Creativity, Activity and Service (CAS)

What is CAS?

It is one of the three essential elements in every student’s Diploma Programme experience and involves student's involvement in a range of activities alongside their DP academic studies. The three strands of CAS, include:

Creativity: arts, and other experiences that involve creative thinking.

Activity: physical exertion contributing to a healthy lifestyle, complementing academic work elsewhere in the Diploma Programme.

Service: an unpaid and voluntary exchange that has a learning benefit for the student.

Why do CAS?

CAS enables students to enhance their personal and interpersonal development through experiential learning. A good CAS programme should be both challenging and enjoyable, a personal journey of self‑discovery.

For student development to occur, CAS should involve:

• real, purposeful activities, with significant outcomes.

• personal challenge—tasks must extend the student and be achievable in scope.

• thoughtful consideration, such as planning, reviewing progress, reporting.

• reflection on outcomes and personal learning.

CAS activities should continue on a regular basis for as long as possible throughout the programme, and certainly for at least 18 months. Students need to document their activities and provide evidence that they have achieved eight key learning outcomes.

How do I know if CAS is completed?

The completion decision for the school in relation to each student is, simply, “Have these outcomes been achieved?” There should be evidence that students have completed the eight learning outcomes, which include

• Awareness

• New challenges

• Initiative

• Collaboration

• Perseverance and commitment

• Global value and importance

• Ethics

• Developed new skills

All eight outcomes must be present for a student to complete the CAS programme. Emphasis is not on the number of hours but the quality of the CAS activity. Completion of CAS is a requirement for both the IB and ISH diploma (Creativity, Action and Service Guide - IBO 2008).

Elements of reflection

Reflection is a dynamic means for self-knowing, learning and decision-making. Four elements assist in the CAS reflective process. The first two elements form the foundation of reflection.

    • Describing what happened: Students retell their memorable moments, identifying what was important or influential, what went well or was difficult, obstacles and successes.
    • Expressing feelings: Students articulate emotional responses to their experiences.

The following two elements add greater depth and expand perspectives.

    • Generating ideas: Rethinking or re-examining choices and actions increases awareness about self and situations.
    • Asking questions: Questions about people, processes or issues prompt further thinking and ongoing inquiry.

Extending reflection

Students can be encouraged to move forward through deeper questions. For example:

What did I do? could become:

    • Why did I make this particular choice?
    • How did this experience reflect my personal ideas and values?
    • In what ways am I being challenged to think differently about myself and others?

How did I feel? could become:

    • How did I feel about the challenges?
    • What happened that prompted particular feelings?
    • What choices might have resulted in different feelings and outcomes?

Reflection can appear in countless forms. CAS students should be able to identify forms of expression that have personal meaning and best enable them to explore their experiences. For example:

    • A student might take photographs while hiking and use these to reflect in writing.
    • Two students could compose a song describing how they helped children.
    • A student might dramatize a poem to capture a feeling of creative endeavour.
    • A student could produce a short video summarizing a CAS experience.
    • A group of students create a poster highlighting aspects of a shared experience.