Strategies for fostering the IB Approaches to

Learning (ATL) in MYP and DP classrooms

Curriculum Development, IB Career Programme, IB Diploma Programme, IB Middle Years
Programme, Remote Learning, Professional Development | January 25, 2021

The IB Approaches to Learning (ATL) embody the main pedagogical principles

that underpin delivery of the IB programmes. The IB Approaches to Learning
are skills and attitudes that allow students to develop as self-regulated learners,
able to set and meet learning goals, generate motivation, self-interrogate, show
perseverance, be resilient and reflect on their achievements.
In the wake of COVID-19, when so many of us suddenly found ourselves
teaching in unfamiliar contexts, educators have faced a the challenge of
incorporating teaching ATLs in the virtual learning environment.
It could be argued, however, that it has never been more important to deliver
learning experiences that foster the IB ATLs through inquiry-based and
collaborative approaches.
In this blog, you‘ll find flexible adaptive strategies to develop the ATLs across
different learning settings, subjects and age ranges in MYP, DP and CP
classrooms, whether face-to-face or online.
 1. Clock Buddies
Purpose
Clock buddies can be used over multiple lessons to quickly assign partners for
experiential learning or project based-learning outcomes.
This strategy encourages organisational, self-management and collaborative
skills as students work together to perform the activity.
Instructions
Give students a blank clock and ask them to circulate around the room to find
partners for each clock hour. Once students have made appointments by filling
in their clock, you can quickly pair up students for future activities by saying
things like: “Everyone stand up and find your 2 o’clock partner. Instead of a
clock template you could use Map Buddies, Compass buddies or Shape
buddies.
In the virtual learning environment
Use a group making tool like this one from Instant Classroom or breakout rooms
in Zoom.

2. Stump my Partner
Purpose
This strategy first encourages critical thinking skills, as learners create
questions for the opposing team. The second part encourages collaboration,
open-mindedness and reflection, as learners make decisions about whether to
answer based on their own understanding or whether to work as a team.
Use this strategy when you want students to demonstrate inquiry or open-
mindedness as it supports IB pedagogical principles of inquiry-based learning
and collaboration, and fosters thinking and self-management skills.
Instructions
This strategy works well as a whole class activity.
1. Divide the class into two teams.
 2. Assign numbers to members of both the teams. For instance, Team A &
Team B each have student 1, student 2, student 3 and so on.
3. Ask learners to come up with a name for their team.
4. Give time to both the groups to prepare questions on the topic.
5. Student 1 from Team A asks their question to Student 1 from Team B.
6. The responding student can choose whether to answer the question
themselves or work with their team to figure out the answer.
7. Scores are calculated based on whether the questions are answered
individually or with the help of the team.
In the virtual learning environment
Use breakout rooms to create teams and to prepare questions, and then carry
out the questioning activity back in the main session.

3. Socratic Seminar
Purpose
This strategy encourages higher-order thinking skills and self-management as
students follow a sequenced protocol to explore open-ended questions. Use
this strategy when you want students to be reflective and open-minded.
Instructions
This strategy works well as a whole class activity.
1. Select a topic that you want students to understand more thoroughly. It
works well to set a required reading task for the students prior to the
seminar.
2. Before the seminar, prepare interpretive questions that do not have a
right or wrong response, but will instead invite thought and expression.
This template is a useful resource to support the writing of questions.
3. Up to 15 students sit in a circle. For a larger class, students could take
turns sitting in the “inner circle” that is observed by the “outer circle” of
students.
4. Set rules for the seminar including:
 Each student should participate. You may want to start the
discussion with a Round Robin so that each student has an initial
opportunity to participate.
  Students speak directly to each other (one at a time) so there is
no discussion leader.
 Students should provide evidence for each statement they make
and identify its source (personal experience, reading, etc.).
 Students can disagree with others in a respectful manner.
 Optionally, you can use a “talking piece” – something a speaker
must be holding to have the floor.
5. Pose an open-ended question to the group that you want them to think
about thoroughly. Some example questions include:
 How is _______ similar to [another subject we’ve discussed]
 What do you think another point of view would be on this issue?
 What does it mean to be human?
In the virtual learning environment
Flipgrid is a tool designed to capture the voice of every student. This is ideal for
sharing student responses to open questions. It can also be used when
students are absent or unable to participate in the socratic seminar.

4. Know your partner

Purpose
This strategy encourages affective skills as students learn about each other and
develop respect for others’ opinions and choices. It also encourages emotional
well-being through the development of authentic connections with one another.
Instructions
1. Ask students to gather around a table and form an inner and outer circle.
2. Ask the students to sit facing each other, so they form partners.
3. Have each team member share a unique trait about themselves to the
partner which is not known to the class. Consider using a sentence
starter such as: “One thing you can’t tell by looking at me is…” or “One
thing I am really good at is…”
4. Once the discussion is done, partners share each other’s unique traits to
the whole class.
5. This activity can be adapted to explore different hobbies, likes and
interests.
In the virtual learning environment
Word Clouds by Mentimeter can be used to capture commonalities – the
biggest words are the ones that are entered the most frequently by the group.
Zoom backgrounds are a great way to invite students to show their unique
interests and experiences – ask them to use a photo of their favorite holiday
destination, their favorite animal or their funniest meme.
Finally, add a bit of fun to your online classes by asking students to dress up by
themes: you’ll be surprised what you can learn about one another when wearing
your most eccentric headwear or your cosiest sweater.

5. Breaking Barriers, Building Bridges

Purpose
This strategy encourages critical thinking, reflection and open-mindedness. It
supports students to reflect on different perspectives in local and global
contexts. It also fosters research skills.
Instructions
1. Students discuss a series of pictures based on race, class, gender or
environmental problems.
2. After the discussion, students reflect their thoughts and discussions in a
writing journal.
3. Then students use their journal responses to synthesize and take action
to break barriers they have identified in their own world.
4. Finally, students read the topic and discuss how the topic relates to the
pictures they discussed.
Examples:
In a science classroom, pictures of climate change or pollution can be used
where students synthesize solutions to these problems.
In an Individual and Societies classroom pictures of different governments can
be used to understand the topic of Governing bodies in the world, so students
can criticise the strengths and weaknesses of these governments.
In a Language and Literature classroom, this strategy helps to provoke thoughts
during a novel study.
In a virtual learning environment
Capture students’ ideas and reflections in a visual way on Padlet.

6. Learning Circles
Purpose
This strategy encourages students to receive and give meaningful feedback,
and respect the opinions and choices of others. It also fosters reflection,
collaboration and communication skills as students are encouraged to share
their thinking with the group.
Instructions
1. Prepare open-ended questions in advance, e.g. “What makes this topic
interesting?”
2. Students form circles in small groups (3-5 students).
3. Present the first question to the class (read aloud or post on the board).
4. Students reflect in writing on large post-it notes and then share out their
answers verbally one by one.
5. Other members of the group then take turns to give feedback, comments
or ask questions.
6. Students stick their post-it notes up on the wall to create a gallery of
ideas, from which students can read about the views and discussions
that happened in different groups.
In the virtual learning environment
Check out Wonder.me as an alternative to the usual video conferencing
platforms. Students can move themselves around between groups and strike up
conversations as they go.
Jamboard is a great tool for collecting ideas and reflections on specific topics or
questions.
 7. Assess Me
Purpose
Metacognitive formative assessments are used to help students reflect on their
process and progress. Students receive feedback from peers and instructors. It
provides a chance for students to practice self-regulation and make changes to
future behaviors. Use this strategy to foster resilience, affective and self-
management skills.
Instructions
Use formative assessments that are metacognitive. Consider these examples.
1. Muddiest point (one minute paper)
 What do you understand/not understand after today’s class?
 What one question do you still have?
2. Exam wrappers
 How did you study this time, what worked/didn’t work, how would
you study differently?
 What did you get wrong on the exam and why? Where did you
find the answer, could you solve/answer a new problem on the
same topic now?
3. Redo
 Pick a questions you answered incorrectly on the test.
 Explain what you were thinking when you wrote/selected that
answer.
 Explain how you figured out the correct answer.
In a virtual learning environment
Use assessment tools as AssessPrep, Quiziz or Kahoot to gamify assessment
and capture student reflections afterwards using Padlet.

8. Doodle express
Purpose
This strategy encourages creative thinking and reflective skills. Use this strategy
with students who prefer to communicate with artistic expression over words.
Instructions
Ask students to express their thoughts in the form of art rather than words.
Students reflect what they understood in a lesson through a doodle activity.
Read more about the benefits of doodling on student learning here.
In the virtual learning environment
Encourage student’s creativity online with Sketchnoting or use Mural for
collaborative mind mapping and visualisation activities.
Alternatively, take the work offline and ask students to use the ManageBac
built-in mobile scanner to upload an image of their product.

9. Secret Code
Purpose
This strategy encourages communication and thinking skills. This strategy works
particularly well with students learning subject specific terminology.
Instructions
Create terminology cards where the cards contain part but not all of a word. For
example, if students are learning the term “semi-lunar valve” this could be split into
three cards: semi, lunar, valve.
This could be made more challenging by using sounds: se, mi, lu, nar, val, ve
Deal the deck of cards so each student has multiple pieces. Students circulate around
the class to ‘crack the secret code’ and find the pieces of their word.
In the virtual learning environment
WebQuest is an inquiry-based activity where students are given a task and provided
with access to online resources to help them complete the task.

References
Chowning, Jeanne Ting (2009). “Socratic Seminars In Science Class: Providing a structured format to

promote dialogue and understanding.” Science teacher (Normal, Ill.) vol. 76,7: 36-41.

Gutierez, Sally. (2017). Breaking barriers: Research-based collaborative professional development

between in-service teachers and university researchers. New Trends and Issues Proceedings on

Humanities and Social Sciences. 4. 261-269. 10.18844/prosoc.v4i1.2264.