IAA's Unique Curriculum

At IAA, we work hard to ensure that the student experience is unique. We also strive to ensure that students have a cohesive experience so that everything they learn from year to year is connected, and one year"s work builds upon the next. 

To ensure this continuity, teachers of grades Pre-K through Grade 12 collaborate closely to clearly identify what students at IAA should understand through their learning. These curricular goals are presented as "Essential Questions", and they guide students towards a deep understanding of the subject matter. You can read more about this type of curriculum structure, called 'Understanding by Design'.

In this section, you will find Essential Questions that indicate the concepts each IAA student will come to understand within each individual subject.

Teachers and Senior Management have also worked together to form "Overarching Essential Questions" that communicate the ideals explored by all IAA students across all subjects and grade levels. These questions are meant to form a meaningful link between the principles of IAA"s Mission, Vision and Pillars and the daily experiences of students within diverse learning environments - from the classroom, to the sports fields, to service projects around the Kingdom and beyond.

0verarching Essential Questions:

Leadership
  • How can my actions reflect my understanding of what I learn?
  • How can I communicate effectively?
  • How do I know what"s ethically right?
  • How do I know how to lead and how to follow?
  • How do I know when I"ve done my best?
Duty
  • How can I use what I"m learning in life?
  • How do I know who I am?
  • How do I make an impact on the world?
  • What is the best way to support those around me?
Acceptance
  • How do I learn about the world?
  • How do I think critically while still accepting different values and points of view?
  • How do I evaluate what I learn?
  • How do I find an answer?
Cultural Heritage
  • How do I think and act as a part of Jordan and a part of the international community at the same time?

 

Creative Arts Essential Questions:

  1. How can we use the Arts to express ourselves?

  2. How do we use the Arts to be supportive of others?

  3. How can we use the Arts to show acceptance of cultures and societies?

  4. How can we encourage leadership and risk-taking skills to improve our performance?

  5. How can we use Art to inspire creativity and leadership in our community?

  6. How can we collaborate to enhance our artistic, listening and visual skills?

  7. How can we develop our societal and cultural awareness by appreciating Art history?

  8. How can we encourage students to appreciate and be proud of Art within their own culture?

  9. How can Art develop and foster our international mindedness by understanding other cultures?

  10. How can we use Art to make a difference to ourselves and others?

  11. How can Art foster an understanding of environmental awareness and our responsibility as global citizens?

  12. How can we instill pride and respect for the creations of ourselves and others?

Design Technology Essential Questions:

  1. How can we believe that what we are told is true?

  2. How much does the quality of the outcome/product rely on the quality of planning?

  3. What is the most effective way of communicating our ideas?

  4. Why is it our responsibility to make sensible informed decisions on how to use "tools” safely for everyone"s well-being?

  5. How does what we create/produce affect others?

  6. Why do we need to understand the needs of others?

  7. How can we find out what we need to know using reliable sources?

  8. How do we decide and choose which information sources are the most helpful/useful/trustworthy?

  9. On what basis do we decide and chose which information/sources are the most helpful?

  10. How do I know I am working to the best of my ability?

  11. How do I evaluate that I have been successful?

English/Literacy Essential Questions:

Reading 

  1. Why do we read?
  2. How do we read?
  3. What is text?
  4. What makes a person a (good) reader?

 

Writing 

  1. Why do we write?
  2. How do we write?
  3. How can we write better?

 

Speaking 

  1. How do I speak so that I can be understood?
  2. Why do I speak?
  3. How do I communicate with and without words?
  4. How do I speak so that the audience actively listens?

 

Listening

  1. How do we listen actively?
  2. What do we listen for?

 

IAA Pillars

  1. How do leaders use communication effectively?
  2. How does reading encourage acceptance of other cultures & understanding of our own?
  3. Why is it our duty to be literate as a community?
Humanities Essential Questions:

  1. To what extent do systems manifest themselves in varied contexts?

  2. What role do systems play in shaping our world?

  3. How does culture shape Society? How does society shape culture?

  4. What are the impacts of culture on society?

  5. Why should we celebrate differences?

  6. How does ideology triumph over another?

  7. How does identity drive Global events and change?

  8. What is the relationship between belief and change?

  9. To what extent do Humans impact the environment?

  10. What is the role of Humans in an ecosystem?

  11. How has technology transformed the world?

  12. How do beliefs influence innovation?

  13. To what extent is the world connected in overt and covert ways?

  14. How has colonization shaped the world?

  15. What are the impacts of globalization?

  16. How has colonization shaped the world?

Library Essential Questions:
  1. How can technology help us find answers?
  2. How can I contribute ethically in a 21st-century learning environment?
  3. How can we find out things we want to know?
  4. What is the best source of information?
  5. How do we know what to believe?
  6. What makes a book or story great?
  7. How can a fiction story be true and not true at the same time?
  8. How can we use non-fiction books as a starting point for further inquiry?
  9. What do good readers do?
Maths Essential Questions:

Number and Algebra

1. To what extent can numbers and symbols be used to help us communicate?

2. Why is it important to know and apply mathematical operations?

 

Measurement and Geometry

1. How and why do we need to measure?

2. How do we use geometry to identify and classify 2D shapes and 3D objects in our world?

3. How can we use formulas to measure and then analyse?

 

Statistics and Probability

1. How can data be collected, organised, presented, analysed and interpreted?

2. How do we determine outcomes in everyday events?

3. How do we differentiate between theoretical probability and the observed one?

Physical Health Education (PHE) Essential Questions:

  1. How can I live a healthy lifestyle?

  2. How to be an effective member in the community?

  3. How can I choose a good way to manage my anger when I"m under pressure?

  4. How to transfer my healthy lifestyle to making my community a healthier place to live?

Science Essential Questions:
  1. What is Matter?
  2. How is Matter classified?
  3. Do materials around us always stay the same?
  4. What causes materials to change?
  5. How are materials manipulated to suit our needs?
  6. What is the relationship between the different states of matter?
  7. How do physical and chemical changes differ?
  8. What makes the change in matter important in our lives?
Spanish Essential Questions:

Reading

1. What can you read about in your World Language that you would not be exposed to in your native language?

 

Writing

1. How does one express preference, feelings, emotions, and opinions in detail in Spanish?

2. How does read text in Spanish contribute to understand better the language, the country and the people from Spanish speaking countries?

 

Speaking

1. What do I have to know to be a successful speaker?

2. What are the benefits to being able to communicate in another language?

3. How are words, phrases and sentences different and similar in English/Arabic and the target language?

4. What is considered polite and/or impolite behavior in the two cultures?

 

Listening

1. How the recognition of the context and the understanding of different accents help me to be a good listener?

2. How do I know that I am using the correct word for the country where I am?