Embedded Files
Service as Action
IB learners strive to be caring members of the community who demonstrate a personal commitment to service, and act to make a positive difference to the lives of others and to the environment. IB World Schools value service with others as an important way to engage in principled action across a range of overlapping local and global communities. Through responsible action, tightly connected with sustained inquiry and critical reflection, young people and adults can develop the kinds of attributes described by the learner profile that are essential for success in future academic pursuits and for adult life.
As students become more aware and acquire a better understanding of the context, and of their responsibilities, they become empowered to make choices about how to take thoughtful and positive action. This action will be different from student to student and from context to context.
The action may involve students in:
feeling empathy towards others,
making small-scale changes to their behaviour,
undertaking larger and more significant projects,
acting on their own,
acting collaboratively,
taking physical action,
suggesting modifications to an existing system to the benefit of all involved,
lobbying people in more influential positions to act.
With appropriate guidance and support, MYP students should, through their engagement with service as action:
become more aware of their own strengths and areas for growth,
undertake challenges that develop new skills,
discuss, evaluate and plan student-initiated activities,
persevere in action,
work collaboratively with others,
develop international-mindedness through global engagement, multilingualism and intercultural understanding,
consider the ethical implications of their actions.
These learning outcomes identify the substance of students’ self-reflection on service as action. All of these learning outcomes are closely associated with IB learner profile attributes and ATL skills. Through their participation in service, students can become more confident, self-regulated learners.
Interdisciplinary Units
In the MYP, interdisciplinary learning supports students to understand bodies of knowledge from two or more disciplines or subject groups, in order to integrate them and create new understanding.
Students demonstrate interdisciplinary understanding when they bring together concepts, methods, or forms of communication from two or more disciplines or established areas of expertise so that they can explain a phenomenon, solve a problem, create a product, or raise a new question in ways that would have been unlikely through a single discipline.
Personal Project
At ISD, the Personal Project in MYP Year 5 is the culminating activity for students. This is similar to the PYP exhibition, but with MYP students demonstrating their understanding of the MYP through a Personal Project. The personal project encourages students to practice and strengthen their ATL skills, to consolidate prior and subject-specific learning, and to develop an area of personal interest. The Personal Project provides an excellent opportunity for students to produce a truly personal and often creative product/outcome and to demonstrate a consolidation of their learning in the MYP. The personal nature of the project is important; the project should revolve around a challenge that motivates and interests the individual student. Each student develops a personal project independently.
Page updated
Report abuse