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Inquiry is one of the educational pillars of IST

Inquiry is one of the educational pillars of IST. We envision that curious and inquisitive students are the most successful ones because they are intrinsically motivated learners. As soon as students enter the secondary school, they start working on small-scale research projects. As our students grow, the projects will increase in size, and the requirements will reflect their increasing research skills. Some projects are subject-based, others are interdisciplinary.

IST works together with ProU of University of Twente to develop a strong curriculum to teach the different research skills and apply these in exciting interdisciplinary and research oriented projects. Three great examples of engaging projects are the year 3 science exploration, the field research for Biology in year 9, and the Ameland DP Preparation Program in Year 11. The projects are often combined with school trips to take learning outside the classroom.

Ultimately all our research skills and inquiry based learning is backwards mapped from the big research projects in the IBDP program. The projects are the Internal Assessments for the individual subjects and the Extended Essay, a 4,000-word research report.

Students who have already finished their Diploma Programme at IST and are now at university, tell us that they benefit immensely from the attention that was given to research and reporting. It is therefore appropriate to note that our students enter university with an excellent preparation and are well positioned to achieve their dreams.