Reflections

What are the FIVE STAGES of CAS?

Investigation: Students identify their skills, interests, goals when considering CAS experiences. Students investigate what they want to do, what the purpose will be and if a service activity - who will be served.
Preparation: Students clarify roles/responsibilities, develop a plan of action, identify resources, consider a timeline and finally, acquire skills needed for engagement.
Action: Students implement a plan as individuals or groups requiring problem-solving and decision-making.
Reflection: Students describe events, feelings, ideas and raise significant questions. Reflection occurs any time within an activity to address growth, accomplishments, learning outcomes, new actions and personal awareness.
Demonstration: Students make explicit what/how they have learned/accomplished through the CAS portfolio, interviews and informal moments that allow for demonstration/communication.

What do these stages do for students?

allow for increased self-awareness/learning about learning
allow for exploration of new/unfamiliar experiences
allow for varied learning styles
allow for communication, collaboration development
allow for personal growth/attainment of attributes on the IB learner profile

Here is an excellent diagram of the five stages from the DP CAS Guide:

BEFORE:

Guiding questions helping the student to determine whether or not an intended experience qualifies as CAS. Describe the content and the planned duration of the experience and then answer the following:

Is the experience a new role for me?
Is it a real task that I am going to undertake?
Does it have real consequences for other people and for me?
What do I hope to learn from getting involved?
How can this activity benefit other people?
What can I reflect on during this activity?
Do I have a supervisor (on site) with a proper email/cell phone number/contact info carefully entered into Managebac?
If it is a continuation of an old experience: what new goals do I hope to reach? Have I hit the Learning Outcomes/which ones?
Will the experience be enjoyable?
Does the experience allow for development of personal interests, skills, talents?
What new possibilities could the experience provide?
Which CAS learning outcomes may be addressed?
What might be the possible consequences of your CAS experience for you, others and the environment?

DURING:

Guiding questions helping you to define, plan, execute and evaluate your CAS experience(s):

What did I do and where did I do it?
What did I learn?
How successful have I been?
What difficulties were encountered and how did I overcome them?
What did I learn about myself?
What did I learn about other people?
What ability, attitudes and values have I developed?
Did anyone help me? With whom have I interacted?
How did this experience benefit other people or institutions?
What would I change if I were to do this again?
How can I apply what I have learned to other situations?
How can this experience benefit you in other areas of the IBDP and beyond?
Did anyone help you during this experience? If so, describe the help given.

AFTER:

Guiding questions for reflections to ensure that you have meaningfully carried-out the CAS Learning Outcomes identified:

Summarize what you did in this experience/project and how you interacted with others.
Explain what you accomplished.
How successful were you in achieving your goals? What difficulties did you encounter and how did you overcome them?
What did you learn about yourself and others through this experience/project? What abilities, attitudes and values have you developed?
What did you do at each stage?
What did you learn from this experience, about yourself, about others, or about academic subjects? (For example: self-confidence, modesty, respect, awareness, responsibility, curiosity, honesty, objectivity, commitment, initiative, determination, new skills and the ability to meet challenges).
What have you gained personally by the experience (personal growth and achievement, awareness of problems you did not know existed, challenges to your values, beliefs, etc.)
How did this experience benefit other people or institutions?

Tips for Reflections: Items to Ponder & Include in Your Evidence

Evidence of personal planning & organization
Evidence of personal effort & commitment
Evidence of personal development/achievement
Evidence of personal interaction with others
Evidence of personal understanding of one’s abilities, attitudes, values
Evidence of how one can personally help others
Evidence of how one can personally apply learning (recently gained) to other life situations
Evidence of how of personal growth at different intervals within a single activity (middle & end for at least one CAS experience)

Reflection allows students to:

deepen learning/consider relevance of experience
explore values/apply knowledge/express feelings
identify strengths for development/understand others/self better
generate ideas/questions/feedback
develop habits of thoughtful/reflective practice
create means for self-knowing, learning, decision-making

Forms of reflection include:

journal entries, photos, blogs, videos, creative writing, a letter, a comic strip, art work

Reflections & Supervisor Reviews MUST be updated in Managebac within 2 weeks of finishing a CAS Experience

You must reflect on each learning outcome once and give substantial evidence.
For longer experiences, you should reflect at least once a week on one of the learning outcomes. For example, if your learning experience is 4 months, then you should have 12-16 reflections in total plus substantial evidence.

Reflect on your IB Learner Profile during your experiences.

Page updated

Report abuse