Year 7 Assessment Booklet 20-19

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I NDIVIDUALS AND S OCIETIES C OURSE O UTLINE

A IMS OF I NDIVIDUALS AND S OCIETIES The aim of Individuals and Societies in the MYP is to encourage students to gain and develop knowledge, conceptual understanding, technical, analytical, decision-making and investigative skills, contributing to the development of the student as a whole. The course aims to encourage students to respect and understand the world around them, and to provide a skills base to facilitate further study. This is achieved through the study of individuals, societies and environments in both local global contexts: historical, contemporary, geographical, political, social, economic, religious, technological and cultural. The study of individuals and societies helps students to appreciate critically the diversity of human culture, attitudes and beliefs:  Appreciate human and environmental commonalities and diversity  Understand the interactions and interdependence of individuals, societies and the environment  Understand how both environmental and human systems operate and evolve  Identify and develop concern for the well-being of human communities and the natural environment  Act as responsible citizens of local and global communities  Develop inquiry skills that lead towards conceptual understandings of the relationships between individuals, societies and the environments in which they live. The aims of the MYP Individuals and Societies are to encourage and enable students to: The students will explore the focus question; 'What is Geography?' introducing them to the different and varied components of geography. They will also gain an understanding of the 7 concepts and geographical skills used to better understand how our planet functions. They will also be taught how to conduct a fieldwork investigation. The investigations will demonstrate how and why humans live in a particular 'place'. They will be able to describe geographical processes that influence the characteristics of how places are perceived and valued differently. They will also be able to explain interconnections between people, places and environments and describe how they impact and change these places and environments. Throughout human history, people have felt the urge to migrate to improve their lives. Students will look at this pattern of migration and trace it back through the millennia to the Stone Ages. They will compare and contrast the lifestyles of the Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens and how they survived climatic changes. The students will analyse evidence about the development of ancient societies and construct their own timeline of the Palaeolithic and Neolithic periods. They will acquire a critical and sympathetic awareness of the interaction between humans and the environment. They will look at the development of ancient societies and the philosophies that shaped these fascinating civilisations. Students investigate history and are introduced to how historians approach the study of history and the methods they use to gain the best understanding of people and societies of the past. The students then study the Ancient Egyptian Civilisation. They engage in many activities helping them to understand the origins, economic development, social features, and government of Ancient Egypt. Throughout the unit the lifestyle of this ancient society is compared and contrasted to that of the modern world. A range of individual and group tasks help them to understand their place in the Global Village. They define and research the complex term of ‘Globalisation’. The students examine the values, concerns and benefits that Globalisation has on Economics, Human Rights, Environmental Issues and Cultures around the world today. The students will be immersed in the financial world of entrepreneurship by designing and launching a new product that solves a problem and then ‘pitching’ it competitively against other group products. C OURSE D ESCRIPTION

Mrs Carrie Smith Individuals and Societies Teacher

S OMERSET C OLLEGE IB - C URRICULUM I NFORMATION B OOKLET Y EAR 7 M IDDLE Y EARS P ROGRAMME