CAS

Creativity- Activity- Service 

West Charlotte High School

 2024-2025 

What is CAS:  Creativity, Activity, Service 

CAS and is an IB Core requirement of the IB Diploma Program. 

In order to earn an IB Diploma, students are required to complete 3 service activities their junior year and 3 service activities and the CAS project their senior year, evenly split between Creativity, Activity, and Service. 

• Creativity – Innovative ideas and experiences that involve creative thinking.

• Activity – Physical exertion contributing to a safe/ healthy lifestyle, complementing academic work elsewhere in the DP.

• Service – An unpaid and voluntary exchange that has a learning benefit for the student. 

What are some examples of projects I can use as CAS:

• Students are encouraged to identify a need in the community, plan a solution, and involve others in implementing the solution. 

• Examples: Podcasts, 

What is the Purpose of Cas and how will it benefit me:

The IB Diploma is a challenging academic programme. However, students whose skills are just limited to academic studies are not that competitive to universities or employers.  While studying increases your knowledge, it is Action and Service that changes the world. CAS is your opportunity to really apply the IB Learner Profile attributes and your academic knowledge to real world learning experiences. CAS will enable you to add creativity, innovation, collaboration with others, increased knowledge, engagement, caring and problem solving to your academic resume, scholarship applications and college admission essays. 

The best part is, you have the freedom to choose activities ! However, every CAS Activity must be ethical, safe, and approved by the IB Coordinator. CAS Activities can be a combination of a variety of different experiences,things you already participate in, new experiences of interest, and projects that are creative. Unfortunately, job duties students are paid for by an employer do not qualify as CAS Experiences.

Hours and Quantity Requirements:

There is not an hours requirement for CAS.  Students are assessed on the balance between the learning outcomes achieved by the variety of CAS Activities completed. As an aim to enable students to create balance between CAS Activities, the IB/CAS coordinator verifies students have completed at least three CAS Activities the year 1 junior year and three CAS Activities the year 2 senior year. 

How are students Assessed on CAS?

CAS is not academic work and so it is assessed differently to the other components of the IB Diploma.  Students are not eligible for the IB Diploma  without  meeting and completing the CAS requirements.

There are seven learning outcomes that you need to show you have met at some point during your CAS programme.

Seven learning outcomes are:

1. Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth

2. Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process

3. Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience

4. Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences

5. Demonstrate skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively

6. Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance

7. Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions

Evidence and reflections in your CAS portfolio are one way you can demonstrate that you have met the learning outcomes. ManageBac tracks this for you. You can also show that you have achieved them in the interviews with your CAS Advisor or Coordinator.

They all have equal importance. You have to show that you have achieved all of them at least once, although you are likely to achieve them multiple times. You shouldn’t feel that you have to do everything perfectly - just identify, show, demonstrate or recognize that these are areas of your life. That is how you personally develop and make progress.

During the 2 years in the IB Diploma Program ,you can expect to have three CAS interviews with your CAS Advisor or IB Coordinator.  Completing the  CAS requirement will be evidenced through your portfolio and reflections in managebac: The reflections demonstrate that you have met all of the Learning Outcomes for CAS. When you and your CAS Coordinator are in agreement, you will have succeeded in meeting the requirements of this core element of the IB Diploma.

CAS REFLECTIONS

IB Learner Profile: Reflective

The IB Learner profile aims to develop students who are reflective. Students who are reflective give thoughtful consideration to their own learning and experiences. They are able to assess and understand their strengths and limitations in order to support their learning and personal development.

Writing Reflections: The focus of your reflection should be affective. Being reflective requires moving beyond just giving a commentary of what your experiences and actions were. Talk about how you felt and how the experience will change you in the future.

A useful structure to follow might be:

1. Describe what happened: retell your memorable moments, identify what was important or influential, what went well or was difficult, obstacles and successes.

2. Express feelings: how do you feel about your experiences?

3. Generate ideas: Re-examine the choices you made and actions you took.

4. Ask questions: What questions do you have about people, processes or issues as a result of your experiences?

5. Reflect on which of the Learning Outcomes you think you are achieving, and why.

Reflection Question Examples

1. Briefly describe the CAS activity. 

2. What did you hope to accomplish? 

3.  What was the outcome of the activity? Did you accomplish your goals? 

4. What would you do differently if you did this activity again? 

5. Which of the following learning outcomes have you addressed with this activity? (Choose all that apply.)  

• Increasing your awareness of your own strengths and areas for growth 

• Undertaking new challenges  

• Planning and initiating activities  

• Working collaboratively with others 

•  Showing perseverance and commitment in your activities 

•  Engaging with issues of global importance  Considering the ethical implications of your actions  

• Developing new skills How does the activity address these learning outcomes?

How often should I complete Reflections?

Reflection does not only happen at the end of a process. Stopping to think before, during and after an experience can really add value to it for you.

Evidence vs Reflection

Evidence is different to reflection. Evidence is just information that corroborates that you have done what you are claiming. A photo is evidence; a photo with commentary explaining how you felt about it is reflection.

It is good practice to keep adding evidence and reflections little and often to your CAS Portfolio. However, the quality of your reflection is more important than a number of brief reflections. Don’t let recording your evidence and reflection take away from the value of your experiences: it should add to them. 

How do I submit documentation and evidence of CAS activities ?

• Students are required to fill out reflections via the online ManageBac program, including the verification of the adult supervisor of the activity. 

• For more information about CAS, click the CAS- Service as Action page. CAS Guide in Managbac :

MYP  DP and CP students will log service experiences in Managebac following the directions below:  

1. Create the activity

2. Click on "IB Manager"

3. Click on "SA" (for MYP or CP) or "CAS" (for DP)

4. Click on the blue button that says "Add activity"

5. Enter the information for that activity

2. After you have completed your activity, return to ManageBac and:

   1. Click on the activity you completed

   2. Click on the button that says "Reflections and Evidence"

   3. Complete your reflection. Not sure what to say? There are guiding questions on this page in ManageBac. Remember, each reflection needs to explain how you met at least one service outcome and include not only a description of what you did, but also a reflection on how participating in this activity had an impact on you.

   4. Don't forget to save your changes!