IBET Program Overview

The 9th Grade Integrated Biology, English and Technology Program is comprised of six teams of approximately seventy to eighty students each. Three teachers from each required subject (Biology, English 9 and Principles of Engineering and Technology) are teamed together with a counselor. The curriculum units of each discipline may be re-sequenced to complement the interdisciplinary focus. Approximately 80% of instruction is discipline-specific, with 20% focused on integrated environmental projects. As the school year progresses teachers become facilitators of learning as projects shift from teacher-directed to student-directed.

Each team's three classes are scheduled back to back in a block schedule format, providing teachers and students with the flexibility to manage their time according to the needs of projects, group meetings or frequent field trips. At the heart of this program is the opportunity to forge and nurture community partnerships where students learn about local issues by becoming active partners with community agencies and teachers while conducting authentic research. One example is field work done at Mason Neck National Wildlife Refuge where students are introduced to wetlands ecology and classification in Biology, library research and informational writing and reading in English, and survey methodologies, electronics and materials processing in Technology.