The MYP: A concept-driven curriculum

“What matters is not the absorption and regurgitation either of facts or of
pre-digested interpretations of facts, but the development of powers of the
mind or ways of thinking which can be applied to new situations and new
presentations of facts as they arise.”
(Alec Peterson, first IB Director General 2003: 47)
 
The MYP is a “three-dimensional” curriculum, focusing on concepts, facts and skills rather than the traditional “two-dimensional” curriculum that considers only facts and skills. 
 
Concept-driven curriculum models value student inquiry and experiences in which students create personal meaning by making connections and applying their learning in unfamiliar situations.
 
A concept-based model is used in the MYP because it encourages students to:
• process factual knowledge at a deeper intellectual level as they relate the facts to concepts and
  essential conceptual understandings
• create personal relevance, as students relate new knowledge to prior knowledge, and promote
  understanding of cultures and environments across global contexts through the transfer of knowledge
• bring their personal intellect to the study as they use a key concept to personally focus on the unit
  topic in order to increase motivation for learning
• increase fluency with language as students use factual information to explain and support their deeper
  conceptual understanding
• achieve higher levels of critical, creative and conceptual thinking as students analyse complex global
  challenges, such as climate change, international conflicts and the global economy, and create greater
  subject depth through the study of discipline-specific related concepts.
 
Adapted from ‘From Principles into Practice’