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Overview
Overview
The personal project provides an opportunity for students to undertake an independent and age appropriate exploration into an area of personal interest. Through the process of inquiry, action and reflection, students are encouraged to demonstrate and strengthen their ATL skills.
The personal nature of the project is important; the project allows students to explore an area that motivates and interests them. Students choose what they want to focus on, which can be an existing or a new interest, choose how to achieve their goal, and create their own success criteria for the product. The project provides an excellent opportunity for students to produce a truly personal and often creative product and to demonstrate a consolidation of their learning in the MYP.
The personal project consists of a process, a product and a report. Collectively, these interrelated components allow students to meet the aims of the project. Through the process of creating a product, students explore an area that is personally meaningful, take ownership of their learning in a self-directed inquiry, and transfer and apply skills in pursuit of a learning goal and the creation of a product. The product provides a focus for exploring an interest that is personally meaningful, and a basis for recognizing and evidencing personal growth. Finally, preparing the report is an opportunity for students to engage in a structured reflection on the process and the product, allowing them to recognize and evidence their growth and development. While the report is the only component that is assessed, the report reflects both the process and the product.
The aims of the Personal Project (IBO, 2021)
The Process
The Process
The personal project begins at the end of Grade 9 when students are first introduced to an overview of the process. Choosing from areas of personal interest, the students will be guided through a process of selecting both a learning and a product goal, which will form the basis for their personal project.
The personal project takes place in three stages: planning, taking action and reflecting. A clear timeline is set for the students about when each of these stages should be completed and the steps needed to do so.
In the planning stage, students will need to undertake research to understand how best to undertake their project. Students are encouraged to seek a wide variety of sources, including experts. Students also need to develop success criteria for their product. These will be unique to their product and should show the student's understanding of what success looks like. For example, if a student's project is to undertake and exhibit a series of paintings in the impressionist style, the student's success criteria will need to reflect knowledge and understanding of the conventions of impressionist painting, as well as the elements needed for a successful exhibition of artistic work. As well as understanding what success looks like, the student must formulate a clear, detailed plan for achieving their product which makes clear reference to how each of the success criteria will be achieved.
At the stage when the student is applying skills the range of skills is determined by the product. Students are required to document their learning and process with particular reference to the categories of ATL skills, that is communication skills, social skills, thinking skills, research skills and self-management. Evidence such as diagrams, photographs, interviews, video footage, emails, screenshots, notes etc. should all be gathered throughout the process to be used in the final report. Students need to evidence their use of ATL skills both in achieving the learning goal and the product goal.
The third stage of the personal project is reflecting. Here the student's explain the impact of the project on themselves or their learning as well as evaluating the product based on their created success criteria.
The Report
The Report
Students will begin compiling their report in the reflecting stage, once they have completed their product. Guidance and exemplars are provided for the students. The report is the assessed component of the project, entailing that the students document each of the three stages of the process in depth and detail, supported by evidence and explanatory detail.
There is no mandated format for the report and, indeed, students can opt to provide part of the content of their report through a video or voice recording. Regardless of the form, students must directly include, show or describe evidence gathered through the process.
Supervision and Guidance
Supervision and Guidance
Once the students have decided upon their learning and product goal, they are assigned a supervisor. This will be one of the DIS teachers. Students are encouraged to meet regularly with their supervisors who will offer them personalised guidance and support throughout the process, including valuable feedback on their success criteria, timeline and report.
Our Personal Project coordinator, Angela Boreham, provides resources and workshops to students throughout the process to enable them to understand the learning objectives and assessment criteria for the personal project. She manages a website dedicated to the personal project where our students can find all the resources they need to be successful.
Final Assessment and Moderation
Final Assessment and Moderation
Each report is marked by the supervising teacher. In addition to this, we undertake an internal moderation process in which each report is then marked by at least two other supervisor-teachers to ensure accuracy and consistency.
Finally, we upload a randomly generated moderation sample to the IB who employ moderators to mark the sample. We also provide all of the achievement levels that we have awarded. These are known as 'predicted grades'. If the moderator is in agreement with the sample of reports, then all of the predicted grades awarded by DIS are upheld. If, however, the moderator changes the achievement levels of the reports in the sample, this will necessarily change the predicted grades of the other reports. The achievement level that is reported at the end of Semester Two in Grade 10 is the predicted grade. The final grades are received by the school by the IB at the start of August, and students are then notified by email.
References
IBO. Personal Project Guide. International Baccalaureate Organization (UK) Ltd, 2021.
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