About Bel Aire Park Magnet School

“The inquirer stands at the border of knowing and not knowing” —Judith Wells Lindfors

A huge part of our PYP/IB Magnet theme and what makes our school unique is the inquiry-based approach to learning.  It is learning through asking questions, exploring, experimenting, researching, asking more questions, predicting, making connections to prior learning,solving problems in a variety of ways, and making and testing theories.  When students actively pursue their own learning they are much more likely to develop deep understanding of concepts as opposed to what is just told to them by others. 

In our program we use what is called structured or guided inquiry where teachers help students use their curiosity and questions to develop skills and knowledge around big central ideas and themes.  In addition, the inquiry includes a variety of perspectives, such as: scientist, artist, historian, social scientist, mathematician, etc.  We call this "trans-disciplinary" learning, the way we naturally learn new things.

What Makes an IB Education Rigorous?

A word that is often mentioned in discussions about education today is “rigor”. This word can have many different interpretations by parents, teachers, students, policy-makers and the general public. As an authorized IB school, Bel Aire is working toward a high standard of rigor to aim for in the education of students. Our definition of rigor is in alignment with the philosophy of IB as we apply research-based best practices in international education that successfully prepare students for the challenges of the world they graduate into.

As the Bel Aire staff strives to challenge Bel Aire students with rigorous learning experiences, the following practices guide our instructional planning and delivery.

Rigor in the classroom is established by:

• Involving students actively in their own learning
• Engaging students with rich, relevant content
• High level questioning (by adults and students)
• Providing opportunities for students to express voice and choice
• Emphasis on depth of learning, not just coverage
• Emphasis on developing skills for the purpose of increasing our ability to inquire, think creatively, and apply learning to real life problems
• Focusing on the quality of student work rather than on the quantity
• Challenging all students to use critical thinking skills (such as analyzing, synthesizing and evaluating information and making inferences, considering multiple perspectives of an issue, defending a position and reflecting on their learning)
• Using ongoing assessment to identify students’ current level of understanding and adjust instruction to meet individual needs
• Empowering students to apply what they learned through self-initiated action in the community

The following practices are often falsely described as being indicators of rigor. Rigor is not:

• Assigning students a greater quantity of work than normally expected
• Teaching all students the same way
• Lecturing and drilling students as the primary means of instruction
• Focusing only on skills
• Filling an empty vessel with knowledge
• Based on test results alone

As we receive ongoing training from IB we are creating an environment where children are receiving an education that is indeed rigorous. We are thankful for everything parents do at home and at school to support the rigor of children’s learning experiences at Bel Aire Park Magnet!