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As our Northbridge International School Cambodia MYP Math students in Grades 9 and 10 prepare to transition into the Diploma Programme in a year or two, students are exposed to real world problems and are asked to use mathematical modeling techniques to predict and solve these problems.
This not only highlights the importance and relevance of mathematics, but provides our students with the opportunities of developing transferable skills that will be important in other disciplines they choose to study in their future educational endeavors.
Moreover, our Grade 9 and 10 students have a difficult decision when it comes to selecting their Diploma courses in Math in Grade 11. Starting this year, the Math curriculum has changed and students have the ability to choose from four different math courses and in particular two math streams, Applications or Analysis.
The Math department at Northbridge believe it is important to make sure our students are exposed to using both analytic and applied techniques in the MYP. In turn, our students will then understand and self reflect on which approach they enjoy and feel more confidently in as they decide the pathway they would like to take in the DP. Analytical techniques and proofs are focused primarily in the Analysis course, whereas modeling and statistics in focused in the Applications course.
Over the past week, our students have been using technology to solve these real world problems. This includes using their graphing display calculators (GDC) and Desmos software to model a real world problem and linking it to other disciplines including geography, and economics.
Grade 9
In Grade 9, students are exploring the topic correlation vs causation, as they analyze different variables in the real world and determine if one has led to the other.
This has accumulated with a real world problem in which students will research data sets and complete and comparison study using bivariate statistics.
They will model the data using technology, such as Excel, GDC or Desmos. Some of the topics chosen are connected to economics, geography, biology, and business management. Developing these skills in Mathematics will benefit them in their internal assessments for other subjects in the Diploma Programme.
Grade 10
In Grade 10 students are modeling temperature using trigonometric functions. This real world problem allows students to understand the importance of climate change and being able to predict patterns in the change in temperature over time. They also become more confident and reflecting on their mathematical process and being able to explain how they have come up with each parameter in their equation.
This real world problem connects to Geography, and the sciences and will set our students well for the math exploration topic in DP and their IAs they choose to complete in both the sciences and in I & S.
World Children's Day (WCD) is celebrated on November 20 each year to promote international togetherness, awareness among children worldwide, and improving children's welfare.
The readers of this article have all likely experienced a ‘traditional’ exam setting. Rows of desks, pen and paper, and exam papers that are primarily constructed to test knowledge and recall of the course content. There is certainly some value to an exam paper that assesses a student’s knowledge, but ultimately, knowledge and recall represents a very narrow range of the skills actually needed in the modern world. Recognising this, the IB has taken an revolutionary look at assessment in the middle years, with the eAssessment.