THE LIVING HEXAGON CONFERENCE 11 October 2004GAUTAM SEN

Mission of the IB Organization The International Baccalaureate Organization aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect.

Mission of the IB Organization To this end the IBO works with schools, governments and international organizations to develop challenging programmes of international education and rigorous assessment. These programmes encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right.

AIMS and VALUES implicit in IBO Mission Intellectual rigour and high academic standards Critical enquiry and open-minded reflection Peace, understanding and respect between people of different cultures Understanding and appreciation of one’s own culture Service to local community and creative activity

WHAT KIND OF WORLD WILL OUR STUDENTS LIVE IN?  More uncertain, complex and dynamic global interdependence - between nature and human societies, and - between nations, institutions and communities.  Greater demand for skills of collaboration, resolving conflicts and building peace and justice.  Greater need for intercultural understanding as well as for cultural self-confidence.

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE HEXAGON FOR BETTER PREPARING STUDENTS FOR SUCH A WORLD  More uncertain, complex and dynamic global interdependence between nature, communities and institutions  Deeper and more complex knowledge in three subjects of six; at least one of six must be a social science.  Requirement in all subjects and in Extended Essay to investigate issues and problems.  Requirement in TOK to reflect critically and draw links between different areas of knowledge.

 Greater demand for skills of collaboration, resolving conflicts and building peace and justice.  Requirement in TOK to reflect on strengths and weaknesses of different moral and cultural perspectives.  Requirement to investigate issues and problems in Extended Essay and all subjects.  Requirement in CAS to engage in team work and community service. OPPORTUNITIES IN THE HEXAGON FOR BETTER PREPARING STUDENTS FOR SUCH A WORLD

 Greater need for intercultural understanding as well as cultural self-confidence.  Requirement in TOK to reflect on strengths and weaknesses of different moral and cultural perspectives.  Requirement to learn a foreign language.  Requirement in Language A1 to study one’s own literature as well as world literature in translation.  Requirement in CAS to engage in community service. OPPORTUNITIES IN THE HEXAGON FOR BETTER PREPARING STUDENTS FOR SUCH A WORLD

WHAT IS THE LIVING HEXAGON ? The Hexagon is our instrument for preparing our students for tomorrow’s world. Are we fully exploiting its opportunities? How can we connect with the real world issues through organized links between different vertices and between the core and the vertices? Internationalism and Transdisciplinarity?

ENLIVENING THE HEXAGON Opportunities for transdisciplinary exploration in PYP – Exhibitions in MYP – Areas of Interaction and Personal Project in DP - TOK, transdisciplinary subjects NOW – LIVING HEXAGON CONFERENCES?

ENLIVENING THE HEXAGON – AIMS OF THE CONFERENCES CONNECTING WITH THE REAL WORLD THROUGH COMPASSIONATE INTERNATIONALISM (as opposed to its hegemonic or bland varieties) RIGOROUS INQUIRY TRANSDISCIPLINARITY CONNECTIONS BETWEEN CORE AND VERTICES ENJOYABLE LEARNING.

HOW IS THE LIVING HEXAGON CONFERENCE MEANT TO WORK? The Host School(s) invite(s) student presentations on GLOBAL THEMES chosen for the conference for each Hexagon Vertex. Participant schools suggest ISSUES or TOPICS within the Global Themes. Presentations represent students attempts at connecting hexagon vertices, and core with vertices.

GroupGlobal Themes (examples only) – selected by host Issues or topics (examples only) – offered by participating schools, selected by host Language A1Human Rights, Education, Peace and Conflict, Intercultural Encounters The experience of return to the native land in diasporic literature. Migration and displacement – the experiences of refugees. Prose and poetry in times of war. Language A2, BMedia, Education and Social Change The language used by media in reporting social or political conflicts. Language acquisition among refugees and other internationally mobile children. (CAS-relevant) The conventions of courtesy in Turkish and XXX Individuals and SocietiesSocial Change, Human rights, Peace, Security and Conflict, Intercultural Encounters, Economic globalization and human rights The economic geography of international education. How the MacDonalds business model has changed the traditional food business in Turkey. EXAMPLE OF A POSSIBLE CONFERENCE PROGRAM

GroupGlobal Themes (examples only) – selected by host Issues or topics (examples only) – offered by participating schools, selected by host Experimental SciencesFood, Health, Environment, EnergyThe industrialization of food production and distribution – implications for health and the environment Genetic modifications of food – differences between practices and perspectives of traditional farmers and the biotech industry MathematicsInterpretations of Economic data, Ethnomathematics, mathematics of conflict and its resolution The mathematics of kinship relations. Game theory and conflict resolution. What do economic statistics hide? ArtsThe economic aspects of artistic production, cultural protection and preservation vs. openness and appropriation, tradition vs. modernity The changing technology of batik production. How tourism promotes artistic revival. “World music” and the synthesis of traditions. EXAMPLE OF A POSSIBLE CONFERENCE PROGRAM

POSSIBLE FORMATS FOR THE CONFERENCE Organized by students, with adult supervision. (Invariant) Organized and hosted by The Koç School every year. Organized by a different group of schools within the IBAEM region each year on a voluntary basis; hosted by one member of group. Organized around a single Global Theme rather than one for each hexagon vertex. (Due to Sr. Carmelo Manceras, IS Sotogrande) Organized as a web conference to lower costs and widen participation. If successful on a regional scale, organized by a different group of schools from a different region each year on a voluntary basis; hosted by one of them. Organized by a different group of schools each year in each region, not necessarily simultaneously.

POSSIBLE FORMATS FOR THE CONFERENCE Day 1Day 2Day 3 AMPlenary 1 Welcome and Keynote address 4 Parallel session in Gr 43 Parallel sessions on EE, TOK and CAS Break AM 4 Parallel sessions in Gr 1 4 Parallel session in Gr 5Plenary 2 Closing Lunch Break PM4 Parallel sessions in Gr 24 Parallel session in Gr 6 Break PM4 Parallel sessions in Gr 3Cultural programme or visit to a site of interest/relevance

QUESTIONS AND POSSIBLE PROBLEMS Additional workload for students? Not if announced and planned for sufficiently ahead of time. Where does this fit in IB assessments? Internal assessments? Extended Essay? TOK? World Lit Essay? CAS Diary? Any of these, or special assignments? Who provides continuity? Funding? UNESCO involvement? Participation of state schools even outside IB system?