“Digital is my motherland. My teachers are trained to guide within it.”
bina is a full-time online primary school offering precision education in a transnational setting.
Programme
Curriculum
A. Standards / Benchmarks
We based the bina programme on the UK standards, US Common Core and International Baccalaureate PYP Standards. We dissected those into micro-credentials, which we use as curricular building blocks for our education programme. We treat those as curricular building blocks of three types:
Skills -"I can" - competency
Knowledge -"I understand" - concept/theme
Disposition -"I exhibit" - character
B. Biggest questions
We explore time, form, function, fit, connection, causation, perspective, responsibility, and reflection. We weave these broad concepts and embed them throughout all units - they are repeated throughout time in bina while the complexity increases.
C. Broad thematic topics
Each bina unit is all about a biome. We take the expansive and transnational categories as the framework through which these questions and standards are interwoven.
Our curriculum gives children ages 4-8 a personalised learning experience that is engaging, meaningful and worldly. Our programme integrates data-driven analysis with real-time feedback from teachers. We built it on three main pillars:
Methodology
Live classes that are teacher-led collaborative group activities that expand children's horizons.
Haptic exercises include hands-on and tactile activities to keep kids engaged and practice fine motor skills.
Digital activities involve leading 3rd-party apps that bring a new dimension to children's learning.
Self-guided learning activities build on live classes and allow students to follow their passions and curiosity around themes and topics.
Learning at bina is mobile, agile, theme and inquiry based. We offer four activities that balance live/synchronous and teacher-led and asynchronous independent/home support.
Assessment
We use micro-credentials to detail what the learners know, can do and to what depth. We match our findings to specific developmental stages to tailor learning paths accurately. Assessment in bina occurs in various ways, including teacher/guide observations, skill-based games, tasks, assignments, project-based continua and personal guided reflections, amongst many other forms of assessment.
We understand the level of skills on a micro-scale: we collect learning evidence to prove each point based on standards. We comprehend the learners' knowledge on a macro, continua scale. We crafted with ongoing observation and review. We apprehend the students' dispositions on a micro and macro scale (as above).
How bina educators relate to learners
Language - We are all equal humans. Some of us have just been around longer and thus have different responsibilities. We use personable and warm language. We all respect each other multi-directionally.
Approach - We understand personalities, identities and mindsets as evolving continua. We discuss observations about actions and offer actionable feedback.
Intention - We guide students with impartial observations and support their reflections. We, the learners (both young and not so young), recognise our preferences and identifications and observe our reactions.
Schedule example
Zoom session 1
8.00 - 8.20
Phonics & Reading
8.25 - 8.45
Break
10.10 - 10.25
Zoom session 2
8.50 - 9.10
Break
9.10 - 9.45
Maths on Seesaw
9.25 - 9.45
Zoom session 3
9.50 - 10.10
Zoom session 4
10.25 - 11.00
Lunch break
11.00 - 12.00
Independent work
13.45 - 14.45
Zoom session 5
12.00 - 12.45
Break
12.45 - 13.00
Playground
13.00 - 13.30
Break
13.30 - 13.45