Exploring Grade 5 Perspectives: Insights into the PYP Exhibition Journey  

The PYP Exhibition (PYPX) is a special event that marks the culmination of the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (IB PYP) journey for Grade 5 students. It provides them with an opportunity to showcase their learning, skills, and interests through an in-depth inquiry into real-world issues. As the PYPX is a unique and significant milestone in their academic journey, we held interviews with all Grade 5 students to gain insights into their exhibition experiences and progress.

Q1: What inspired you to choose this particular topic for your exhibition?
S: I chose it because I also have ADHD, and I wanted to know more about it. I thought I could explain to people about what ADHD is. ADHD doesn’t play a big role and not everyone knows about it.
E: My topic is about Down syndrome. I chose it because my little sister has it, and I want to inform other people about it.
M: My topic is about reading and writing. I chose this topic because I found it interesting that so many kids at school don’t read and write so much.
K/M/R: The main reason why I [R] took this topic, literacy, is because it’s something I like. I started with it with 3 years. I like action and drama, and I could read and write at the age of 3. I got trained at home. I [M] chose this topic because I found it interesting that so many kids at school don’t read and write so much.
M: It inspired me because half of my life I started with sports, and it was one of the most important things what I have right now. I knew I wanted to choose it. Basically, I work out every day. Hopefully, one day I can compete in the sport I would like to and hopefully win something. I want to show people how nice exercising could be.
P: I love fashion, and I wanted to make it myself and I put some makeup and had some allergies on my face, so I chose makeup for my exhibition

Q2: Can you tell me about one surprising thing you’ve discovered during your research?
S: ADHD has really good things, actually more good things than bad things. A good thing would be that they have a lot of creativity and can feel how other people feel.
E: There are many famous people with it {Down syndrome]. Some of them are actors or models.
K/M/R: One surprising thing is that 750 million adults and 250 million kids can’t read and write. This is almost the population of Europe. We did a survey and found out in grade 1 not many kids read or write at home so much. That was really surprising because usually, kids practice at home to improve.
M: It was like how big is mental health. It has a really big impact on your physical health. You also have to have a good mindset to be physically fit. Even big athletes say that.
P: It surprised me that humans are comfortable about wearing makeup; it makes them feel confident. It’s like a standard for social events. It shocked me that they put everything on animals to test it, makeup, foundation, and everything, It’s part of my action to create makeup. They can do it by themselves, and I can help them.

Q3: What challenges have you faced during your preparation, and how have you overcome them?
S: I had some problems with researching. I had some help from Ms Jessee, my mom, and Elisabeth. They tried to help me on the internet
E: I also had problems to research, and I had some help from Sophia, Ms Jessee, my mom, and Sophia, and our mentor, Ms Eszter. Our mentor is helping us for getting more information. We see them once a week so that they know what we have done so far.
K/M/R: We faced a kind of problem, we were just thinking of our action plan and we were thinking about making a book about literacy. We didn’t have time so we decided to make a video. Editing the video was not easy, we had to review it many times but in the end, it got quite good. It were not so many challenges because we were working together in a group. You can help each other and it is much easier.
M: Time management was a challenge and it was a lot of pressure. You are always not sure if they’re gonna like it. I did a training session with grade 6 with a warm-up and a cool down. With different movements and the cool down was some stretching. Before, I was talking about warm-up. It was a challenge because of the planning of the session. Make sure everything works perfectly and exercise, and I was super excited. I overcame it by doing it, and then I was asking myself why was I so excited before.
P: It is so hard to do the action. It took me like two days to do it. My interview days were so hard because I was doing two people, and it was a bit hard to reach them in India. I just stayed persistent.

Q4: What do you hope people will take away from your exhibition after they’ve seen it?
S: That they learn more about ADHD, that it doesn’t matter how someone looks, and that what matters is what is inside
E: That they learn that it doesn’t matter how people look and that every person is special, and that every person does what they want to do.
K/M/R: They could learn new strategies to improve their literacy skills. I [R] just want them to understand that literacy is important in their life. They think reading a few pages is enough. If they understand that so many people and kids can’t read or write, they can take action for themselves to succeed, and then they know how to take action for others.
M: I hope that people like to exercise. I did a survey which was pretty good. 60 percent like to exercise, and I want to get the other people to like it, to do exercises and find out what the benefits are.
P: I hope they feel like that they read the labels and will buy something natural and healthy for their skin.