Lincoln High students are gaining global wisdom from a class that prepares them for their futures in the International Baccalaureate program.

Dozens of Links are learning about history, psychology and English language arts topics in their World Experiences (WEX) classroom. The course combines honors-level social studies and English concepts into two full periods of daily discussions and activities. Most sophomores who take WEX lessons participate in the IB diploma program during their remaining two years of high school.

Hazel said she has enjoyed studying ideas such as cognitive load, social identity theory and the three types of socialization this fall. She said it has challenged her to embrace her critical thinking and analytical skills.

“I really like how much we discuss things and how in-depth we go with all of the topics,” Hazel said. “It’s very interesting.”

The class has also left a major mark on older Links who are now immersed in the focus program. Lia, a junior, and Lily, a senior, both said WEX was an important milestone on their academic highways.

“I think it was interesting because it made me think in IB ways,” Lia said. “It made me connect all of these concepts together. IB is really focused on how concepts work together, so that was cool to already have that base from WEX.”

“I really enjoy history, and I think WEX pushed me to become even more interested in anthropology, which is what I’m thinking of pursuing in college,” Lily said. “I enjoy learning about different cultures and people, and we did a lot of that in WEX.”

Co-teachers Carolynn Goodwin and Laurel Maslowski said they want to give students educational tools they can use to dig deeper into all of their assignments. This helps the Links begin to form their own academic strategies and identities, which will benefit them in every future classroom they walk into.

“From the very beginning, we wanted this class to be transformative, so that students would grow not just in content knowledge, but grow as individuals,” Goodwin said. “We want them to understand multiple perspectives about the world.”

Goodwin and retired Lincoln Public Schools teacher Shaunna Meyer co-founded WEX in the 2000-01 school year. Both later played key roles in helping Lincoln High become an International Baccalaureate World School in 2008. The WEX curriculum dovetailed with the mission of the IB program, which is to develop inquiring and caring young people who help create a better and more peaceful world in preparation for future postsecondary success.

One of WEX’s top goals is to help everyone acquire and develop the IB program’s ten learner profile traits. Maslowski and Goodwin want them to become inquirers, knowledgeable, thinkers, communicators, principled, open-minded, caring, risk-takers, balanced and reflective.

To accomplish this, both teachers choose literature, psychology and history lessons that overlap throughout the school year. This encourages students to examine how those topics relate in both small-scale and large-scale ways. It also trains them to drill beyond the surface of subjects to reach the bedrock of connection and self-reflection.

Lia felt her yearlong WEX experience helped her do exactly that.

“It was really cool to read a novel and then connect it with something I was learning in psychology or something I was learning in history,” Lia said. “It was cool to know that the psychology concepts helped you to understand a character’s actions in a book.”

“When we read our books, we’ll often put it in the greater historical context,” Maslowski said. “We study human behavior to understand the motivation of characters in the books we read, but also in the characters of our historical past, because they are the human experience.”

The class also aims to strengthen bonds among students. In one morning session, Goodwin and Maslowski split the class into 11 small groups for a project about the differences between dialogue and debate. The sophomores took what they had previously learned about the two subjects and created posters together. They polished their teamwork talents by deciding which words and images to use for their assignment.

“I think putting us into groups helped me make more connections with other people in general,” Lily said. “I got to talk with people I might not have been friends with at the beginning, so I got out of my comfort zone.”

“That is a big thing for us,” Goodwin said. “One of their tasks is to see connections between various texts and concepts, but also to begin to make interpersonal connections. They start to identify where they are and form an appreciation for each other.”

Maslowski and Goodwin said they are grateful to teach subjects they are passionate about every day. Lia said their enthusiasm motivated everyone to soak in as much WEX wisdom as they could. She felt that gave her an essential head start on her current IB pathway.

“This class prepared me for that more complex way of thinking,” Lia said. “It’s been helpful because now I know how to connect dots and how to ask questions.”

Choose your journey with the International Baccalaureate Program! Explore how IB prepares students for college and university learning.

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