Exhibition guidelines

Introduction

The Primary Years Programme (PYP) exhibition represents a significant event in the life of a PYP school and student, synthesizing the essential elements of the PYP and sharing them with the whole school community. As a culminating experience it is an opportunity for students to exhibit the attributes of the International Baccalaureate (IB) learner profile that have been developing throughout their engagement with the PYP.

In the students’ final year of the PYP, which occurs in some schools at age 10–11 and in others at age 11–12, there are five units of inquiry and the exhibition*. The exhibition unit takes place under any transdisciplinary theme at the discretion of the school. Students are required to engage in a collaborative, transdisciplinary inquiry process that involves them in identifying, investigating and offering solutions to real-life issues or problems. The central idea selected must be of sufficient scope and significance to warrant a detailed investigation by all students.

*Only IB World Schools offering the PYP are required to participate in the exhibition although candidate schools may choose to do so.

Purpose

The PYP exhibition has a number of key purposes:

for students to engage in an in-depth, collaborative inquiry
to provide students with an opportunity to demonstrate independence and responsibility for their own learning
to provide students with an opportunity to explore multiple perspectives
for students to synthesize and apply their learning of previous years and to reflect upon their journey through the PYP
to provide an authentic process for assessing student understanding
to demonstrate how students can take action as a result of their learning
to unite the students, teachers, parents and other members of the school community in a collaborative experience that incorporates the essential elements of the PYP
to celebrate the transition of learners from primary to middle/secondary education.

Essential features of the exhibition

As the culminating PYP experience, it is required that the exhibition reflects all the major features of the programme. Therefore it must:

provide an opportunity for students to exhibit the attributes of the IB learner profile that have been developing throughout their engagement with the PYP
incorporate all the key concepts; an understanding of the key concepts should be demonstrated by the application of key questions throughout the inquiry process
synthesize aspects of all six transdisciplinary themes
require students to use skills from all five sets of transdisciplinary skills (see Making the PYP happen: A curriculum framework for international primary education, 2007, figure 8); students should be given the opportunity to develop and apply skills from all the transdisciplinary skill areas in their exhibition inquiry
offer the students the opportunity to explore knowledge that is significant and relevant
offer opportunities for students to display attitudes (see Making the PYP happen: A curriculum framework for international primary education, 2007, figure 9) that relate to people, the environment and their learning; these attitudes should be evident throughout the process
provide opportunities for students to engage in action; students should demonstrate an ability to reflect on and apply their learning to choose appropriate courses of action and carry them out; this action may take the form of personal involvement with the planning and implementation of the exhibition and/or service-orientated action; action may not always be clearly or immediately visible or measurable but evidence should be recorded whenever a particular behaviour results from the learning involved
represent a process where students are engaged in a collaborative and student-led, in-depth inquiry facilitated by teachers; records should be kept that reflect the process of planning and student engagement with the exhibition
include ongoing and rigorous assessment of the exhibition process; this assessment should take two forms: firstly, ongoing assessment of each individual student’s contribution to and understanding of the exhibition; secondly, a summative assessment and reflection on the event itself.

Roles in the exhibition

All members of the school community have important roles to play in the exhibition.

Role of student

Students will:

have an understanding of the purpose and requirements of the exhibition from the outset of the process (guidelines and planning instructions should be provided by the teacher or mentor)
participate in selecting a real-life issue or problem for the exhibition
develop the inquiry by helping to decide on a central idea, lines of inquiry and student questions
collaboratively plan learning and assessment experiences; these should involve independent and collaborative work and students should be involved in all stages of the planning and staging of the exhibition
carry out an open-ended inquiry into a real-life issue or problem
demonstrate an understanding of the components of the PYP, in particular the IB learner profile; the students involved in the exhibition should be given an opportunity to demonstrate their learning and the development of the attributes of the IB learner profile
demonstrate an understanding of the five essential elements—knowledge, concepts, skills, attitudes and action
select and utilize a variety of strategies and resources to meet the outcomes of the inquiry; wherever possible, students should use a variety of source materials, such as first-hand experiences, interviews, surveys, field visits, artifacts, science investigations, working models, not just book and/or Internet research
be academically honest when referring to their sources of information
communicate effectively with teachers, peers and parents
reflect on the components of and processes involved in the exhibition; they should keep a journal or portfolio of their planning, draft pieces of work, sketches and photographs of work in progress as well as the final product
carry out self-assessment and peer assessment
celebrate their learning by presenting the exhibition to the school community.

Role of teacher

Teachers will:

have an understanding of the purpose and requirements of the exhibition from the outset of the process
initiate, facilitate and guide the exhibition process; teachers should facilitate the process of the exhibition rather than teaching directly, with the exception of particular skills and/or knowledge that is required in order for the students to proceed with their chosen inquiry
provide support for student inquiries, enabling students to overcome any problems encountered in the process
plan collaboratively with other teachers
communicate regularly with students, parents and other participants
act as mentors as required or appropriate
develop essential agreements with students regarding academic honesty to ensure that they are taking responsibility for their learning and being principled in the resources they are using; mentors and parents should be informed of these agreements
encourage students to use a balance of primary and secondary sources; help students to access information; and ensure they know how to cite sources used in research
ensure the participation of all students by considering their interests, accommodating learning styles and needs, and by determining prior knowledge
empower the students to feel able to take action as a result of the exhibition
assess the exhibition process ensuring all the essential elements are included
keep detailed records of the processes involved including ongoing reflection
encourage and join in with students to celebrate their learning.

Role of parent/guardian

Parents/guardians will:

have an understanding of the purpose and requirements of the exhibition
support and encourage students and teachers throughout the process of inquiry
be informed by reading newsletters, attending meetings, checking school websites, talking with students
help students to access resources—people, places, media and information
provide expert subject knowledge where applicable
act as mentors as required or appropriate
encourage independent inquiry and respect student ownership of the process
have an opportunity to reflect on and give feedback on the exhibition
celebrate with the students by attending the staging of the exhibition.

Role of PYP coordinator and principal

The PYP coordinator and principal will:

have an understanding of the requirements, and value the purpose of the exhibition
provide support for teachers and students involved in the exhibition
provide opportunities for relevant professional development and support
promote the exhibition in the school
allocate sufficient time for teachers to plan collaboratively on the exhibition
allocate sufficient funding to provide appropriate resources
celebrate with the students by attending the staging of the exhibition.

Role of other teachers within the school

The success of the exhibition within a school can be facilitated in a number of ways. The school needs to plan carefully in advance so that it has the correct structure in place when the final-year students begin their exhibition plans.

The teachers of the earlier grade levels/year groups in the school should:

be informed about the exhibition
implement a programme of inquiry that reflects the PYP
provide experience of the five essential elements
provide opportunities for student-led inquiry
consider how their teaching supports and contributes to the exhibition
help students construct meaning through problem-based learning.

Role of mentor

If a school uses mentors, it is important that their role is clearly defined. A mentor can help the students set and meet their goals by asking questions, suggesting resources, helping to interpret difficult information and facilitating interviews or telephone calls. Community members, older students, parents and teachers may be invited to act as mentors.

Some examples of mentor participation include the following.

Members of the school community are encouraged to identify areas (knowledge, skills and interests) where they could support the students, and an inventory of “experts” is developed. Students contact these experts and arrange support as needed.
Each group of students is assigned a mentor who will support the group through the process leading towards the exhibition. Groups will meet with their mentors on a weekly basis or as needed. The mentor will guide the students and help them monitor their progress, assisting them in setting new goals. They are responsible for some aspects of student assessment. Ultimately, the students are responsible for the completion of work.
The mentor’s primary role is to act as a guide and resource in the accomplishment of specific tasks during the exhibition process. Members of the school community are invited to mentor in one or more areas of interest or expertise, for example, research, writing, or information and communication technology (ICT). They are available at different stages of the exhibition. For instance, in the early stages of the inquiry, research mentors come in two to three times a week. Mentors have a purely advisory role, and while they do not participate in the summative assessment of the exhibition, they may contribute to formative assessments regarding their area of support, as well as reflecting on the exhibition process.
After the students have written their central idea for their inquiry, teachers and other adults within the school who have nominated themselves for the mentoring role are matched up with a group of students. The students are responsible for contacting and organizing meetings with their mentor. The mentors are encouraged to meet the students at least three times in the beginning stages of the exhibition but may reduce their involvement over time to increase student responsibility. They are not involved in formal assessment but are encouraged to make anecdotal observations and to give feedback to the students and teachers.

Organizing the exhibition

The timing of the exhibition is at the discretion of the school. As the exhibition needs to be planned thoroughly, the planning process should begin early in the school year with full engagement with the exhibition occurring during the final term. Many schools find it best for the exhibition to be the last unit of the year, allowing students the most available time in the PYP to develop their knowledge, skills and understanding. Other schools have found it beneficial to stage the exhibition slightly earlier in the year to allow more time for reflection and assessment of the exhibition, and for inclusion in end-of-year reports or student–parent conferences.

In the initial stages of planning, the teachers responsible for facilitating the exhibition should:

decide how the real-life issue or problem will be identified and selected
review the previous year’s exhibition planner, in particular the reflections
inform students, staff and parents of the purpose and general guidelines for the exhibition
collaborate with others to establish participation (for example, mentors, single-subject teachers)
schedule a time frame for the inquiry process, including a date for the staging of the exhibition, and book any facilities or rooms as required
anticipate resources needed (for example, Internet access, audio-visual equipment, art and technology materials, science equipment)
establish budgetary limitations if any
consult the sample exhibition materials (PYP exhibition) on the online curriculum centre (OCC) and the sample documents included in the HTML version of PYP Exhibition guidelines (2008).

It is a requirement that students are actively and productively involved in all stages of the exhibition from planning to final presentation. In the same way that teachers use the PYP planner to facilitate planning for inquiry, an adapted version of the planner may be developed for use by the students in the exhibition. The students should collaborate with teachers and other students on identifying the local issue or problem to be explored. (The issue may have global significance but should be based on local experiences.) Students should also have the opportunity to collaborate with teachers and other students to develop the central idea, identify the intended learning outcomes, determine the criteria for success, and contribute to planning the learning experiences that may take place.

The exhibition should be viewed as a process and the components involved need to be identified by the students and teachers. A possible list of the components might be the following.

Identify the purpose of the exhibition.
Identify a real-life local issue of sufficient depth.
Identify intended learning outcomes.
Establish assessment and success criteria.
Decide on a timescale.
Clarify the roles of students, staff and other members of the school community.
Organize mentoring/parental involvement.
Identify and select appropriate resources.
Gather information.
Clarify appropriate action.
Stage the exhibition.
Assess the whole process.
Celebrate and reflect upon the achievement.

Collaboration within the exhibition

There is a range of acceptable ways to group students for participation in the exhibition provided that the essential features of the exhibition are included and all students participate fully. Examples of different grouping strategies include the following.

The whole grade level/year group selects one exhibition issue or problem and the same central idea.
The whole grade level/year group selects one exhibition issue or problem, with a different central idea for each class or cluster of students within the larger group.
Each class or cluster of students in the whole grade level/year group selects a different exhibition issue or theme and corresponding central idea.

Whichever grouping strategies are employed, the students should be aware that the exhibition is a collaborative inquiry involving all students in the grade level/year group. There should be regular sharing of work in progress and students should show a genuine sense of participation in a collaborative effort.

The exhibition should clearly provide the opportunity for students to participate and be assessed in an authentic learning situation—where the central idea(s) are specifically about a real-life issue or problem.

Staging the exhibition

It is a requirement that the exhibition is shared with members of the wider school community. There are many formats a sharing event could take, for example, an interactive display, a performance, a debate, or a combination of formats.

The exhibition should include the following.

Examples of written work in a variety of formats and styles: poetry, reports, persuasive texts
Oral presentations, individually or in groups, to the school community
Uses of technology including ICT, working models, designs, science experiments
Performances or compositions in any medium: dance, music, drama, visual arts, film, video, mixed media

The use of ICT

ICT can play an important role in the success of an exhibition. Students are not required to use ICT in the exhibition but it provides several practical and creative solutions to support the exhibition where appropriate.

ICT enables worldwide access to primary and secondary sources of data. It offers technical equipment, communication options and environments to reflect on the data acquired (emails, websites, blogs, wikis, virtual learning environments or platforms). It also provides tools to record and organize various kinds or combinations of data, such as digital images, videos, written and oral texts, art, music, animations, as well as environments where this data can be presented and shared.

ICT can provide an environment in which students record, organize, analyse and reflect on their learning during the exhibition (by using appropriate software, virtual learning environments, school intranet). For example, a class, group or individual blog can be an effective tool for recording the exhibition process and a way of communicating this process with peers, teachers, mentors, parents and the wider community. ICT also provides different opportunities for staging and presenting the exhibition, for instance, the use of digital images and videos, audio, digital portfolios, websites, data projectors and commercially produced publishing software.

Where ICT is used in an exhibition, students should be encouraged to be principled in the use of digital libraries, digital images or other data acquired with the help of technology by following the school’s guidelines to encourage academic honesty.

Practices in the exhibition

Many of the practices in the following table are relevant to all areas of teaching and learning in the PYP. During the exhibition there should be many opportunities for student leadership and ownership, and therefore these practices are worth sharing with members of the school community.

The PYP exhibition
Increased emphasis on:	Decreased emphasis on:
Flexible timetabling within an extended time frame	Fixed timetabling and time frame
Range of assessments developed with students with input from other members of the community	Teacher-determined assessment and feedback from teacher only
Students reflecting on and keeping evidence of learning throughout the process	Students showing final products
Personal responsibility, management and accountability by students	Teacher management of student input and involvement
Community-based inquiry: working with and presenting to the school and wider community	School- or classroom-based inquiry: inquiry process and presentation limited to class or grade level
Teacher as facilitator and observer	Teacher as instructional leader
Utilizing a range of teachers, mentors, advisors, specialists	Classroom teacher(s) as sole advisor/expert
Student empowerment—direct student involvement in selection of issue, development of central ideas and planning, organization and presentation of the inquiry	Teacher/adults responsible for selecting the topic and planning the inquiry

Student guidelines

These guidelines may be copied or adapted to give to students.

The exhibition holds a place of special importance in the PYP, and you will be working on it for some time. Participating in the exhibition will demonstrate your learning in the PYP. The exhibition will involve others (for example, you may work in a small group or become involved with an organization outside the school), and your participation and your work will be assessed. Your teacher will assess your planning and learning, including your reflections, the methods you use, the way you link your exhibition to the transdisciplinary themes and any forms of action that you engage in as a result. Your teacher or mentor will share with you the criteria for this assessment.

The development of the exhibition in your school may include the following.

Discussing possible real-life issues or problems to be investigated
Posing questions that help to define the central idea and to decide upon the lines of inquiry
Planning the exhibition
Gathering the necessary material
Recording and reflecting
Presenting the exhibition

Your teachers may develop a modified PYP planner to help you through the process of planning and participating in the exhibition.

1. Discussing possible real-life issues or problems to be investigated

With other members of your learning community, take some time to reflect on the transdisciplinary themes and the inquiries that you have been involved with over the past few years. This could result in discussions, about issues or problems you have noticed in your school or local area, which could lead to an in-depth inquiry. These issues could be directly connected to your school or local area, and they may also be relevant to children in other parts of the world. You should talk with your teacher about your ideas and questions to see if they could become the basis for your exhibition. Your teacher and the other students may have ideas too, and you should give all the ideas careful consideration before making a final decision.

2. Posing questions that help to define the central idea and to decide upon the lines of inquiry

When the issue or problem has been selected, you will need to have a basic understanding of the issue and be able to explain why it is important in order to investigate it in more depth. Some ideas for exploring the issue include the following.

Discuss your ideas with different people, both inside and outside school.
Visit a local site.
Identify and look at available books and resources.
Consider how the issue connects to the transdisciplinary themes.

These explorations could help you to form a better understanding of the issue and to develop a central idea to explain the significance of your inquiry. Thinking about the PYP concepts (form, function, causation, change, connection, perspective, responsibility and reflection) that are related to this issue could help you construct questions to guide your inquiries.

It is useful to identify the lines of inquiry you will follow in order to explore your questions and develop your understanding of the central idea. The central idea, lines of inquiry and questions will help you to stay focused during this investigation and help you find out about your exhibition issue.

This may be the first time you have been involved in such a detailed investigation. It is important that you (and your group) have a discussion with your teacher and/or mentor to see if your ideas are realistic and achievable.

3. Planning the exhibition

Now that you have decided on the purpose and scope of your inquiry, you can plan the next part of the process. You should write down ideas for how you will explore and develop your understanding of your central idea and questions within the defined lines of inquiry. In your group, ask questions such as: Where do we find the materials and resources we need? Who might have useful information? What kind of experiences might inform our inquiries? Do we need to carry out any experiments? Do we need to prepare a questionnaire or survey? What kind of technology will we need to have access to?

Choose sources and resource materials carefully; by looking at a variety of different sources, you can improve the quality of your exhibition. Other sources can also help you: a reference book might have a useful bibliography; the person you interview might have a further suggestion for your inquiries; an experiment might lead to other investigations. When you have found a source of information, it is important to consider the possible bias of this information and how useful it is going to be.

4. Gathering the necessary material

Always write down the source of your material. This information will vary according to the type of source consulted.

A printed text: record the author(s), title, publisher and date of publication
A website: record the website address (for example, http://www.un.org/Pubs/CyberSchoolBus/index.html)
An interview: record the name, address, role of the person and the date of the interview
An experiment: record the equipment and method used, the results and conclusions
A work of art: record the title, artist and reference (museum, recording) if appropriate

5. Recording and reflecting

You will need to reflect on your exhibition in a constructive way. Making regular entries in a journal of all your ideas, decisions and actions to record your progress as you work on the exhibition can clearly show the work you have been engaged in as well as how your understanding of the issue is developing. It should be filled in regularly to show you how your exhibition is progressing. A journal can also be used to show your mentor the progress being made. These reflections should be supported by recorded evidence of the process. This evidence could include photographic and video evidence, interview notes, feedback and comments from your peers, teachers and/or mentors and parents.

6. Presenting the exhibition

Towards the end of the exhibition, you will need to think carefully about how you wish to present the results of your inquiries. You must always consider your presentation from other people’s perspectives.

Be informed about the material you choose to present. You will need to be able to answer any questions about it confidently.
Discuss the presentation with your teacher and/or your mentor before you start working on it.
Use diagrams, drawings and/or photographs to add to the clarity of the presentation.
Look at the examples of exhibitions that other students have done in your school in the past, in particular the formats they have used to present their ideas.
Make sure your presentation is clear, informative and appropriate for a range of audiences.
And, finally, you should celebrate your learning.

PYP exhibition planner

The exhibition planner provides information and prompts that might be useful to a school as it goes through the process of preparing for the exhibition.

Monitoring of the exhibition

Assessment of the exhibition takes place within the school. It should be ongoing throughout the whole process of the exhibition and it should be rigorous. The IB seeks to ensure the integrity of the PYP without formally monitoring internal assessment or conducting external examinations. Schools may find it helpful to refer to the exhibition reflection tool, included in this document, which is based on standard D2 of the IB Programme standards and practices (2005), as a guide to assessing their exhibition.

The monitoring of a school’s commitment to the exhibition will take place during the normal process of IB programme evaluation visits. Evidence of completed exhibitions should be available to members of an IB visiting team, and schools should therefore record the exhibition appropriately, for example through:

individual student learning journals
teacher anecdotal records of student work and performance
a class journal
a permanent record of the exhibition (planners, photographic or on video).

It is recommended that the PYP coordinator takes responsibility for maintaining the archive of exhibition records from one year to the other.

Exhibition materials on the OCC

The IB is interested in distributing examples of exhibitions to other PYP schools; this is to disseminate good practice rather than to monitor school performance. In order to facilitate this process, schools are invited to submit their exhibition records, including sample documents, to IB Cardiff, in a format that can be stored and distributed, for possible use on the OCC. Please send contributions to pyp@ibo.org or PYP department, International Baccalaureate, Peterson House, Malthouse Avenue, Cardiff Gate, Cardiff, Wales, CF23 8GL, United Kingdom.

As indicated in the General regulations: Primary Years Programme (2007), when students enter the PYP, schools should ask legal guardians to indicate in writing whether they agree to their child’s materials being submitted to the IB Organization. A “Sample parental permission form” that explains to parents how their child’s work or visual image could be used by the IB is available in the PYP Coordinator’s handbook. Parents may sign a version of this form to give or withhold their permission, and the school is required to keep this form in each student’s personal file. Any examples of student work, photographs, videos or images should have copyright permission before being sent for inclusion on the OCC.

Exhibition reflection tool

Exhibition reflection tool
	Level of achievement				Action
	Low	←	→	High	Action
Teachers understood the requirements of the exhibition and how to assess it.
Teachers guided students through each phase of the process.
Students were provided with formative feedback throughout the process.
Parents were informed about the nature of the exhibition, its role in the programme and the work expected from the students.
The exhibition was thoroughly planned well in advance and records were kept of the process.
All students were actively and productively involved in the exhibition from planning stages to the final presentation.
The exhibition reflected all major features of the programme including evidence of the five essential elements.
The exhibition incorporated a range of media and forms of expression (for example, written work, oral presentations, performances).
The exhibition was shared with members of the wider school community (for example, governing body, parents, secondary school colleagues and students).
There was adequate assessment of and reflection on the exhibition, with opportunity provided for input from students, parents and teachers.
There was appropriate monitoring of the exhibition and adequate records were kept of teacher collaboration and reflection.
The exhibition allowed students to demonstrate and reflect on the attributes and attitudes of the IB learner profile.

Based on standard D2, IB Programme standards and practices (2005)

Samples

The following samples have been submitted by schools.