Name the subjects that share the next interdisciplinary unit.
Try this in your school
Next 4 weeks
- Pick one shared conceptual question that two subject groups can both answer.
- Plan one shared summative task, assessed with the IDU assessment criteria.
- Give the teachers one 45-minute joint planning slot, and use the IDU planner.
What success looks like
One piece of student work answers that question from both subjects and is marked with the IDU assessment criteria.
Why the research says this
Boix Mansilla treats interdisciplinary understanding as integration on a shared question, not two parallel products.
Support for your coordinators
IB guide: MYP: From principles into practice, Planning for interdisciplinary learning
Research: Veronica Boix Mansilla, Harvard Project Zero, interdisciplinary understanding.
A question for the teacher meeting: How will this shared question be visible in one task, not in two separate lessons?
What does the research say?
Interdisciplinary unit calendar
Coherent instructional programmes align frameworks, materials, assessment, and professional learning instead of adding disconnected initiatives.
Implementation is a staged, contextual process requiring exploration, preparation, delivery, and sustainment, not a one-time launch.
Questions to consider in your context
- What agreed planning practice should now be visible across subject teams?
- What evidence shows the written plans are being enacted in teaching, not merely completed?
- What do student work or student experience indicate about coherence, challenge and use of MYP concepts?
Status history
Created · Marco Ellison · 15 Sep 2026