CIS Core Beliefs

TOUCHSTONES FOR LEARNING

"...inquiry does not refer to a method, still less to a generic set of procedures for carrying out activities. Rather, it indicates a stance toward experiences and ideas - a willingness to wonder, to ask questions, and to seek to understand by collaborating with others in the attempt to make answers to them. At the same time, the aim of inquiry is not 'knowledge for its own sake' but the disposition and ability to use the understandings so gained to act informedly and responsibly ... now and in the future."

(Wells, 1999)

Every school needs to be able to define and articulate its core beliefs and the practices which support this pedagogy in classrooms. As an IBO World School, we support the tenets and inquiry-based model of the Primary Years Programme (PYP). They provide the framework for teaching and learning at CIS. However, we believe that there are some fundamental understandings which must first be enlivened in classrooms for genuine inquiry to take hold.

These beliefs are our "Touchstones for Learning". In the traditional sense, a "touchstone" is a benchmark by which you gauge quality. Our "Touchstones" then offer us a standard which we can return to when we want to question whether or not a practice fits with what we believe about how children learn. The touchstones reconnect us with our core beliefs as we continue to re-examine our understanding of teaching and learning.

•		*Learners need to feel safe and valued in order to learn.*
•		*Learning is developmental.*
•		*We hold an image of learners as competent, creative, and full of ideas.*
•		*Learners construct and co-construct knowledge.*
•		*Dialogue is a primary process through which we construct knowledge.*
•		*Environments must be thoughtfully created to support active learning.*
•		*Students' progress can be seen as a learning continuum.*
•		*There are multiple forms of representation through which learners may develop and express their understanding.*
•		*Learners make the best progress toward their academic potential when they are challenged with high standards.*

With these emphases on the importance of relationship, the respect we hold for the image of the child as a powerful learner, and our understanding of how children learn, we work to create an environment which supports communication and collaboration, and which offers rich opportunities for exploration and experience. We work to create communities of inquiry in our classrooms and, together, a school culture committed to inquiry-based learning.

Authentic learning is transformative. We are different in mind and spirit for having experienced it. This is one of our hopes for children at CIS - that they will be different for having lived and worked beside us. We echo the goal of the International Baccalaureate Organization in its aim "to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world though intercultural understanding and respect" (IBO, 2007). We believe that this goal is attainable. It will require that we make inquiry-based learning not a teaching method, but a habit of mind - a way of being in the world - for ourselves and for the children in our care.