CAS Stages

Summary

  • The CAS stages help students to plan and do their CAS experiences and projects.

  • The CAS stages are required in initiating, planning, and implementing your CAS project.

  • These stages lead to more ethically conscious engagement with CAS experiences and projects.

  • The CAS stages provide the framework for students to undertake CAS experiences and projects in a meaningful way through their passion and commitment paving the way to achieve the common goals.

The Five CAS Stages

A 'single CAS experience' usually means participating in a one-off event. You 'walk in' either as someone with relevant experiences in the event or as a new comer, willing to try your hand at something novel.

A 'series of CAS experiences' can be understood as your cumulative participation in clubs, teams, membership in a selected society, etc. during the expected duration of time in ISKL's HS co-curricular activities (e.g. one season for competitive Athletics, one semester for non-IB elective courses, one academic year for most clubs, etc.). The key idea here is that you are focusing on your individual and collective development and growth through your long-term commitment to your chosen CAS experiences. In the process, it is hoped that you further advance in developing different kinds of skills and knowledge related to your participation and practice, contributing to your group's mission and goals as well as your personal goals.

CAS projects are shown as 'collaborative series of CAS experiences'. Learn more about this in the 'CAS Project' section of this website.

*See the document here for more detailed information.

*Source: IB CAS guide for students graduating in 2017 and after.

So, what good do the CAS stages serve? They provide you with the tools and mindset when engaging with your CAS experiences to make them more purposeful and meaningful. They also help you to become more empathic and aware of the possible ethical implications in what you think is the 'right' thing to do. This is the reflection stage, which actually flows throughout the other stages. The five CAS stages are:

  1. Investigation: a) Personal inventory. Students identify their interests, skills and talents to contribute to a particular purpose or cause. It is useful to know your strengths and areas for growth; b) Assessing the situation. In order to ensure that your ideas are realistic and respecting the actual needs of individuals, the natural environment, etc. you need to investigate them through some holistic research methods as MISO (media, interview, survey and observation).

  2. Preparation: If working in a group, name and assign roles and responsibilities to each member in order to develop a feasible and purposeful plan of actions. This also requires all of you to explore and identify the specific timeline, mode of delivery, resources, etc.

  3. Action: Implement the plan of action with collaborators. Communication with one another is essential in the process.

  4. Reflection: Throughout your goal achievement process, individually and with others discuss what you have been doing, what happened along the way, what your feelings are telling you about your progress, and raise critical questions to evaluate your work and how it is benefiting the others or the environment. Record these and any new insights in your CAS portfolio to inform your next course of action.

  5. Demonstration: Share your process and outcome with others through presentations, video clips, displays, etc. These can evoke response from others, which will help you evaluate your goal achievement and its outcomes more objectively.