Personal Project
Personal Project
The International Baccalaureate (IB) Middle Years Programme (MYP) Personal Project is an in-depth, self-directed piece of work that is completed by students in their final year of the MYP (typically in grade 10). The personal project is an opportunity for students to explore a topic that they are passionate about and to demonstrate their ability to think critically and independently. The project is completed under the guidance of a teacher and is assessed based on a set of criteria established by the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO).
The personal project is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate their learning and understanding in a real-world context. In the personal project, action involves individual choices that extend MYP learning beyond knowledge and understanding to include not only socially responsible attitudes but also thoughtful and appropriate action, initiated and applied by the student as a result of the learning process. The project should be a product, a process, or a service that is meaningful and relevant to the student. The personal project allows students to explore a topic of their own choice and to demonstrate their creativity, problem-solving, and research skills.
The personal project is a requirement for the MYP certification and it allows students to demonstrate their personal growth and their ability to take responsibility for their own learning.
Principled Action
While the principled action in the personal project may not result in a specific form of service to the community, the inquiry process remains the same. Students' learning process in the MYP personal project involves action in a wide range of forms, including:
developing an area of personal interest beyond the subject-specific curriculum
sharing their new understandings with their peers, teachers, and family
changing their behavior in response to their learning and recognizing that they are able to make a difference through the decisions they make and the things they do.
While principled action may not always be clearly or immediately visible or measurable, students are prompted to record and reflect on how what they have learned has impacted their attitudes and behavior. The process of reflection should be carried out throughout the project, not just at the end. Students are encouraged to reflect regularly on their inquiry process and on the actions they have taken at various stages of their project.
The development of the personal project will follow the same stages as the community project: investigating, planning, taking action, reflecting, and demonstrating. In the case of the personal project, the report will become the demonstration of the first four stages: a summary of the students’ processes of investigation, planning, actions and reflections.
The Role of the Supervisor
The purpose of the supervisor is to support the student or group of students during the project. Supervisors will support students throughout the project. The supervisors’ responsibilities are to:
ensure the chosen MYP project topic satisfies appropriate legal and ethical standards with regard to health and safety, confidentiality, human rights, animal welfare, and environmental issues
provide guidance to students in the process and completion of the project
confirm the authenticity of the work submitted
assess the MYP project using the criteria in this guide
participate in the standardization of the assessment process established by the school
provide personal project grades to the MYP Coordinator to enter into IBIS
Students will receive information and guidance that includes:
guidelines about the MYP project
a timetable with deadlines
the assessment criteria for the project
advice on how to keep and use a process journal
the importance of personal analysis and reflection
formative feedback
requirements for academic honesty
Timeline for Sophomore Year
Phase 1: September
Establish process journal
Explore the IB learner profile
Establish a topic of personal interest
Begin investigating personal topic through global contexts
Begin development of inquiry question
Establish global context as a focusing lens for investigation
Phase 2: Early October
Share global context and develop an inquiry question
Discuss how the personal topic fits within a global context exploration
Discuss the investigation approach and preliminary research approaches
Record all in the process journal
Phase 3: Late October
Meet with supervisor and finalize inquiry question
Investigate personal topic through global context exploration
Record all research and findings in the process journal; include MLA citations
Begin to develop product idea-the product is action based the investigation
Phase 4: Late November
Meet with supervisor and share investigative findings
Discuss possible products based on research and global exploration
Phase 5: December
Finalize product idea and record product specifications
Continue to use the process journal to record the development of the personal project
Start writing personal project report (Sections 1-3)
Phase 6: Early February
Showcase of personal project products
Continue writing the personal project report (ALL Sections)
Phase 7: Late February
Report the personal project: include proof of product and scanned process journal entries
The Process Journal
For the personal project, students are expected to document their process in the process journal. In this way, students demonstrate their working behaviors and academic honesty.
Documenting the process
The process journal is a generic term used to refer to the record of progress maintained by the student throughout the project. However, the media for documenting the process can vary depending on student preferences. It can be written, visual, audio, or a combination of these, and it may include both paper and electronic formats. In the use of electronic/digital media, students are strongly advised to make digital copies of their journals or to transmit copies of their journals to an online storage site.
Students will be familiar with the practice of documenting the development of their project in the process journal and can draw on techniques used to document the arts process journal, the design folder, or similar workbooks in other subject groups. Students may develop their own format and design, although schools can provide templates or examples to support students’ work.
The process journal is personal to the student, in the sense that he or she is also exploring ways of recording his or her process. Students are not restricted to any single model of recording their process journals. However, the student is responsible, through his or her use of the process journal, for producing evidence of addressing the four objectives to demonstrate achievement at the highest levels of the criteria.
The process journal is:
used throughout the project to document its development
an evolving record of intents, processes, accomplishments
a place to record initial thoughts and developments, brainstorming, possible lines of inquiry, and further questions raised
a place for recording interactions with sources, for example, teachers, supervisors, external contributors
a place to record selected, annotated, and/or edited research and to maintain a bibliography
a place for storing useful information, for example, quotations, pictures, ideas, photographs
a means of exploring ideas and solutions
a place for evaluating work completed
a place for reflecting on learning
devised by the student in a format that suits his or her needs
a record of reflections and formative feedback received.
The process journal isn't:
used on a daily basis (unless this is useful for the student)
written up after the process has been completed
additional work on top of the project; it is part of and supports the project
a diary with detailed writing about what was done
a static document with only one format.
Students show their supervisors evidence of their process documented in their journals at meetings or by providing access digitally.
Selecting process journal extracts
For the personal project, students should carefully select evidence from their process journals to demonstrate development in all criteria. These extracts are submitted as appendices of the report or presentation at the conclusion of the project. The student should take responsibility for making the appropriate extracts available to the supervisor.
Students working individually should select a maximum of 10 individual extracts to represent the key developments of the project. The student should select extracts that demonstrate how he or she has addressed each of the objectives, or annotate extracts to highlight this information.
An extract may include:
visual thinking diagrams
bulleted lists
charts
short paragraphs
notes
timelines, action plans
annotated illustrations
annotated research
artifacts from inspirational visits to museums, performances, galleries
pictures, photographs, sketches
up to 30 seconds of visual or audio material
screenshots of a blog or website
self and peer assessment feedback.
Materials directly relevant to the achievement of the project should also be included in the extracts, as appropriate. For example, if the student has produced a questionnaire or survey that has been described and analyzed in the report, he or she could include a segment of that completed survey. An individual extract may include any of the formats that the student used to document the process. Extracts should simply be supporting evidence of the process and will not be individually assessed.
Assessment Criteria
