Middle Years Programme

IB Learner Profile – Knowledgeable

With age comes wisdom

The IB Learner profile ‘knowledgeable’ defines how students, ‘develop and use conceptual understanding to explore knowledge across a range of disciplines. Students engage with ideas and issues that have local and global significance.’ This definition is specific to the International Baccalaureate and their focus on internationalism. I decided to ask a range of OG MYP students for their ideas and definitions of what it means to be knowledgeable, and was surprised at the variety and depth of their responses.

Initially, Steve from 6B paused before he answered my question sharing, “To be knowledgeable is to know what is required and when to use it. We go on a journey to be knowledgeable through experiences including school and reading independently.” Eli, also in 6B, believes that ‘To be knowledgeable means to know what you need to work on because you can’t be smart without knowing what you need to work on. Being knowledgeable is very important, there is no time when you can’t get more knowledge and it is physically impossible to stop acquiring knowledge.’ 

Roger in Year 7B believes, ‘To be knowledgeable means you think before you act, don’t be impulsive, and know what is right.’ Ellie in 8B said, ‘To be knowledgeable is to be well informed of your surroundings and what’s happening and having an understanind of it. People become knowledgeable by taking in what is around and not ignoring things. School teaches us to be knowledgeable.’ Elly also in 8B said, “To be knowledgeable is to be confident to go into any topic with an understanding of what is being taught. With age comes wisdom.” Nicolette said, ‘To be knowledgeable is to be skillful and well educated.’

Deacon and James in Year 9B had two ddiferent ideas, Deacon said, ‘To be knoweldgeable means you are smart and know lots of stuff about many different topics.’ and James said, ‘To be knowledgeable means to take credit for the topic and subjects that they learn about and you care about more things than others. Different people have different preferences so will remember knowledge about some topics and not others.’

Finally, Loiuse in 10B believes, ‘To be knowledgeable means to know information for any purpose, the information can be about anything, so that if someone asks you a question about a topic you answer it.’

Some very interesting perspectives from students. In conclusion, through sharing a love of learning we can ensure that all members of the OG community can acquire new knowledge, share knowledge and celebrate knowledge to make the world a more tolerant and compassionate place.