A student guide
to the
Personal Project
Name:______Supervisor:______
Table of Contents
Introduction……………………………………………………………………………….3
Choosing a Topic………………………………………………………………..………5
Global Contexts………………………………………………..………………………..6
Investigating………………………………………………………………………….…...9
Process Journal………………………………………………………………………….11
Outcome/Product……………………………………………………………………..12
Developing Criteria…………………………………………………………………...13
Organizing…………………………………………………………………………………16
Appendices………………………………………………………………………………..17
The Report………………………………………………………………………….…....18
Structure of the Report……………………………………………………..………19
Assessment/Rubrics………………………………………………………………..…22
Additional Resources…………………………………………………………………32
Introduction
So what is the personal project?
The personal project is exactly that-a personal project.
The personal project is your chance to practice and strengthen your approaches to learning skills, to develop an understanding of yourself, as a learner, and to develop an area of personal interest. In other words, you will choose a topic that interests you, you will choose a global context that will help you develop your project with a clear and specific focus, and once you have done some research, you will determine your goal.
You will complete and submit your personal project during the final year of the MYP, your sophomore year.
The personal project is similar to every other subject you study because you will:
· complete approximately 40-50 hours of study over an extended period of approximately 6 months,
· use many of the approaches to learning skills you have learned in your classes,
· create a product that will be turned in, and
· be assessed against a set of criteria.
The personal project is different from many of your other subjects because you will:
· complete your investigation within the context of one global context,
· work independently on a topic you have selected, and
· interact with an assigned adult supervisor whose role is to provide guidance and advice.
What is the point?
· To participate in a sustained, self-directed inquiry
· To generate creative new insights and develop deeper understandings through in-depth investigation
· To demonstrate the skills, attitudes, and knowledge required to complete a project over an extended period of time.
· To communicate effectively in a variety of situations
· To demonstrate responsible action through, or as a result of, learning.
· To appreciate the process of learning and take pride in your accomplishments.
What exactly do I have to create for the personal project?
You must create three items, each of which will be assessed:
· a process journal (similar to the developmental workbook in arts),
· a project report,
· and a take action product or outcome.
Will anyone help me do the project?
Of course! You can’t think we would set you on this task without support.
You are responsible for your project. It is an investigation that you do on your own outside of school, to show your skills as an independent learner.
However, you will have help. You will be assigned an adult supervisor at ISB, who will can do a number of things to help you in the process:
· Advising you on your project choice (is it achievable and appropriately challenging?)
· Helping you to create a schedule for completing the project
· Discussing the global context chosen to ensure it matches the goal of your project
· Meeting to discuss and review your progress
· Advising you should any part of your project present difficulties.
Being an independent learner does not mean you work in isolation. In fact, the best independent learners recognize how important it is to collaborate with other people when undertaking a project because a wider range of ideas can lead to a better outcome. Apart from your supervisor, you will talk with and seek advice from your parents, friends, other adult leaders, and experts in the field of study. However, the work that you do must be your own.
How will I be assessed?
The personal project is assessed against four criteria. Each criterion is of equal value and has eight levels of success:
The criteria are:
Criterion A: Investigating
You will be assessed on your ability to define a clear goal and global context for the project, your ability to identify prior learning and subject specific knowledge relevant to the project, and the quality of your research skills.
Criterion B: Planning
You will be assessed on your ability to develop criteria for the product/outcome, your ability to plan and record the development process, and your ability to demonstrate self-management skills.
Criterion C: Taking Action
You will be assessed on your ability to create a product/outcome in response to the learning goal , the global context and the criteria you created in the planning process. You will also be assessed on your ability to demonstrate your thinking skills and your communication and social skills.
Criterion D: Reflecting
You will be assessed on your ability to evaluate the quality of the product/outcome against the criteria you created, your ability to reflect on how completing the project has extended your knowledge and understanding of the topic and the global context, and your ability to reflect on your development as IB learners throughout the project.
Great! So, how do I start the personal project?
Choosing a Topic
YOU MUST START WITH THE TOPIC! NOT WITH THE PRODUCT!
Your product will be a result of your topic and your global context. Don’t decide you will build a skateboard without having a topic first! There needs to be a good reason for building that skateboard.
Choose a topic for investigation that genuinely interests you, is NEW learning and is appropriately challenging.
So, what topics can you choose? You can choose anything that is of interest to you. To help you get started, make some lists:
· What do you want to achieve through your project?
· What do you want to understand through your work?
· What impact do you want your project to have?
· What is most important to you?
· What issues concern you?
Once you have generated a list of possible topics to investigate, you will need to whittle it down.
· Which one appeals to you the most?
· Which one will be challenging enough to keep you interested for several months?
Now comes the hard part: make a choice. Pick ONE topic.
The topic I will investigate for my personal project is______.
I have chosen this topic because…
Choosing a Global Context
Now, and most importantly, you MUST choose a global context to be the focus of your project investigation. You have six choices:
· Identities and Relationships: You will explore identify; beliefs and values; personal physical, mental social and spiritual health; human relationships including families, friends, communities and cultures. You will be looking at what it means to be human.
Projects that fit in this global context might include:
o Two sides of social networking
o An awareness of bullying in in its many forms
o How the digital world impacts relationships
o Culinary traditions and the importance of food in a culture
o The effects of mass media on the teenage identity
· Orientation in space and time: You will explore personal histories; homes and journeys; turning points in humankind; discoveries; explorations and migrations of humankind; the relationships between and the interconnectedness of individuals and civilizations from personal, local, and global perspectives.
Projects that fit in this global context might include:
o The Euclidean space perspective of the universe
o Immigration issues
o Family histories
· Personal and Cultural Expression: You will explore the ways in which we discover and express ideas, feelings, nature, culture, beliefs and values; the ways in which we reflect on, extend, and enjoy our creativity; our appreciation of the aesthetic.
Projects that fit in this global context might include:
o Video games as a form of cultural expression
o The art of Manga
o Culture and self-expression through dance
o Artistry, craft and creation
o Philosophies and ways of life
· Scientific and technical innovation: You will explore the natural world and its laws; the interaction between people and the natural world; how humans use their understanding of scientific principles; the impact of scientific and technological advances on communities and environments; the impact of environments on human activity; how humans adapt environments to their needs.
Projects that fit in this global context might include:
o Building a stronger bike using nano fibers
o An informational talk on space diamonds
o Can stem cells replace organ transplants
o New technologies and their impact
· Globalization and sustainability: You will explore the interconnectedness of human-made systems and communities; the relationship between local and global processes; how local experiences mediate the global; the opportunities and tensions provided by world-interconnectedness; the impact of decision-making on humankind and the environment.
Projects that fit in this global context might include:
o Raising awareness on the struggle for water in developing countries
o The impact of the financial crises of Europe and the European Economic Community on the United States
o Education as a tool to change the future of a community
o The role of the developing countries in protecting the rain forest
o Conservation
o Urban planning and infrastructure
· Fairness and development: You will explore rights and responsibilities; the relationship between communities; sharing finite resources with other people and with living things; access to equal opportunities; peace and conflict resolution.
Projects that fit in this global context might include:
o An awareness campaign supporting fair trade
o Open market economies and their role in fair trade
o Exploring intersections of race and inequality
o Asylum seekers and their right to live like us
o Justice
o Civil Rights
o Civic responsibilities
As you think about your global context, you might consider the following:
· What is the goal of my project?
· What do I want others to understand about my project?
· What kind of impact do I want my project to have?
· How can a specific context give greater purpose to my project?
If my project were to involve rap music, my inquiry might look like this:
Identity and Relationships / Examine the question “Why does rap speak to me?”Orientation in Space and Time / Explore the development of rap as a style of music across continents
Personal and Cultural Expression / Perform a rap song of my own creation and have a question and answer session
Scientific and technical Innovation / Explore how technological advances have impacted the quality of recording rap music
Globalization and Sustainability / An exploration of the impact of living conditions on rap music
Fairness and Development / Examine the question “What impact has rap music had on civil rights?” or “How has the civil rights movement given rise to rap music?”
The global context I will use is______.
I have chose this global context because I want to explore______
The topic fits under the global context of ______
because______
Investigating
An investigation for the personal project is the action of finding out information about your chosen topic. You will need to create a plan for identifying what you need to know that is relevant to your project.
To reach the highest levels of achievement in investigating, you will need to use a variety of resources and evaluate them for reliability and validity.
Sources to consider:
· Articles from magazines, journals, newspapers, books
· Websites
· Experts in the field
· Your own knowledge
· Survey data
· Video or audio recordings
· Images
· School subject area materials
· Prior knowledge-however, this does not provide sufficient depth or breadth alone
You should use them all, initially, to find out as much as you can on your topic.
Record all of the sources you read, view, listen to, and interview, in your process journal. This will form a valuable resource for later in the project.
How do I choose information?
Now that you have gathered all of your information, you need to sort out what is most useful and appropriate for your project.
There are many techniques you can apply to choose which information to use and which to leave out. Sometimes one technique will work. But, more likely you will have to use combinations of them to finally choose what information to use. Listed below, are a few of the techniques for selecting information.
Straight Logic
This technique requires you to simply select information by thinking about its relevance to your inquiry question. You label pieces of information as either “relevant” or “irrelevant” and then use the “relevant” information for your project.
Degree of importance
You make four categories and go through your information labeling each piece of information according to the category that best describes what you have found. The categories are:
Absolutely essential
You cannot respond to the inquiry question if you don’t use this information. Keep it and use it.
Very useful
This is information that should be used in the response because it makes very clear to everyone what you have learned or want other people to learn about your topic. Keep and use as much of this as you can.
Interesting
This information does refer to the inquiry question, but if you did leave it out it wouldn’t radically change your response. Use it if you don’t have enough of the two levels above.
Irrelevant
When you look at your inquiry question this information doesn’t really help. It is related to the topic only, but not the area of interaction. You ignore this information.
The Checklist
For this technique you have a series of question that you apply to each piece of information. If it receives ticks against all questions then clearly you should use the information in your response.
i. Is the information source reliable and is the information accurate?
ii. Is the information current or still valuable if it is older?
iii. Does the information help me respond to the inquiry question?
iv. Does the information connect clearly with the area of interaction or aspects of it?
v. Does the information belong to my topic?
vi. Will the information help me to develop my project product?
Mind-mapping
For this technique, you draw the information that you believe will help you to respond to your inquiry question around the inquiry question. This way you can ‘see’ how your information fits together or interconnects.