DP2 August – October 2023 Overview

Homeroom

Teacher:

Kelvin Tian

Nathan Kim

Within our homeroom, we foster discussions about the challenges students face during their second year of the Diploma Programme (DP). These conversations encompass global competencies, valuable revision tips, the development of strong decision-making skills, and the significance of maintaining a healthy mind and body for success in the DP. Additionally, we emphasize the importance of meeting deadlines and recognizing the value of the core of DP, such as the Theory of Knowledge (TOK), the Extended Essay (EE), and the Creativity, Activity, and Service (CAS) program.

Help your child by: Consider initiating a thoughtful conversation with your child that covers their overall well-being, time management, and the significance of TOK, EE, and CAS in their DP journey—

Group 1: Language A:

English Language & Literature

Teachers: Mr. Mark Moran

Unit Title:  Siddhartha & the Global Perspective

Concepts: Communication

ATL Skills: Communication

Help Your Child By:

• Encourage your child to reread texts that he/she will use in the IO.

• Encourage your child to refine his/her global issue and make connections between the text he/she will use and the global issue.

Group 1:

Chinese A: Language and Literature

Teacher: Ms. Eunice

Unit Title: Times and lives 时代与人生

Concepts:  Represent, Culture, Identity

ATL skills:

Thinking: By critical thinking, one is capable of analyzing insightfully, concentrating on the right target, thereby making a wise decision.

Self-management: Emphasizing the development of self-management skills among students is crucial for ensuring the consistent and effective submission of assessments within deadlines.

Help your child by:

• Parents can provide access to a wide range of books, magazines, and online materials, representing various genres, cultures, and time periods. Discussing these texts with their children can stimulate their interest and broaden their understanding.
• Engage in conversations about the texts your child reads or views. Encourage them to think critically, ask questions, and express their opinions. This helps in developing interpretation, analysis, and evaluation skills.
• Create a quiet and comfortable space for your child to read and study. Limit distractions during study time to help them concentrate better on their learning goals.

Group 1: Language A:

Korean Language & Literature

Teacher:

Mr. Keon Yang

Unit Title: Intertextuality

Concepts: transformation, culture, identity

ATL skill

Self-management skills

Help your child by:

You can help them share your reading list with them. Especially you can ask them to think about the theme of the text after reading

Group 3: Business Management

Teacher: Na Meng

Unit Title: human resources management.

Concepts: Change, sustainability, ethics and creativity

ATL skills:

Thinking and research

Help your child by:

• Engage your child in discussions related to human resources management. Share your thoughts and real-life examples of HR practices on current HR trends or workplace experiences, fostering critical thinking.

Group 3: Economics

Teacher: Eva Liu

Unit Title: Unit 3 – Macroeconomics

Concepts: Change, choice, economic well-being, efficiency, equity, interdependence, intervention, scarcity, sustainability

ATL skills:

Thinking

• Critically assess decision making processes by using decision making mechanisms and consequences of macroeconomic decisions
• Application of theories to illustrate and predict possible changes
• Primary research to identify and analyse real world macroeconomic phenomenon
• Working collaboratively to inquiry about assessment expectations

Help your child by:

• Encourage your child to discuss real world events and changes in the overall economic environment domestically and abroad
• Seek opportunities to discuss possible consequences of decisions made by overseas government on the macroeconomic environment
• Encourage your child to take a step back to observe changes holistically, I.e. how some changes may influence more than just one group of people, but rather the society as a whole

Group 4: Biology

Teachers: Shameek Ghosh

Unit Title:  Human physiology

Concepts: Form and function-students have learnt the function of the digestive, nervous and immune system.

ATL skills: Research-Work on specifically researching topics that have been covered in the class and communication by improving their subject specific vocabulary.

Help your child by: Encouraging to take responsibility in revising content that has been taught and work on planning for the Internal Assessment and meeting the deadlines of the Extended essay (if applicable).

Group 4: Chemistry

Teachers: Kelvin Tian

Unit title: Topic 8 Acid and Base

Key Concepts: Reactivity is one of the two main concepts in the DP chemistry course, with the other being structure. In this unit, the reactions of acids with bases and other substances will be explored.

ATL skills:

• Thinking skills – Being curious about the natural world; Applying key ideas and facts in new contexts
• Social skills– Working collaboratively to achieve a common goal

Help your child by: Encourage the students to take more responsibility for their own learning and research, practice their self-management skills and research skills and meet the deadlines for Chemistry IA and tasks.

Group 4: Environmental Systems and Societies

Teachers:  Sunny Si

Unit Title:

Soil systems and society

Concepts:  

System:  a system approach is a way to visualizing a complex set of interactions which may be ecological or societal.

ATL skills:  

Thinking

• ask students to formulate a reasoned argument to support their opinion or conclusion
• reward a new personal understanding, solution or approach to an issue
• set students a task which required higher-order thinking skills (such as analysis or evaluation)
• require students to take an unfamiliar viewpoint into account when formulating arguments

Research

• require students to formulate/construct a focused research question (either in class or in a homework assignment)
• require students to practise effective online search skills.
• provide opportunities for students to reflect on how they determine the quality of a source, or analyse contradictory sources

Help your child by:

Remind them to review regularly.

Encourage the students to enhance self-management skill by finishing all the assignments on time and read news or articles about the environmental issues.

Group 4: Physics HL

Teacher: C Rothwell

Unit Title: Fields

Concepts:

– Establish the relationship between field and potential for electricity and gravity

– derive escape and orbital velocity

ATL skills: Ask students to formulate a reasoned argument to support their opinion or conclusion.

Help your child by:  Encouraging them to do their homework on time.

Group 5: Mathematical Applications and Interpretation SL

Teacher: Chris Rothwell

Unit Title: Statistics and Probability

Concepts:  Independence, Conditional Probability and Distributions

ATL skills:

–ask students to formulate a reasoned argument to support their opinion or conclusion.

– discuss or model the importance of academic honesty and clear acknowledgment of sources

Help your child by encouraging them to work on their Internal Assessment..

Group 5: Mathematical Analysis and Approaches (SL)

Teachers: Tanapat Treyanurak

Unit Title: Generalizing from Approximations: Integral Calculus

Concepts: Generalization and approximation

ATL skills: Transfer prior learning onto new contexts

Help your child by: Encouraging a holistic approach to review and study: balance problem-solving with a review of concepts and ideas. Asking them about the internal assessment.

Group 5: Mathematical Analysis and Approaches (HL)

Teachers: Sky Du

Unit Title:  Complex numbers

Concepts: Cartesian form, polar form

ATL skills:

• ask students to formulate a reasoned argument to support their opinion or conclusion
• build on a specific prior task
• encourage or require students to plan a response before they begin

Help your child by:

Finish daily homework on time and start to make plans on Internal Assessment(Selecting topic, do primary research and work on the first draft)

Group 6: Visual Arts

Teachers:

Unit Title:  Bearing Witness

Concepts: Art journal; making comparative studies

ATL skills: Thinking

Help your child by: time-management, as they may feel overwhelmed at times; help them in keeping a project management table to properly plan each step and milestone of their unit.

English Theory of Knowledge

Teacher: Bella Yang

Unit Title: Natural Science

Concepts: truth, objectivity, power

ATL skills: Thinking Skills

– Critical Thinking: Throughout the unit, students will engage in critical thinking exercises and discussions that require them to analyze, evaluate, and synthesize information from various sources. They will learn to identify logical fallacies, assess the credibility of evidence, and recognize biases in arguments. This critical thinking extends to their essay writing, where they must construct knowledge claims and counterarguments based on rigorous reasoning.

– Problem Solving: The unit encourages students to approach complex issues and knowledge questions from different angles and perspectives. This problem-solving skill is essential for understanding the multifaceted nature of global issues and navigating the complexities of TOK essay prompts. Students will learn to break down complex problems into manageable components, facilitating their ability to develop well-structured essays.

Help your child by: reading the articles with your child together, which given by teacher. Then share your idea or discuss at home about some TOK questions.

Chinese Theory of Knowledge

Teacher: Sophia Suo

Unit Title:

Unlocking TOK Essay: A Journey through Five Areas of Knowledge

Concepts: Evidence, interpretation

ATL skills:  Thinking Skills

Help your child by:

• Understanding the role of evidence, interpretation, and justification in constructing knowledge claims; Exploring and applying knowledge from five different Areas of Knowledge (AOKs) as a basis for developing TOK essays;
• Developing strong critical thinking skills for evaluating and synthesizing evidence;
• Producing a well-structured TOK essay that effectively uses evidence to support claims.