Why Study MYP Arts? A Gateway to Creativity and Beyond

Studying the arts is increasingly significant as the world today values creativity, critical thinking, and cultural understanding. The International Baccalaureate offers Middle Years Programme (MYP) Arts to explore arts skills through an immersive curriculum. This article examines MYP Art and how it helps students both in academic and personal growth.

Understanding this program will help students enrolling in an art course during their MYP program at BINUS SCHOOL Simprug.

What is MYP Arts?

The Middle Years Programme (MYP) Arts is an essential component of the IB curriculum designed for students aged 11 to 16. This program aims to stimulate imagination, challenge students’ perceptions, and develop analytical and creative skills through various disciplines, such as visual arts, media arts, theater, music, and dance.

This program values the process of creating, presenting, and performing artwork, and students are encouraged to explore the boundaries of their creativity. Students will acquire and develop their creative skills through conveying feelings, experiences, and ideas about the world. 

Why Study Arts in the MYP?

Studying the arts in MYP offers various valuable lessons and skills development. That is because this program enables and encourages students to do the following:

• Involvement in the arts and foster lifelong interests. 
• Learn about art from different times, cultures, and backgrounds.
• Understand how art connects to its culture and history.
• Develop essential skills to create and perform art.
• Reflect on their growth as your artists.

Studying the arts helps students learn to communicate their ideas and emotions. For young people, the arts often act as a catalyst for personal growth. Therefore, studying the arts allows them to explore their own identities, values, and perspectives.

MYP Arts Course Structure

The curriculum promotes arts inquiry by developing conceptual understanding within a context relevant to global culture. It focuses on exploration and questioning to nurture students’ creativity. 

The MYP Arts curriculum is framed by key concepts that provide students with a broad foundation for their learning experiences. These concepts include Identities and Relationships, Personal and cultural expression, Globalization and Sustainability, Orientation in Space and Time, scientific and Technical Innovation, and Fairness and Development.

This curriculum framework allows the school to create engaging, relevant, challenging, and significant learning materials that meet local and national curriculum requirements. The framework is then applied to one or more arts disciplines being taught, including dance, music, theatre, media arts, and visual arts.

MYP requires a minimum of 50 hours of study for each subject in one year, which means students will experience 50 hours of arts learning each year during the first three years of the MYP Programme. If students continue to enroll in the MYP e-Assessment, they are recommended to have 70 hours of learning of each subject during the four and five years of their MYP study.

Schools can organize the study of the arts in the MYP program in three types of learning formats as follows:

• Discrete Disciplines

In his format, each arts discipline is taught as a standalone subject so students can learn thoroughly in one specific area at a time. For example, students may focus on Visual Arts, Music, or Theatre in separate classes to gain in-depth knowledge and skills in each subject. 

This approach allows students to specialize in one art form per class, which helps them focus on that discipline’s techniques, history, etc.

• Integrated courses

This format combines multiple art disciplines within the performing or visual art categories. This gives students a cohesive experience across similar art forms. For example, an integrated course that combines both Music and Drama or Visual Arts and Media Arts.

Although the IB allows for discipline combinations, the school cannot combine performing and visual art within one integrated course. This will enable students to learn connections between related disciplines, which will further enhance their understanding of the arts category.

• Modular courses

Finally, modular courses where students took a rotation of disciplines for a fixed period rather than for an entire academic year. 

In this format, students spend a fixed amount of weeks or months focusing on one discipline before moving on to the following. For example, they might start the study with Visual Arts, then rotate to Music, and finally to Drama. 

Assessment in MYP Arts

The assessment for this program is divided into four criteria with eight possible achievement levels from 1 to 8. These are the assessment criteria for the MYP Art program:

• A: Investigating

In this criterion, students focus on understanding and appreciating the arts by studying specific art genres, movements, artworks, or performances. Students are then assessed on their essential research and information literacy skills. 

• B: Developing

Students then actively develop ideas through hands-on exploration of their chosen art form by experimenting with various techniques, styles, and mediums. This criterion, assesses students on students’ practical exploration that connects with their artistic intentions.

• C: Creating or Performing

Students are assessed based on their mastery of techniques by creating a performance or finished artwork. Their ability to apply the subjects they learned during the course will be presented through visual artwork, music performance, or theatrical production. 

• D: Evaluating

Lastly, evaluation focuses on reflection, where students critically assess their work and personal growth as artists. This process helps them gain insight into their development by recognizing their success and improvement areas.

Tips for Succeeding in MYP Arts

Success in MYP Arts often depends on creativity, organization, and self-reflection. To succeed in your MYP, here are the tips you can follow:

1. Stay Organized

Organize your projects by breaking them down into several tasks, setting timelines, and tracking your progress. A clear plan will help you stay on top of your work and reduce stress when deadlines approach.

2. Engage in Reflection

Make reflection a regular part of your creative process. Take time to review your work, consider your choices, and identify areas for improvement. This habit aligns with MYP assessment criteria and helps you grow as an artist by building self-awareness.

3. Seek Feedback

Don’t hesitate to ask for feedback from your teachers and peers. Constructive criticism can provide valuable insights and help you see your work differently.

4. Experiment and Take Risks

The MYP Arts program encourages experimentation, so don’t be afraid to try new ideas and techniques. Creative risk-taking can lead to exciting discoveries and help you develop a unique style.

5. Find Inspiration from Various Sources

Studying art from different cultures and periods can provide fresh ideas and perspectives. The MYP Arts program values diversity, so explore various artistic expressions to enrich your work and expand your understanding of the arts.

Studying arts in the MYP allows students to foster their creativity, cultural awareness, and personal growth. Through a balanced approach that combines theoretical study, practical application, and reflective assessment, this program provides students with the skills needed for creative expression and critical thinking.

This program encourages students to connect with the world’s culture and improve their creativity while fostering empathy and adaptability. 

Find out more about the IB MYP Personal Project Examples as a Pathway to Personal Growth and Academic Excellence. With this guideline, you will be able to excel in your MYP Arts programme at BINUS SCHOOL Simprug. 

References

https://www.ibo.org/globalassets/new-structure/brochures-and-infographics/pdfs/myp-brief_arts_en.pdf 

https://www.ibo.org/programmes/middle-years-programme/curriculum/arts/ 

https://www.asob.es/academic_program/grade6/Grade_6_Art.pdf 

https://www.woostercolts.com/cms/lib/NV02000980/Centricity/Shared/pdf/ib/ibmyp/myp-arts-rubric.pdf