What MAP Students Study

Humanities Philosophy
At MAP, the Humanities invite students to wrestle with the central question: What does it mean to be human in a particular place and time? Grounded in Maria Montessori’s belief in the moral arc of human progress, our approach emphasizes both the achievements and struggles of societies, encouraging students to see themselves as participants in an ongoing human story.

Humanities at MAP are intentionally broad, drawing on literature, history, geography, and the social sciences to help students explore identity, community, justice, and cooperation. Students study primary sources and first-hand accounts alongside literature, art, and cultural expressions, gaining perspective on the interconnectedness of human experience. As they grow, they build skills in reading, writing, discussion, and research, while developing empathy and a sense of responsibility as citizens of both local and global communities.

In Grades 7–10, Language & Literature and History are taught together in a unified Humanities strand. This integrated approach allows students to read and write in dialogue with the historical periods they are studying, making connections across disciplines. By Grades 11–12, the two strands diverge into the IB programs of study: Language & Literature and Social & Cultural Anthropology. Both provide rigorous academic preparation while also challenging students to examine how meaning is made and how humans live together in society.

Domain Philosophy
Language & Literature at MAP gives students the tools to interpret, craft, and respond to ideas in nuanced and powerful ways. Through close reading, discussion, and writing, students develop their ability to think critically about texts and to express themselves with clarity and purpose. Literature becomes both a mirror for reflecting their own experiences and a window into lives and perspectives far removed from their own.

Approaches to Teaching & Learning
In the integrated Humanities program (Grades 7–10), Language & Literature is woven into historical study, pairing works of fiction, nonfiction, drama, and poetry with the eras students are exploring in History. Socratic seminars, writing workshops, and collaborative projects encourage students to connect literature to broader social, cultural, and philosophical themes.

In Upper High School, students engage with the IB Language & Literature curriculum, exploring a diverse range of texts from multiple genres, cultures, and time periods. They refine skills in literary analysis, argumentation, and oral communication through IB assessments such as the Individual Oral and analytical essays.

How It Grows With Students

In Grades 7–10, Language & Literature is closely integrated with History in MAP’s Humanities strand. Students engage deeply with texts that help them answer the question, What was it like to be human at a particular place and time? They read literature alongside primary sources and historical accounts, which allows them to explore perspective, context, and the complexity of human experience. Writing assignments and seminar discussions develop both analytical and creative skills, as students learn to articulate their own ideas while also building empathy through the voices of others.

By Grades 11–12, Language & Literature becomes its own dedicated course aligned with the IB curriculum. Students encounter works from a range of genres, media, and cultural contexts, studying both classics and contemporary texts. They refine close-reading and critical-writing skills through IB assessments such as the individual oral, comparative essays, and text analyses. This work pushes them to grapple with how meaning is constructed in language and how literature reflects and shapes human identity, preparing them for advanced reading, writing, and discussion in college and beyond.

Domain Philosophy
Individuals & Societies at MAP asks students to investigate how humans organize themselves, make meaning, and interact with one another across time and place. Through history, anthropology, and cultural studies, students learn to analyze patterns, examine causes and effects, and challenge their own assumptions about culture and society.

Approaches to Teaching & Learning
In Grades 7–10, Individuals & Societies is taught in fusion with Language & Literature as part of the integrated Humanities program. Students explore ancient civilizations, the emergence of modern societies, and U.S. and world history through primary sources and case studies, with an emphasis on geography, trade, and cultural exchange.

In Grades 11–12, students take IB Social & Cultural Anthropology (SCA), applying ethnography and anthropological theory to examine contemporary issues. They conduct original fieldwork, study ethics and research methods, analyze concepts such as power and identity, and connect their learning to real-world contexts.

How It Grows With Students

In Grades 7–10, History anchors the Individuals & Societies strand, interwoven with Language & Literature in the Humanities program. Students explore world and U.S. history through themes such as trade, enlightenment, and industrialization, connecting these movements to geography, economics, and culture. Emphasis is placed on understanding multiple perspectives, interpreting primary sources, and recognizing both the struggles and the progress of human societies over time. This approach nurtures adolescents’ growing sense of justice and their desire to see themselves as active participants in history, not just observers.

In Grades 11–12, students transition to IB Social & Cultural Anthropology (SCA), which builds on their historical foundation while offering new tools for examining contemporary societies. They study ethnographies, engage with anthropological theory, and consider concepts such as power, identity, and globalization. Students conduct their own fieldwork and apply research methods and ethics to real-world questions, developing the analytical skills to interpret culture and society through an anthropological lens. The IB framework emphasizes reflection, comparison, and synthesis, preparing students to think critically about the systems and communities they inhabit and to carry these insights into higher education and civic life.

Domain Philosophy
Science at MAP trains students to look at questions through a scientific lens and to make sense of quantitative and qualitative data. The goal is for students to take what they uncover through science and turn it into useful questions, ideas, and actions in the world.

Approaches to Teaching & Learning
Across all levels, students build skills in designing experiments, running labs, and explaining scientific ideas clearly in writing and discussion. Guides encourage them to test, question, and communicate what they find, both in the lab and out in the field. Outdoor exploration, field studies, and connections to local ecosystems help students see how science lives beyond the classroom. Mastery shows up in many forms including lab reports, Assertion-Evidence presentations, project work, reflections, and hands-on assessments that ask students to apply what they know, not just repeat it.

How It Grows With Students
Science learning at MAP spirals in depth and challenge as students grow. In grades 7 and 8, the focus is on the scientific method, measurement, data analysis, and design thinking. In grades 9 and 10, integrated science courses cover key ideas in chemistry, physics, biology, and ecology — exploring where matter, life, and energy come from and how they connect. In Upper High School, students take IB Biology, building advanced lab skills, a clearer sense of how science shapes the world, and the research habits they’ll carry into college and beyond.

Domain Philosophy
The role of mathematics at MAP is two-fold. At its most fundamental, math education supports students in collecting and analyzing real data — a key part of building genuine mathematical literacy. This foundation opens the door to studying math as a branch of science in its own right, encouraging students to see how numbers, patterns, and logic shape the world around them.

Approaches to Teaching & Learning
Students lead with exploration and curiosity. Guides follow with lessons that match where each learner is, conceptually and developmentally. Practice and feedback reinforce skills through authentic assessment and project work. Hands-on materials such as matching cards, peg boards, and graphing tools support students as they test ideas and communicate what they discover. Seminar discussions, data collection, and real-world applications keep math connected to the questions that matter most to adolescents.

How It Grows With Students
Math at MAP is intentionally interwoven across multiple branches, rather than split into rigid courses. Students earn credit in Algebra I and II, Geometry and Trigonometry, Statistics and Probability, Functions, and, when ready, Calculus. Cohorts move through a balanced sequence: Algebra in the fall, Geometry in winter, Statistics and Probability in spring, with a return to Algebra concepts before year’s end.

As they progress from Middle to Upper High School, students deepen both the content and tools they use. Younger adolescents focus on tracking and recording information, testing hypotheses, using basic tools like scientific calculators and compasses, and learning to explain their thinking clearly in writing and discussion. Older adolescents build on this foundation through more advanced functions, technology, inductive reasoning, and original questions that stretch them to think beyond what they already know. Upper High School students pursue IB Mathematics coursework in Analysis & Approaches or Applications & Interpretation, choosing the path that best matches their interests and goals. By graduation, they leave with real skills to solve problems wherever they go next.

Domain Philosophy
Learning another language opens the door to new ways of seeing the world, and oneself in it. Studying a new language brings students into contact with cultures, perspectives, and ways of thinking they might never have discovered otherwise. It’s a chance to build empathy, question assumptions, and connect more deeply with ideas and people far beyond their immediate community—a core part of what it means to be globally minded at MAP and in the IB.

Approaches to Teaching & Learning
Language Acquisition Guides create a space where students feel at ease using a new language, mistakes and all. Practice happens through speaking, reading, writing, and myriad cultural experiences from calligraphy to karaoke to tea ceremony. Native speakers, immersive resources, and everyday conversation keep learning practical and alive.

More broadly, MAP students also learn how to learn a language: how to find resources, decode new material, and stay curious when the work feels hard or unfamiliar. This meta-learning builds confidence they can carry into other contexts and into any new challenge they take on.

How It Grows With Students
Language learning at MAP is personal by design. Students come in with different goals, starting points, and interests, and they grow through steady practice and trust in the process. High school students study Spanish or Mandarin under the guidance of our passionate educators. Students may also choose to deepen or broaden their skills through dual-enrollment or independent study in other languages that match their interests.

Mixed-age groups create natural opportunities to learn from and teach each other, in line with Montessori principles. Technology and our Language Lab support authentic practice, whether that means reading a story, exploring Minecraft in Chinese, or using VR for conversation. By Upper High School, students build the listening, reading, speaking, and writing habits they need for IB Language Acquisition assessments and, more importantly, they leave better prepared to engage with the wider world in more than one language.

Domain Philosophy
The Arts at MAP give students more than a creative outlet, they offer a disciplined space for expression, experimentation, and reflection. Whether through Music or Visual Arts, students learn to explore ideas, tell stories, and communicate in ways words cannot capture. In keeping with Montessori principles and the IB’s Group 6 aims, the program helps students understand the arts as dynamic and ever-changing, shaped by time, place, and culture.

Approaches to Teaching & Learning
Art at MAP is hands-on from the start. In Grades 7–9, students engage with the arts through Expressions electives, workshops, and collaborative projects. These early experiences build both skills and comfort in creative expression while encouraging students to see themselves as artists and musicians in their own right. In Grade 10, students begin more regular, structured work in visual arts and music, strengthening technical skills, expanding their creative vocabulary, and developing habits that support sustained artistic practice.

Guides encourage exploration across mediums and styles, from traditional techniques to contemporary approaches. In Music, students work with a mix of theory, composition, performance, and listening, while Visual Arts students explore two-dimensional, three-dimensional, and time-based media. Reflection, critique, and connection to cultural and historical contexts are woven throughout.

How It Grows With Students
By Grades 11–12, students choose to pursue either IB Visual Arts or IB Music, each aligned with the Diploma Programme curriculum. In Visual Arts, students investigate art-making across cultures and eras, develop a personal visual language, and build a portfolio that reflects both technical skill and conceptual depth. In Music, students combine performance, composition, and musical analysis, learning to connect their own work to the diverse traditions and innovations of the musical world.

Learning in the arts at MAP extends well beyond the walls of the classroom. Our location in the Grand Center Arts District gives students direct access to neighborhood partners such as the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, Kranzberg Arts Foundation, and the Sheldon Concert Hall. Our MAP Gallery 3840 showcases student and community artwork in a professional setting, while our MAP Music Lab offers spaces for instruction, rehearsal, and collaboration. 

Domain Philosophy
Theory of Knowledge (TOK) is a core program of the IB Diploma Programme and a central strand of the MAP 7–12 learning journey. The course invites students to step back from what they know and ask deeper questions about knowledge itself: What is knowledge? How do we know? What counts as evidence? How does evidence shift across different areas of knowledge? Students consider their own role as knowers and explore how culture, perspective, and method shape what we believe to be true.

Approaches to Teaching & Learning
In Middle School, Pre-TOK grounds these questions in concrete, relevant contexts such as how our school should operate, what it means to live a healthy life, or how Montessori principles shape our community. Learning is anchored in short readings and Socratic discussions that model active listening, respectful disagreement, and collaborative exploration of ideas.

As students move into High School and toward the formal IB Theory of Knowledge course, discussions move from specific contexts to more abstract and theoretical ones: the ways we acquire knowledge, the contradictions between them, the nature of happiness, the limits of faith, or the role of reason and emotion in human understanding.

Across all levels, students engage with rigorous reading, discussion, and reflection, supplemented by written assessments and presentations. More experienced students are expected to model civil discourse for their younger peers, setting a tone of inquiry, respect, and intellectual courage.

How It Grows With Students
Pre-TOK builds the habits of questioning and conversation that make the Theory of Knowledge course both accessible and engaging. By graduation, students leave with sharper critical thinking skills, a deeper awareness of how knowledge is constructed, and the ability to navigate complexity with clarity — qualities that serve them in university, in the workplace, and in their communities.