MYP Personal Projects encourage students to reflect on their learning and the outcomes of their work – key skills that prepare them for success in further study, the workplace and the community.

Students who complete the MYP in Year 3 or Year 4 complete the community project. All students who complete the MYP in Year 5 complete the personal project.

The community project provides an important opportunity for students ages 13-14 to collaborate and pursue service learning. Schools register all MYP Year 5 students for external moderation of the personal project, promoting a global standard of quality.

MYP projects are student-centred and age-appropriate, and they enable students to engage in practical explorations through a cycle of inquiry, action and reflection.

What are the aims of the MYP projects?

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.

What will students learn through the MYP projects?

MYP projects involve students in a wide range of activities to extend their knowledge and understanding and to develop their skills and attitudes.

These student-planned learning activities include:

• deciding what they want to learn about, identifying what they already know, and discovering what they will need to know to complete the project
• creating proposals or criteria for their project, planning their time and materials, and recording developments of the project
• making decisions, developing understandings and solving problems, communicating with their supervisor and others, and creating a product or developing an outcome evaluating the product/outcome and reflecting on their project and their learning.

As students become involved in the self-initiated and self-directed learning process, they will find it easier to construct in-depth knowledge on their topic, and develop an understanding of themselves as learners.

Adopted from the MYP Personal Project Guide at IB Headquarters.