ROGER MARSHMAN
In this session we will consider what it may mean to be Thinkers and Inquirers in the most values-laden aspects of curriculum. We will explore the relationship between the IB MYP and the IB Diploma with particular emphasis on Theory of Knowledge in the DP and the Areas of Interaction in the MYP, most specifically Human Ingenuity. The ethical dimensions of inquiry based learning will be considered in terms of some identifiable higher order thinking skills. Participants will briefly consider the context of our pluralistic world, and what this can mean as schools seek to promote the values entailed in the Learner Profile: how these can be articulated and nourished by the school experience as well as how they may unwittingly be perverted through misapplied good intentions. Clearly time will not allow exhaustive consideration of all these weighty matters. By illustrating general patterns with some pointed examples, I hope to whet participants’ interest and will offer some suggestions for related reading.

SALLY RAWLINGS AND ANNE BERULDSEN
Embedding inquiry and the learner profile into the culture of our school has created a natural connection in pedagogy and beliefs from early learning to year 10. Our image of the child, strong emphasis on sustainability, and purposeful inquiry enables our students to be independent and creative thinkers with the research and thinking skills to inquire into significant, engaging, relevant and challenging issues. The exhibition process enables students to apply their skills and explore the big ideas, concepts and issues that they are passionate about. PTO From the moment the exhibition process begins students are engaged in tasks requiring them to demonstrate the attributes of the IB learner profile. Most significant in the early stage of the process is the application of the thinker and inquirer attributes. Power Point presentation of the exhibition process in the year 6 classroom. By engaging students in a collaborative process between school, home and the community they are encouraged to think widely and discuss issues that are relevant and significant to form the basis of their exhibition inquiry. Workshop participants would be encouraged to participate in the process of selecting several issues for an inquiry and engage in activities undertaken with students to demonstrate the thinking skills involved in reducing this list to one issue to direct their individual inquiry. Once an issue has been selected by a student, the true elements of an inquirer come into effect. The engagement of the student as an inquirer is sustained throughout the exhibition process as students take control of their learning, processing and assessment. Workshop participants would be involved in the processes and strategies used with a class to develop a shared central idea and then explore means by which primary data could be collected from local organisations. This could include developing electronic surveys, researching using the internet or exploring an assessment rubric.
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MARCIA BEHRENBRUCH; ANNEMARIE DENTON
Sustainable thinking is a process that underpins our inquiry programs from the Early Learning Centre to Year 10 (16 years old). Building on the philosophy of John Dewey and the dispositional theory of thinking described by David Perkins, we have developed a tool for teachers and students to use throughout inquiry for planning, development of student questions and evaluation of inquiry. Sustainable thinking helps our students consider Human Ingenuity –our culturally based and technologically based innovations- in context of their impact on nature and personal sustainability. This way of thinking keeps sustainability of the planet at the center of all teaching and learning and provides an authentic platform to develop integrated programs, provide opportunities for the development of transdisciplinary skills and a deep understanding of the importance and significance of the learner profile. We have cross referenced our sustainable thinking model with the transdisciplinary themes in the PYP and the areas of interaction in the MYP. In addition to supporting the standards and practices of the IB it also supports the Victorian Essential Learning Standards (VELS) and the key competencies re-iterated in the National Curriculum proposal and advice papers. In this interactive workshop, participants will be invited to analyse examples of our students’ inquiries as well as ideas from their own practice in terms of sustainable thinking.

ALISON-JANE HAYES
Opening Minds: Creativity in a Technological Age.
This workshop will focus on a range of approaches to thinking skills and creativity in the classroom with a strong, practical element to show how these approaches can be used to deepen the engagement of students and enhance their independent learning skills.
Creativity tools to be modeled and evaluated will include:
• The Parnes-Osborne Creativity Model
• Six Thinking Tools • Socratic Thinking Games
• Using Multiliteracies Pedagogies to engage, extend and deepen thinking skills
• Philosophy for Children: creating a positive Community of Inquiry to develop both IQ and EQ.

Section One:
• Introduction and evaluation of mechanisms for introducing thinking skills into the curriculum.
• An introduction to a range of formal structures and models for enhancing thinking skills.
• An evaluation of how to use these models to ensure full engagement and participation from all learners – logical/sequential as well as visual/spatial students.

Section Two:
• Examples of using these models and mechanisms with real texts from the TOK and English Classrooms.
• Sample outcomes.

ARGIE BUESNEL
The session targets anyone interested in providing units of work in MYP online and any teachers who are looking for ways to spend more time teaching and less time on repetitive tasks.

Studywiz is the elearning platform used by Blackwoood High School teachers. Students are given the tools they need to succeed and parents can take an active role in their children’s education. Studywiz connects teachers students, parents and other members of the school community together.

Using rich media creation tools or off-the shelf-content teachers can build a range of online learning activities, content and resources through a web browser to enable teaching and learning to continue anywhere anytime. Teachers can use the latest online tools and trends including blogs, podcasts and learning plans.
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LIZ BLACK, MIKE SHAW
“A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.” Douglas Adams

Looking at a collaborate Learning space (Wiki), Liz and Mike will share some examples of how Information and Communication Technologies can be used to enhance learning and engage students in the MYP through all aspects of the Learner Profile. They will pay particular attention to the ‘Inquirers’ through a Student Initiated Unit of Work, and ‘Thinkers’ through the use of the Design Cycle and Criterion Based Assessment in Technology tasks.

When students have choice, quality scaffolding and clear, high expectations, engagement levels are increased, life long skills are established and students get a real sense of empowered learning. By constantly developing skills in reflection and sharing with others throughout the process, students realise they belong to a wider learning community. Accessing information from a variety of sources enables students to carefully analyse data, explore options and make informed decisions to solve their own problems. Students are involved in thinking when the task is not given to them, but they are challenged to develop their own solutions to problems. Through questioning and critical discussion learning is facilitated not administered. Participants will be shown a form of Web 2.0 technology (Wiki) which they can easily adapt to their own classroom practice, or use as a means for collecting ideas and resources with their own staff to share.

CHRIS MCGUIRE
The School Entrepreneur Program brings together three elements: entrepreneurship, combined with poverty and microfinance. This unit of work reveals and affirms entrepreneurial behaviour, by challenging students to undertake an entrepreneurial endeavour of their own design. First funded by the federal “National Innovation Awareness Strategy” in 2005 it has been undertaken by schools in five states; currently active in SA, NSW and Victoria. Entrepreneurship at this entry level is first defined for the upper MYP audience; as being innovative and creative and acting with personal integrity. These ideas are introduced to the students through context-relevant case studies, where founders of businesses have been interviewed about the inspiration and the early periods of their own ventures. The case-studies focus on the evolution of business ideas not of the businesses themselves.
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Once completed, student entrepreneurs need to communicate the essence of their endeavour, both conceived and executed based on their own skills and talents and acting on their own. Through a process of peer review, students, regardless of their capacity to act entrepreneurially, are connected with the successful entrepreneurial behaviour of their peers. Inclusivity is important in this student centred activity that is open-ended yet contained by modest targets. Students are also connected with micro-entrepreneurs who are leaders in poor communities in alleviating poverty and creating jobs. The program demonstrates that entrepreneurship is less about personal wealth and more about empowering others. The program makes clear that human inspiration lies at the heart of sustainable businesses across the globe.

KAY MARGETTS
The integration of international-mindedness within and across the school curriculum is a challenge for teachers in IB and non-IB schools. In addressing this challenge through the provision of postgraduate professional development for teachers, the University of Melbourne, Graduate School of Education has developed the Postgraduate Certificate in Educational Studies (International Baccalaureate) which provides a PYP Stream and a DP Stream. The course was developed in collaboration with Wesley Institute and in cooperation with the IB in relation to the IB Teacher Awards. This session will provide an overview of postgraduate programs and give examples of how the concept of international mindedness is addressed and how the learner profile and especially the attributes of Inquiry, Knowledge, Thinkers and Communication are conveyed and enacted.
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ROSS FEATHERSTON AND MATHEW WHITE
Estimates made by the World Health Organization in 2002 showed that 154 million people globally suffer from depression and 25 million people from schizophrenia; 91 million people are affected by alcohol use disorders and 15 million by drug use disorders. The International Baccalaureate aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect; but, is this enough? Should the International Baccalaureate now concern itself with the overall wellbeing of students and teachers, their ingenuity, creativity and future resourcefulness?

This workshop argues that a holistic approach to education such as the one proposed by the IB must embrace explicit programmes of student wellbeing based on approaches such as the work of empirical work of Positive Psychology as developed by the American Psychologist Martin Seligman and others. Educational systems and schools are faced with a choice. Respond to the need to embrace wellbeing projects to increase the resilience of our youth or to maintain the status quo.

This workshop explores the principles of Positive Education in the context of the International Baccalaureate and the Learner Profile. This breakout session will deliver possibilities for educators in terms of:

• Developing a Positive Education pedagogy that can be applied internationally and across a whole school based on the IB Mission Statement.
• Developing a Positive Education curriculum that can be applied internationally and across a whole school based on the principles of the IB Learner Profile.

Teachers will be presented with three practical Positive Education principles suitable for an international approach applicable for PYP, MYP and DP programmes. These three principles include:

• using character strengths of students and staff to increase positive emotion and flow;
• developing student resilience in the classroom and beyond;
• creating a Positive Education pedagogy for students and staff.

Empirical findings from US studies have highlighted that a Positive Education approach to teaching increased positive emotion, social engagement and enhances the level of flow staff and students experience in the classroom and beyond it.
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CAROLINE HEAZLEWOOD, BETH JOHNSTON, ROBERT BRYSON
The session will look at the power of studying graphic novels, as a means of developing visual literacy skills, as well as exposing the students to higher order thinking through the exploration of symbolic meaning. Given that graphic novels deal with implied meaning to a great degree, it does encourage the student to explore the text at a deeper level, while thwarting impulsive responses that tend to be superficial. In a sense the students need to construct and articulate their own narratives that should be credible, given the layout of the graphic novel. With insights into the power of graphic novels to create meaning, the students are well placed to create their own autobiographical digital stories, where they must produce a single impression of their lives through creatively and imaginatively drawing on a diverse array of material from a range of sources. The unit certainly does draw on whole-brain pedagogy, given that the students must reflect on their lives (metacognitive skills), research family archives (photo albums, genealogies etc), select graphics and other visual material, as well as honing their spoken language skills. All of these diverse elements must be integrated into a cohesive presentation of no more than 3 minutes in duration, a presentation that must create a single impression. The session will cover some of the classroom activities used to scaffold the necessary skills needed in tackling graphic novels and in producing digital stories. Also, workshop participants will be shown samples of finished digital stories.

PAUL NUGENT
This research explains how thinking routines encourage thoughtful actions in middle school students. Thinking routines involve doing significant things with knowledge. The regular use of thinking routines assists students individually and collectively, to experience patterns of inquiry. Using these routines in the classroom invites students to explore and manage their thoughtful actions. The method of this study used action research to extend knowledge of dispositions found in the literature. Dispositions are acquired patterns of behavior. Therefore, being strategic in your thinking is under one’s control, as opposed to being automatically activated. Dispositions were renamed learning attitudes. Attitude is closely associated with behavior and control over what one does. A learning attitude is more easily identifiable within a student’s personal lexicon. An iterative sequence was then used to analyze and report on key words which represented learning attitudes found in student work. Distinctive features were interpreted by the researcher to emerge from this sequence grounded in work samples. Understanding these distinctive features empowers teachers to make constructive judgments. Without good judgment it is difficult to encourage thoughtful and reflective actions. Reflective thinking enables us to act in a deliberate and intentional manner. Deliberate actions provide power of control over knowledge.
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MANDY BELL & KELLIE MCCAULEY
For the 2008 school musical, the teachers and school leaders of the Prince Alfred College Preparatory School decided to dispense with the common practice of ‘buying in’ a ready-made, commercially produced script. Instead, they decided to support the boys in creating their own multimedia arts production. In so doing, they opened the floodgates, creating a diverse range of significant and sustained opportunities for human ingenuity, authentic communication and real risk taking to be ‘lived’ and learned by students and staff alike. Mandy Bell, music teacher, and Kellie Humphries, art teacher, will take you along on the learning journey that ensued, through all the stages from initial brainstorming to the final curtain.

DALE SPENDER
Creativity/ Ingenuity – Core Competencies in the 21st century More than 75% of Australians (and members of other developed countries) now make something at the workplace that you cant drop on your foot. In Charles Leadbeater’s terms – as adults, most of our students will be making their living out of thin air. This requires considerable ingenuity. The education system we are all familiar with has served different needs. It was designed in the 19th century at a time of expanding industrialisation and was influenced by the values of the day: particularly standardisation. (Leave your brains in the car park, successful 20th century CEO Jack Welch urged his workers: the last thing he wanted on an assembly line was creativity/ ingenuity.) Along with the current demand for creative/ problem solving skills – has come the computer, the internet, and the world–wide-web – all of which foster information making. (Almost all students - with connections – will have created online content in the past month: Facebook, YouTube – or even user generated games’ possibilities and solutions.) The challenge for educators today is to harness the vast creative potential of these new technologies, along with the existing skills and practices of the students – and to guide, promote, and extend the ingenuity of students -- by their own ingenious transformation of the classroom for the 21st century.
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GREG WHITBY
Re-imagining schooling for today's world According to author Daniel Pink, we are moving from the Information Age characterised by the digital revolution into the Conceptual Age. This new era heralds a new way of thinking, creating, working, living, communicating and even schooling. While there is no single road map for taking schooling forward, there are clear understandings, common purposes and directions that will enable us to meet the challenges of schooling in today's world and improve the learning outcomes for every student. In this presentation, Greg Whitby will discuss some of the key elements underpinning our educational imperative including appropriate pedagogies for today's world. In his workshop, Greg will challenge and engage participants by asking them to use their ingenuity to re-imagine and re-build schooling for today's world and beyond.

MARTY GAUVIN
Innovation - - Some think its research and development, or science, or other limited ideas. In reality it is far broader: The introduction of a change producing a benefit. There has recently been significant publicity around our national innovation system, focusing on public sector and business innovation. In this presentation we will pare this back to individual innovation; how to recognise it, foster it and develop it. This represents a slice through human ingenuity which can assist in driving outcomes and measurement as well as real benefits. Have you seen innovation take place? What were the outcomes? Who innovates? When? Why?

MARTIN WESTWELL
We are born with all of the hundred billion neurons that we will ever have but the reason why our brains grow after we are born is because of the formation of around one hundred and fifty trillion connections between these brain cells. Throughout our lives, everything that we do, everything that we see, everything that we experience can have a physical impact upon the way that our brains our wired up which in turn influences who we are. This personalisation of the brain to form an individual’s mind is crucially dependent upon the environment in which they find themselves and the experiences they have. In a technological world, environments have the capacity to change the way that we think, behave and learn in ways that were never before possible. By exploring some of the recent developments in the modern world that have modified the way young people think and learn, insights for the future of education can be gained. The power of these insights can only be fully realised when coupled with the experience, expertise and values that teachers hold. How do we ensure that we capitalise upon the opportunities to develop ingenuity whilst minimising the risks?

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CHRIS WYATT & RUTH ADAMS
Being pedagogical risk takers - reconciling the traditional disciplinary nature of LOTE with the transdisciplinary nature of the PYP. The experience of LOTE teachers seemed universal. Of the five essential elements of the PYP, most LOTE teachers have knowledge sewn up i.e. the traditional approach to LOTE has disciplinary. We will be aiming to reconcile the traditional disciplinary nature of LOTE with the transdisciplinary nature of the PYP. It is our aim to introduce ways the LOTE teacher and student can engage with the other elements of the PYP, avoiding a thematic, integrated approach to connecting with the POI. Over-arching all of this is an inquiry-based approach. Using simple, accessible web technologies, sorting activities and real-life artefacts, participants will be able to experience a ‘model classroom’. We aim to encourage participants to become pedagogical risk-takers, and thereby support the LOTE teachers in their schools to do likewise. This session would be a condensed version of the NSW/ACT PYP Network Job-Alike Day held on 24th October 2008. It is a summary of ideas we workshopped in the job-alike to encourage LOTE teachers to become pedagogical risk takers and to see their role in the overall POI as an integral role rather than an ‘add-on’.