What is IB MYP Personal Project?

IB MYP Personal Project Overview

MYP students in their final year explore an area of personal interest over an extended period. It provides them the opportunity to consolidate their learning and develop important skills they’ll need in both further education and life beyond the classroom. It also helps them develop confidence to become principled, lifelong learners.

Elements of the personal project

The following applies to the IB MYP Personal Project:

The personal project formally assesses students’ approaches to learning (ATL) skills for self-management, research, communication, critical and creative thinking, and collaboration.

The project is made up of a process, a product and a reflective report.

• process —ideas, criteria, developments, challenges, plans, research, possible solutions and progress reports
• product or outcome—evidence of tangible or intangible results: what the student was aiming to achieve or create
• report—an account of the project and its impact, to a structure that follows the assessment criteria. The report describes both the process of creating the project and an evaluation of the impact of the process on the student or their learning.

The report is assessed by the supervisor and externally moderated by the IB to ensure a globally consistent standard of excellence. Each project is awarded a final achievement grade.

I) PRE-PLANNING OF THE IB MYP PERSONAL PROJECT PHASE

Initial phase of the IB MYP Personal Project cycle

• Schools appoint at least one personal project coordinator.
• Schools can request additional languages to provide opportunities for students to complete the personal project in mother tongues.
• The school’s MYP team introduces the personal project to the students, parents and teachers.

II) EXECUTION PHASE OF THE IB MYP PERSONAL PROJECT PHASE

• MYP coordinators register students for the personal project.
• Supervisors meet with students on a regular basis to guide them through the personal project process.
• At least three meetings must be recorded on the MYP projects academic honesty form.
• During meetings, supervisors monitor student progress through conversation, written interactions, and/or reviews of the process
• Complete the MYP projects academic honesty form
• personal project report in written, oral, visual or multimedia form
• bibliography.
• Supervisors conduct internal standardization to assess the project report, and submit criterion level totals to the IB.
• Coordinators electronically submit personal project reports selected by the IB for moderation.
• Supervisors ensure that each personal project is complete.

MYP Personal Project Assessment Criteria: Personal Project Assessment Criteria

III) Preparing the IB MYP Personal Project

(This is the preparation phase of the IB MYP Personal Project.)

• Step 1: Prepare the personal project report which is a formal piece of writing that provides a report on the completion of your personal project. The word count is 1500 words to 3500 words.
• Step 2: Use the personal project report checklist
• Step 3: Ensure you provide a bibliography and an appendix.
• Step 4: Ensure you double-check your report for spelling and punctuation errors.
• Step 5: Once you have finished your report, you need to email this to your personal project supervisor for their feedback and when they have responded with feedback you need to update your report according to their feedback.

Objective A: Investigating	Objective B: Planning	Objective C: Taking action	Objective D: Reflecting
Project Development Steps	Develop criteria for your product/outcome	Create your product or outcome	Final Reflection
Step 1: Personal Project Mind-map Step 2: Defining a clear goal Step 3: Defining a global context Step 4: Maintain a process journal Step 5: Identification of prior-learning and subject-specific knowledge Step 6: Demonstrate your research skill Step 7: Evaluate sources	Step 1: Defined the global context for your project Step 2: Develop a plan and development process Step 3: Demonstrate self-management skills, organisational skills. affective skills, reflection skills	Step 1: Create a product/outcome in response to the goal, context and criteria Step 2: Demonstrate thinking skills Step 3: Demonstrate communication and social skills	Step 1: Evaluate the quality of the product/outcome against their criteria Step 2: Reflect on how completing the personal project has extended your knowledge and understanding of the topic and the global context Step 3: Reflect on development as a learner

IV) Submission and Exhibition

Report
Process journal
Academic honesty form, signed by yourself and your supervisor
Product or evidence of outcome

IB MYP PERSONAL PROJECT EXHIBITION!

Students publicly present their IB MYP Personal Project to the school community.

CRITERIA AND CHECKLIST SUPPORT

Criteria explained below are specific to the IB MYP Personal Project.

Criteria A: Investigating

• Define a clear goal and context for the project, based on personal interests
• In my report:
  • I give the precise meaning of the goal of my project; I explain “what I wanted to achieve; when, where, how and why I wanted to achieve it”.
  • I define the global context that applies best to my project and explain its connection.
  • I describe what makes my project personal: the experiences, interest and ideas that make it important to me.
  • If I made changes to my goal during the project, I explain the changes and why I made them.
• Identify prior learning and subject-specific knowledge relevant to the project
• In my report:
  • I identify what I already knew about this topic/project and the sources of my knowledge.
  • I identify what I learned in MYP subject groups at Good Shepherd Lutheran College before the project started, and how this was helpful.
• Demonstrate research skills
• In my report:
  • I outline the research skills I had when I started the project.
  • I discuss the research skills I developed through the project.
  • I explain how I may have shared my research skills to help peers who needed more practice.

Criteria B: Planning

• Develop criteria for the product/outcome
• In my report:
  • I refer to the criteria I designed to evaluate the project product/outcome.
  • If I made changes to my criteria during the project, I explain the changes and why I made them.
• Plan and record the development process of the project
• In my report:
  • I provide evidence of my planning through timelines, milestones or other tools/strategies.
  • I present a record of how the project progressed from start to finish.
• Demonstrate self-management skills
• In my report:
  • I outline the self-management skills I had when I started the project.
  • I discuss the self-management skills I developed through the project.
  • I explain how I may have shared my self-management skills to help peers who needed more practice.

Criteria C: Taking action

• Create a product/outcome in response to the goal, context and criteria
• In my report:
  • I discuss the product/outcome as the result of the process undertaken during the project.
  • I check that I have included evidence of my product to be submitted with my report.
• Demonstrate thinking skills
• In my report:
  • I outline thinking skills that I had when I started the project.
  • I discuss thinking skills I developed through the project.
  • I explain how I may have shared my thinking skills to help peers who needed more practice.
• Demonstrate communication and social skills
• In my report:
  • I outline the communication and social skills I had when I started the project.
  • I discuss the communication and social skills I developed through the project.
  • I explain how I may have shared my communication and social skills to help peers who needed more practice.

Criteria D: Reflecting

• Evaluate the quality of the product/outcome against their criteria
• In my report:
  • I evaluate the product/outcome against the criteria I designed.
  • I identify the strengths, weaknesses and possible improvements of the product/outcome.
• Reflect on how completing the project has extended their knowledge and understanding of the topic and global context
• In my report:
  • I identify challenges and the solutions I developed to meet them.
  • I demonstrate a deeper knowledge and understanding of my topic and the identified global context.
  • I base my reflection on evidence, including my process journal.
• Reflect on their development as IB learners through the project
• In my report:
  • I identify how I have developed as a learner (using the IB learner profile as appropriate).
  • I discuss my strengths and weaknesses in completing the project.
  • I summarize the impact the project could have on my future learning.

Need guidance with your IB MYP Personal Project?
Ascend Now’s expert mentors provide personalized support to help students plan, execute, and reflect on their projects with confidence. From brainstorming ideas to final report review, we’re here to ensure your success. Get in touch with us today and make your IB MYP Personal Project a standout experience.