How International Students Use Their IB World-class Education to Make a Sustainable Difference in Kazakhstan

Jeffery Smith, Head of Secondary School at Kazakhstan International School (KIS) sat down with World Monitor to discuss how their international students are using their educational experience to help bring sustainable solutions and make a positive difference. How did the idea to work with Kolsai ...

How did the idea to work with Kolsai Lakes National Park come about? Why did you choose to pursue this?

“A number of years ago, my wife and I traveled to Kolsai Lakes National Park and we ended up meeting the then park superintendent. When he found out we were with Kazakhstan International School he was very interested in talking to us about the school and the types of projects we had going on. After a lengthy and vibrant discussion, we agreed that establishing some form of partnership would be beneficial for both parties, as the park could directly benefit from our efforts and our students here at KIS could have the opportunity to be involved in projects with real-world impacts.

“This led to discussions about the different projects we might collaborate on, and beehives and bee conservation became our focus at that time. We then thought about having our students look into building beehives and eventually installing them in the park.

“Because we are an IB Middle Years School, all our grade levels are required to complete interdisciplinary units. So, as we talked about the project more and more we recognized that it was a perfect opportunity for us to establish an interdisciplinary project for our grade 9 students involving the subjects of design and science for the building of beehives and the ecology aspects. We also thought about the future potential to include individuals and communities to begin looking at the economic impact of beekeeping and honey production and so on.

“In reality this project has been in active planning and discussion over a couple of years, and we are really excited to have sent our grade 9s out to the park to push this project along.”

Ronit, a grade 9 student at KIS, also spoke to World Monitor and gave his perspective on how the students worked on this project.

What was the biggest challenge when building the beehives that you had to overcome?

“Personally, I would say that the biggest challenge in building the beehives was understanding the weight requirements of the components. We needed to build something that would get heavier over time as more honey was created by the bees.

“The creation of the handles was especially challenging. The supers (where the honey is created and held) get extremely heavy when they are filled with honey and that makes it extremely challenging for the beekeepers to lift those supers up. I ended up needing to create the concept idea for the handles entirely by myself, because there were no written guidelines on how to make them. And when I was cutting the wood, I had to cut it at a specific angle, and I thought it might end up breaking our machinery. Thankfully nothing broke, and I was able to create the handles properly.”

World Monitor also talked with KIS teacher Patrick OConnor who teaches secondary IB biology and science.

What is the educational aspect of this project? How is the learning interdisciplinary – how are core subjects of learning incorporated or impacted?

“As the 9th grade MYP science teacher, I was able to collaborate with the design class, and we were able to make a focus on bee conservation, ecology, and then the creation and design of beehive boxes. With the science information that was given to our students along with the research they did to understand the unfortunate decline of bee populations as well as learn about the design and creation of their own beehive boxes, I think students were in a great position to understand how education and their own work can contribute to the possibility of solving, in their own small way, these real world problems.

“Furthermore, students were able to use their skills in communication and teamwork in the real world, when dealing with the beekeepers and park officials. I think for students this project was a great example of how using what we’ve learned, we can work together with other people with the same mindset, to truly change the world around us.”

World Monitor wrapped up their discussion on this project with some final thoughts from Jeffrey Smith, Head Secondary School at KIS.

This sounds like a really interesting and rewarding project. What is the next plan in regard to the project? Or was this a once-off project?

“The intention when we started this project was that we do want to make this into a long-term, multi-year project. So, the team is already thinking about what we can do differently next year, and the students that are currently in grade 8 will be visiting the park this spring to get an idea of what the project is about; when they start grade 9 next year they will be able to replicate the project, building their own beehives and taking them to the park for installation.

“We really want to further develop a positive relationship with the national park, as beyond the beehive project there are many other projects that we can get into. In speaking to the park superintendent, there are even opportunities to get students involved in trail maintenance and trail upgrades. I also spoke with him about potentially looking at reforestation efforts within the park and basically park upkeep and maintenance.

“There’s lots of potential for us to expand the project beyond beehives, and to truly provide our students with real-world education and opportunities to use their skills for the betterment of their environments. I think it would be fantastic to have this as an ongoing project so that in 10 or 15 years the students who started the project could go back and see the impact of their work.”