Personal Project
The MYP culminates in the personal project for students in MYP year 5. The personal project is a student-centred and age-appropriate practical exploration in which students consolidate their learning throughout the programme. This long-term project is designed as an independent learning experience of approximately 25 hours.
The personal project formally assesses students’ ATL skills for self-management, research, communication, critical and creative thinking, and collaboration. The personal project encourages students to practise and strengthen their ATL skills, to connect classroom learning engagements with personal experience, and to develop their own interests for lifelong learning.
The aims of the MYP projects are to encourage and enable students to:
● participate in a sustained, self-directed inquiry within a global context
● generate creative new insights and develop deeper understandings through in-depth investigation
● demonstrate the skills, attitudes and knowledge required to complete a project over an extended period of time
● communicate effectively in a variety of situations
● demonstrate responsible action through, or as a result of, learning
● appreciate the process of learning and take pride in their accomplishments.
Project Components:
Students address personal project objectives through:
● the process they follow
● the product or outcome they create
● the report or presentation they make that explains what they have done and learned.
Assessment Criteria
Each personal project objective corresponds to one of four equally weighted assessment criteria. Each criterion has eight possible achievement levels (1–8), divided into four bands with unique descriptors that teachers use to make judgments about students’ work.
Criterion A: Investigating
Criterion B: Planning
Criterion C: Taking action
Criterion D: Reflecting
Each student has a personal project supervisor who provides guidance and formative feedback. Projects are assessed by their supervisors against these published criteria, and schools conduct internal standardization to ensure consistent understanding of the criteria and student performance.
The external validation of personal project grades is mandatory for all MYP schools ending in year 5. In each exam session, the IB moderates a sample of personal projects from each school, adjusting grades as necessary to ensure the application of rigorous and reliable international standards.
Lifted from: MYP: Personal Project Guide, 2015