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Exhibition guidelines

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.