What happens in a school
where scholarship knows no bounds?
Your child debates censorship while investigating why certain books get banned, invents her own country complete with a constitution, a culture, and religious traditions, and partners with Trees Atlanta to address erosion problems on campus property.
All of these examples—and countless others—arise from our teachers’ use of problem-based learning. Through problem-based learning, students employ research, inquiry, and collaboration to formulate solutions to global problems. Here’s how.
No matter if the subject is math, science, language arts, or history, our teachers prompt students with an open-ended problem, to which there is no easy or “right” answer. Students then work together to generate questions they need to answer in order to solve the problem. Next, students prioritize and craft these questions into a research plan, then work through their plans both independently and collaboratively in order to design and evaluate possible solutions. While this last step may manifest as a final project or a demonstration of their learning, MIS teachers continually assess the problem-solving process from the first step through the very last.
In short, problem-based learning at MIS:
All of these examples—and countless others—arise from our teachers’ use of problem-based learning. Through problem-based learning, students employ research, inquiry, and collaboration to formulate solutions to global problems. Here’s how.
No matter if the subject is math, science, language arts, or history, our teachers prompt students with an open-ended problem, to which there is no easy or “right” answer. Students then work together to generate questions they need to answer in order to solve the problem. Next, students prioritize and craft these questions into a research plan, then work through their plans both independently and collaboratively in order to design and evaluate possible solutions. While this last step may manifest as a final project or a demonstration of their learning, MIS teachers continually assess the problem-solving process from the first step through the very last.
In short, problem-based learning at MIS:
- begins with the assumption that learning is an active, integrative, and constructive project
- maintains a student-centered approach, where teachers act as facilitators rather than disseminators
- employs open-ended problems that serve as the initial stimulus and framework for learning
- sparks students’ intrinsic interest in the subject matter
- emphasizes authentic learning as opposed to recall, promotes teamwork, and helps students become self-directed learners
And Parents Join their students as learners
Each Wednesday morning the Head of School facilitates a parent round table on topics of interest for our community. In the last year, conversations have included:
- Honesty
- Anxiety
- Having Difficult Conversations
- Internet Safety
- Motivation
- Emotional Intensity
- ...just to name a few!
