2008, Block 2: Friday 2:00 to 3:15

The National Institute for Play believes that as play is woven into the fabric of social practices, it will dramatically transform the education we provide our children. In this session, its founder Dr Stuart Brown, will illustrate how play can be a catalyst for learning at any age. When students have fun at learning, they continue to pursue it for its own sake.

Arun Manilal Gandhi is the fifth grandson of Mohandas Gandhi, and has spent much of his life promoting the principles of non-violence and social activism that made his grandfather one of the seminal figures of the 20th century. As an Indian growing up in South Africa, he had firsthand experience of the humiliations heaped on people because of the color of their skin.

This workshop will build expand on the themes of Dr Patel's keynote. He and his colleague Cassie Meyer, Director of Outreach Education and Training at the IFYC, will provide examples and teaching tools about religion and religious diversity that can be easily adapted to schools.

Corresponding to a national need to focus on content in professional development programs, Rice University has implemented a unique workshop model to connect IB teachers to higher education faculty. In each workshop, teachers experience four presentations that focus on current content and research in the field.

The Diploma Programme Online project aims to help IB World Schools extend subject choice and reach out to students unable to attend an IB World School. The project will enhance intercultural understanding and help students develop the 21st century skills necessary for life after school.

This session will present findings from a 2008 University of La Verne doctoral study on building a culture of trust in schools offering the Primary Years Programme. Highlights include observations from PYP principals, coordinators, and teachers on strategies they have used at their various schools to build trusting relationships that help them implement and sustain the PYP.

In 2004, Riverstone International School partnered with the Idaho Office for Refugees and a family foundation to enroll refugee students in Riverstone's IB Diploma Programme. Fifteen refugee students from Ethiopia, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, and Ukraine were admitted to the school on full scholarships. The first refugee graduate (2007) now attends the College of Idaho.

This session presents findings from a follow-up study to "Student Perceptions of the International Baccalaureate Program: A First-Year Perspective," which was completed in 2003 with students enrolled in the Diploma Programme. The new study aims to investigate how graduates perceive the impact of the Diploma Programme on their educational careers.

The Cayman Islands is undergoing a sustained period of educational transformation, which begin with a national conference in September 2005 for over 600 participants.

All educational philosophies, including the IB Learner Profile, lay claim to teaching critical thinking, and yet students and teachers continue to make faulty choices in their daily lives. Perhaps this is because too often, thinking remains only a mental exercise as the "critical" portion is ignored.