LibGuides: CAJCS APPROACHES TO LEARNING GUIDE: Home

APPROACHES TO LEARNING

Through approaches to learning, students develop skills that have relevance across the curriculum that help them “learn how to learn”. They provide a solid foundation for learning independently and with others. ATL skills help students prepare for, and demonstrate learning through, meaningful assessment. They provide a common language that students and teachers can use to reflect on and articulate on the process of learning.

Approaches to learning in IB

The focus of approaches to learning in IB is on helping students to develop the self-knowledge and skills they need to enjoy a lifetime of learning. ATL skills empower students to succeed in meeting the challenging objectives of the curriculum as well as prepare them for further success in higher academic programmes. Ultimately, ATL skills help to prepare students for responsible participation in local and global communities.

THINKING SKILLS

Critical Thinking: Analyzing and evaluating issues and ideas
Creative Thinking: Getting new ideas and considering new perspectives
Transfer:Using skills and knowledge in multiple situations

SELF MANAGEMENT SKILLS

Works independently and plans effectively to meet task deadlines. Is organised and prepared for class.

Organization skills: managing time and tasks effectively
Affective skills: managing state of mind
Reflection: (Re)considering what has been learned; choosing and using ATL skills

RESOURCES FOR ATL

ATL Skills Cards.
ATL skills cards, print back-to-back, adapted from Suzanne Kitto & Rebekah Madrid's work.
Suzanne Kitto's ATL Resources
@OrenjiButa's fabulous folder of graphics and resources for the enhanced PYP.

MYP ATL Graphics by Rebekah Madrid
An MYP adaptation of Suzanne Kitto's work.

ATL Toolkit by Lenny Dutton
Collaborative Google Sheet by @LennyDutton. Includes many skills, strategies and suggestions.

Alison Yang's ATL Smorgasbord
A large Google Sheet of tools, resources and ideas for teaching ATL's

The ATL's in Science (and other subjects)
Resources from Stephen's i-Biology website

The Learning Scientists: Strategies for Effective Learning
A great set of resources for putting teaching strategies to use, with useful student resources, videos and posters.
TAO Learning - ATL Resources.
Lance King's ATL website, blog posts and resources.

COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Communication skills: exchanging thoughts, messages and information effectively through interaction
Reading, writing and using language to gather and communicate information.

SOCIAL SKILLS

Collaboration that demonstrates a respect for multiple perspectives with a goal of achieving specific outcomes. It is used to demonstrate the power of the peer learning model.

RESEARCH SKILLS

Media literacy: Interacting with media to use and create ideas and information
Information literacy: finding, interpreting, judging and creating information

ATL DOCUMENTS

ATL Skills Description
The description of ATL skills provided by the MYP: Principles into Practice.
ATL Skills Framework
Framework of ATL skills including the strand descriptors.
Approaches to Teaching
Approaches to Teaching, as presented in the MYP Principles to Practice.

CAJCS APPROACHES TO LEARNING GUIDE: Home