PenDragon - the official magazine of Lyford Cay International School PenDragon Vol 2, Spring 2016 | Page 5

DESIGN FOR LIVING
Problem-Based Learning in the International
Baccalaureate Programme
By David Mindorff, Head of Secondary and Paul Matheson, Secondary Teacher
Understanding the process of design is an essential life
skill in today’s world. In the International Baccalaureate
Middle Years Programme (MYP) students follow courses
in all of the traditional domains including literature,
language acquisition, humanities, science, math, the
arts and physical and health education. Interestingly,
in every grade, students take a course in design. The
reason a design course is included in every student’s
portfolio can be understood by referring to the mission
statement of the IB organisation:
The International Baccalaureate aims to
develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring
young people who help to create a better and
more peaceful world.
The Design course aims to develop students’ real-world
problem-solving skills so that they have the capacity and
dispositions that will help them to address issues of local
and global concern. Problem-based learning confronts
students with challenges to solve. Through the Design
course, students call upon problem-solving dispositions
developed as a consequence of an IB education. At
Lyford Cay International School (LCIS), students are
presented with a range of real-world problems in this
course:
• What would be the best musical choice for this
particular video segment?
• How can I bring this historical information to a
broader audience?
• What is the lightest bridge that can support the
heaviest load?
• What is the most useful fist-sized object I can
3D print?
Students start by thinking critically about their audience
and what they need. They evaluate existing solutions
and develop a plan for researching. The disposition of
being knowledgeable before you act is an important
mental habit developed in these courses. Students are
also taught to develop more than one possible solution.
Being open-minded is another critical mental habit for
the problem solver: the first idea may not be the best
one and a creative thinker recognises that his or her
own ideas do not exhaust the possibilities.