniel talk about each of their very diverse projects!

AISM Radio · Buffalo Voices - Grade 10 Students and their Personal Projects

Knowing Our Students

 

AISM teachers started the new school year by using a variety of strategies to get to know their students. Gathering information about the students helps us:

• to be connected with who they are as human beings
• to understand how they like to learn and how they don't like to learn
• to get a sense of the things that motivate them and don't motivate them
• to learn about the things that interest them and don't interest them
• to find out what they see as their learning strengths and things they feel less confident about
• to learn about their goals, principles, beliefs and values

Grade 8's Short Films

 

During their English lessons, students in Grade 8 did a whole unit on Film. Either in groups or on their own, either in campus or in other parts of the world, the students developed concepts, wrote scripts, selected music and sound-effects, chose locations, filmed and edited eight amazing - and very different - short films.

You can watch all of the films in the Grade 8 Virtual Film Festival below:

Grade 6 Seven Modern Wonders of the World

To conclude their inquiry into ancient civilizations, geography key themes, map making skills and settlements, Grade 6 students carried out a research and decision-making activity, to produce a list of their own Seven Modern Wonders of the World, following their inquiry into the original ancient modern wonders of the world, created by the ancient Greeks. Each presentation of the Seven Modern Wonders of the World had to have their own set of criteria, by which the students who created them, considered them to be a 'Wonder'. In turn, the class collaboratively devised a set of criteria by which to judge each others' presentations of their Seven Modern Wonders of the World. Special mention goes to Belva and Cala, and Laia, whose two presentations were deemed to be the joint winning presentations by their class of peers. 

The question is, which presentation of the Seven Wonders of the World do you consider to be the most wonderful?

Here are some examples of their presentations.

Akira, Jae, Mohamed and Oskar:

Polly, Theo and Michelle:

Laia:

Heather:

Belva and Cala:

Lucas and Jacques:

 

Grade 3 Students Taking Action for Change

 

Dynamic duo, Chica and Zayli, in Grade 3, have been working on their passion project every week on Flex Fridays. Their plan is to raise money for Mozambican schools that need more educational materials or to done to organizations that provide clean drinking water to children - they're still deciding! They are raising the money by selling products made of Capulana material.

Chica and Zayli intend to continue with this project next year, when they are in Grade 4, and so they want the community to know about the project and keep an eye out for it next school year!

The MYP Personal Project Virtual Exhibition is Live!

 

Grade 11 students did an amazing job with their Personal Projects, with a very wide variety of topics being explored through this milestone experience.

Please get comfortable and spend a bit of time exploring the Virtual Exhibition so you can get a sense of what the students did, read some of their reports and see some of the products of their projects.

personalproject2021.aism.co.mz

Buffalo Voices Podcast - The Grade 11 Core Retreat

Grade 11 students just had a Core Retreat in which they were able to dedicate some time to the Core of the IB Diploma. This is made up of Theory of Knowledge (TOK), the Extended Essay and Creativity, Activity and Service. 

In this podcast, Sam Sherratt finds out more about the retreat, what happened and what impact it had by chatting to Gabriel Di Mauro (IB Diploma Coordinator), Rui da Silva (Extended Essay Coordinator), Colleen Fletcher (CAS Coordinator) and two Grade 11 students, Rylan and Jana.

AISM Radio · Buffalo Voices Podcast - G11 Core Retreat

Grade 10 Inquiry into the Sustainable Development Goals

Grade 10 are currently presenting the work they've done during their inquiry into the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with the outcome of the inquiry being a sustainable, actionable solution to a local issue (which is also a world-wide issue related to SDGs).

The context for the unit of inquiry was to develop an understanding of the impact of the linear economy globally, and to consider how the UN SDGs can overcome global issues, within a local context, with students carrying out personalised inquiries and creating sustainable solutions and action. This inquiry ties in with the transition of Grade 10 to the IB Diploma and High School programme in two ways: to mirror an inquiry into the UN SDGs as per the Environmental Systems and Societies Internal Assessment and to engage students in Creativity, Activity and Service (CAS) experiences, building a foundation for continued action in Grade 11 and Grade 12.

The unit of inquiry began with guest speakers from within the AISM community. Niall Tierney spoke about the history of the UN SDGs and his own involvement in developing them and implementing them. Florentine Bourdeaux spoke about the application of a circular economic model of industrial production in Maputo at the Beluluane Industrial Park, working on transforming the park into an eco-industrial park. Colleen Fletcher and Jasmine Howell spoke about the importance of sustainable action (economic, social, environmental), based on indigenous knowledge bearers, the Compass Model and spheres of influence.

Here are a few examples of the presentations the students have put together.

Ashutosh and Arvind's work focuses on sustainable, affordable water filtration systems for the local community in order to promote Clean Water and Sanitation (SDG6) and to counter the use of single-use plastic and climate change:

Sanjana, Saira, Maria Clara and Georgia's work focuses on making organic hand sanitizer to support the Health and Well-Being (SDG 3) and Clean Water and Sanitation (SDG 6) of a local school in order, ultimately, to influence Quality Education (SDG 4): 

             

Margret's work focused on Clean Water and Sanitation (SDG 6) and ensuring sustainable management of water and sanitation for all, with a focus on Mozambique:

Madeleine's work focused on seeing if solar paint is a plausible innovation to develop Affordable and Clean Energy (SDG 7):

The Grade 12 Extended Essay Exhibition 2021 is live!

 

Click on the image to visit the Extended Essay Exhibition

Grade 11 and 12 students go through the process of planning, writing and publishing the extended essay as part of the IB Diploma Programme. This is an independent, self-directed piece of research, finishing with a 4,000-word paper.

The extended essay provides:

• practical preparation for undergraduate research
• an opportunity for students to investigate a topic of personal interest to them, which relates to one of the student's six DP subjects, or takes the interdisciplinary approach of a World Studies extended essay.

Through the research process for the extended essay, students develop skills in:

• formulating an appropriate research question
• engaging in a personal exploration of the topic
• communicating ideas
• developing an argument.

This year, AISM students have written essays about topics ranging from the ideal diets for basketball players to the relationship between childhood experiences and criminal behaviour, from the discrimination and exploitation of minorities to Turtle nesting in Mozambique, from the effects of social isolation to Korean cuisine and social media! The diversity of topics is amazing, and something our school, and this cohort of students, can be very proud of.

Crucially, the extended essay is a powerful reminder of how important it is for students to be curious about the world, to develop strong interests and to develop the skills involved in personal inquiry.

Please enjoy exploring the Extended Essay 2021 Virtual Exhibition!

The AISM MAP Help Center

 

The AISM MAP Help Center has been created as a "one-stop-shop" for all information regarding:

• the big picture of MAP Growth testing
• the implementation of MAP testing at AISM
• the disruptions to MAP testing during the pandemic
• the variables involved for students doing the test this year
• the importance of avoiding emotional reactions to MAP scores
• how to access MAP reports on Managebac
• how to look at an understand the MAP reports

Please make the most of the information on the AISM MAP Help Center as we believe the vast majority of your questions or concerns will be addressed in the content.

If you would like to talk about your child's MAP scores and do some interpretation and analysis together, please feel free to contact Sam Sherratt - sam.sherratt@aism-moz.com

MAP Growth Testing Update: Looking at Data

 

We have started two weeks of faculty inquiry into the MAP data - starting with a look at the data across the whole school and then moving on to a closer look at data in grade levels, subject areas and for individual students

The video above - Part 2 in our series of videos about MAP Growth testing at AISM this year - explains some the things we have already seen in the data, gives families some guidance about emotional reactions to test scores, explains where MAP fits in the whole story of assessment at AISM and explains the timeline for sharing reports with families.

If you have any questions about the content of this video, please feel free to contact Sam, our Director of Learning.

Powerful Poetry by Grade 9 Students

 

Grade 9 students have written, performed and produced videos for a variety of powerful, and personal, poems. These poems have been curated on the AISM Grade 9 Poetry Slam website. 

Click on the titles across the top of the webpage in order to access the pages for each individual poem, and don't forget to click "More" and scroll down the right-hand side of the webpage... there's more amazing poems there too!