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Opinion
ENLARGE
INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. — A look at the general curricular elements of International Baccalaureate and Lake Tahoe School reveals more similarities than differences.
Both programs place an emphasis on instilling critical thinking and analytical skills in young children, making connections among traditional academic subjects, acquiring foreign language at an early age, establishing a firm grounding in core knowledge with a focus on humanities and crafting oral and written communication skills.
“The similarities (between IB and Lake Tahoe School's general approach to education) are predicated on best-teaching practices and best-curricular design,” said Steve McKibben, headmaster of the private K-8 Lake Tahoe School. “We are not talking about specific classes. I've always believed in providing students with as much intellectual simulation as possible.”
Both educational paradigms allow for children to draw comparisons and analyze the relationships among separate areas of study.
The International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (designed for students ages 3-12) organizes lessons around “six transdisciplinary themes,” rather than organizing lessons around traditionally separated subjects. The themes are:
• Who we are.
• Where we are in place and time.
• How we express ourselves.
• How the world works.
• How we organize ourselves.
• Sharing the planet.
“The six themes of global significance create a transdisciplinary framework that allows students to ‘step up' beyond the confines of learning within subject areas,” according to the IB website www.ibo.org, thus making it more diverse than preparing for Advanced Placement classes.
“A.P. is great for content-based traditional learning,” said Chris Mosca — principal of a school in Maine that recently implemented IB — in a New York Times article printed on July 2. “It's great for kids who like to memorize. But for more creative kids, who want to make those connections, there's nothing like the I.B.”
In Lake Tahoe School's curriculum, there is a similar focus on integrated learning.
“Our teachers understand knowledge and learning as an integral process that transcends the boundaries of traditional academic subjects,” according to the school's recruitment packet. “They appreciate the value of crossing disciplines in lessons and assignments' of integrating instructional goals and materials of several different fields of study.”
However, one of the bigger differences between the two programs is their origins.
Lake Tahoe School was founded independently by Jean McFadden and Laurie Krueger in 1997 as pre-K through first-grade private school. It has since expanded to incorporate grades 2-8, while expanded and refining its curriculum.
IB, on the other hand, was founded in the 1960s by a group of teachers from the International School of Geneva, which has affiliations with the United Nations.
The UN's role in the founding and expansion of IB has caused many people — in Incline Village and other locations throughout the United States — to express concern that IB may unfairly present children with liberal political bias.
Both programs place an emphasis on instilling critical thinking and analytical skills in young children, making connections among traditional academic subjects, acquiring foreign language at an early age, establishing a firm grounding in core knowledge with a focus on humanities and crafting oral and written communication skills.
“The similarities (between IB and Lake Tahoe School's general approach to education) are predicated on best-teaching practices and best-curricular design,” said Steve McKibben, headmaster of the private K-8 Lake Tahoe School. “We are not talking about specific classes. I've always believed in providing students with as much intellectual simulation as possible.”
Both educational paradigms allow for children to draw comparisons and analyze the relationships among separate areas of study.
The International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (designed for students ages 3-12) organizes lessons around “six transdisciplinary themes,” rather than organizing lessons around traditionally separated subjects. The themes are:
• Who we are.
• Where we are in place and time.
• How we express ourselves.
• How the world works.
• How we organize ourselves.
• Sharing the planet.
“The six themes of global significance create a transdisciplinary framework that allows students to ‘step up' beyond the confines of learning within subject areas,” according to the IB website www.ibo.org, thus making it more diverse than preparing for Advanced Placement classes.
“A.P. is great for content-based traditional learning,” said Chris Mosca — principal of a school in Maine that recently implemented IB — in a New York Times article printed on July 2. “It's great for kids who like to memorize. But for more creative kids, who want to make those connections, there's nothing like the I.B.”
In Lake Tahoe School's curriculum, there is a similar focus on integrated learning.
“Our teachers understand knowledge and learning as an integral process that transcends the boundaries of traditional academic subjects,” according to the school's recruitment packet. “They appreciate the value of crossing disciplines in lessons and assignments' of integrating instructional goals and materials of several different fields of study.”
However, one of the bigger differences between the two programs is their origins.
Lake Tahoe School was founded independently by Jean McFadden and Laurie Krueger in 1997 as pre-K through first-grade private school. It has since expanded to incorporate grades 2-8, while expanded and refining its curriculum.
IB, on the other hand, was founded in the 1960s by a group of teachers from the International School of Geneva, which has affiliations with the United Nations.
The UN's role in the founding and expansion of IB has caused many people — in Incline Village and other locations throughout the United States — to express concern that IB may unfairly present children with liberal political bias.
