The academic excellence of the Colegio Americano, as measured through the highly rigorous standards of the International Baccalaureate program, has once again been proven by the results obtained in the November 2005 session. Thanks to the efforts and dedication of the students and teachers, our school averages in subjects such as Spanish A1, Chemistry, Environmental Systems, Physics, Math Studies and Math at the Higher Level are above the world average.
 The 2005-2006 graduating class obtained the following results: 353 individual certificates and 26 IB bilingual diplomas. In addition to passing six subjects, the IB diploma students completed 150 hours of enriching work in Community, Action and Service (CAS), which brings the students closer to and makes them more sensitive to other realities through their participation in the Robert Allan Reed Literacy Center of the Colegio Americano. They carried out an in depth study on a specific topic and presented it in an extended essay, which transformed them into researchers, capable of raising complex questions and expressing their opinions clearly; they complemented this with work in critical reflection and multidisciplinary reasoning in their Theory of Knowledge (TOK) classes.
Another requirement fulfilled by the students who participate in this demanding program is the Group 4 project which involves the four experimental science subjects: Chemistry, Physics, Biology and Environmental Systems. This project is an interdisciplinary activity requiring the students to analyze a topic that can be studied from the perspective of different scientific disciplines and results in an integrating experience in which scientific research processes stand out relevantly. This field work (in situ), which was carried out in Pallatanga, permitted the students to successfully link theory with practice; at the same time they had the opportunity to make their investigative, reflexive and critical spirit more dynamic, by strengthening curricular content and theoretical foundations with the application of methodological processes of research, and making their study a contribution of the students to their community.
The International Baccalaureate program allows the students to develop skills, abilities and attitudes with creativity, critical and reflexive spirit, as well as fomenting independence and autonomy in the students, thus contributing to the personal growth of the students as protagonists in the world surrounding them through ethics, values and knowledge. The philosophy of the International Baccalaureate program is aligned with the mission and philosophy of the school which is to form citizens who are proactive and successful in the personal, professional and social areas of life, and are capable of assuming their obligations with responsibility, ethics, academic leadership and pluricultural tolerance in a highly competitive world. |
