A1. Defining a clear goal and context:
- You should develop a challenging goal that you can accomplish, but which challenges your knowledge, skills or techniques in an appropriate way. It should require a minimum of 25 hours to complete and should require research. Goals should be achievable based on the time and resources available. See a video on SMART goals here and further guidance on challenging goals here
- To word you topic and goal on Managebac:
How to word your goal on Managebac.
Topic: 1 or 2 word.
For example: recycling, cultural identity, Goal:
One sentence
Use at least 3 verbs
Start with the “why” - what is your purpose?
Include what the outcome (the product) is
For example:
To research and design - Be aware that a frequent weakness in reports is an unclear justification of what makes the goal challenging or meaningfully related to the selected global context. Be specific.
REMEMBER! most of this information should be in your process journal, make use of your own reflections to word this section.
A2. Identifying prior learning and subject-specific knowledge:
- State any prior learning you had on the topic
- Explain in which subject(s) specific knowledge you based your product/project - make sure you make links between what you have learnt in school in respect of skills and/or content, and what you are going to need to know or be able to do to achieve your goal
- Comment on how that prior knowledge helped you, and how much you learnt since you started - this means you will go back to this section later on.
REMEMBER! most of this information should be in your process journal. Make use of your own reflections to word this section.
While collaboration is part of the skills you need to develop throughout the project, you must complete the project independently.
A3. Demonstrating research skills:
- The global context you choose provides a context for inquiry and research for the project.
- You need to document your research in your process journal. You may find this research model helpful.
- Use a variety of sources and validate them - Ensure you have 1 – 3 primary sources and 4 – 8 secondary sources.
- The demonstration of research skill covers not only the variety of sources that the report should refer to, but also the evaluation of sources. Therefore, the submitted evidence must contain information that can be used to verify the evaluation of the quality of sources. The CRAAP test is a good way to evaluate your sources.
- Make sure you distinguish between usefulness and reliability of sources. Do not just list skills from the ATL.
Tips: Ask the librarian to assist you with your research skills and with locating resources. Here is the link to the EIS information literacy website.
Be aware of the plagiarism policy!
Examples of research questions (Product = A handmade African finger piano):
- What are the roots of the finger piano, who invented it and when?
- For what kind of music is it used? How is it played?
- How is it manufactured (by a machine or by hand?)
- What materials are most suitable for this instrument and why?
- What scales are used, and what are their advantages and disadvantages?
Possible sources: interview with specialist (African musician), LRC / library (online database, books about instruments), internet (topic related videos, articles, blogs, ebooks)
Here is a template of what you need to write for the three criterion A strands
The above explanations are for the most part based on the official IB MYP Projects guide and contain original and adapted citations. Please refer to the official document for complete and detailed instructions and explanations.