Written By: Tanya Farrol, Middle Years Programme Coordinator, and Dean Eddington, Grade 5 ELL Teacher

On April 16, the Grade 10 Personal Project (PP) students spent an afternoon sharing their experiences of their projects with eager Grade 5 PYP Exhibition students. The young scholars were scattered around the BCIS Main Campus, from the SS kitchen to the ES Art Room, from the ES MakerSpace to the SS Music Practice Rooms. Every experience was on display. Students could be found drawing and painting using traditional Chinese calligraphy methods, as well as creating pop up posters, hand drawn posters, and also digitally designed posters to raise environmental awareness. Music was also being created to explore the effects on our feelings. The kitchen was in full use to create gluten free cookies, a Korean kimchi pancake, a traditional Chinese pork belly dish, healthy smoothies, and homemade facial cleansers. The MakerSpace saw students building a solar cell and developing their creativity with floral designs.

Beginning from the start of the school year, the Grade 5 students have been working towards their PYP Exhibition topic. This topic is developed through the students' interests and built upon through a variety of research methods. The Grade 5 exhibition topics are areas that they show concern about and want to display action towards helping in different ways. Working with the Grade 10 students allows both year levels to strengthen their understandings of their topics through discussing their ideas, describing their learning process throughout their project, as well as helping to start the action process. It was encouraging to see students sharing their understanding and creating connections across the ES and SS.

The Grade 10 students have been working on an individually chosen personal project over the past eight months. While this is a component for completing their MYP programme, it is a chance for students to explore an area of interest in depth. Students have been guided by their PP supervisors and SS teachers over the past months to follow the design process (investigate, plan, create, and reflect). This has resulted in a variety of products and a reflective essay about their process. Students have gained an experience of taking a project from start to finish following a passion they possess. While doing so, they have displayed the skills of perseverance and resilience.

The Grade 5 students loved being guided by the Grade 10s in developing their "Taking Action" part of the PYP Exhibition process. The Grade 10s, while nervous at first about teaching the Grade 5s about their personal projects, quickly developed a rapport with their student(s) and gave them sound advice on their projects. Many of the Grade 10 students enjoyed the experience and said that they would like to do this again. It was truly a collaborative experience.