The culmination of the International Baccalaureate’s Middle Years Programme (MYP) is the individual Personal Project, a practical exploration of a topic of a student’s choosing. This year’s Personal Project Exhibition displayed an inspiring and wide-ranging array of passion projects from our current Year 10 students, including musical compositions, the creation of apps and furniture design, a flight simulator, a documentary, a physics textbook, and a digeridoo.
The Personal Project gives our students the opportunity to consolidate their learning, and formally assesses their approaches to learning (ATL) skills for self-management, research, communication, critical and creative thinking, and collaboration—important skills needed for life beyond the classroom. It’s the final step in the MYP where students can develop and put into practice the skills and abilities they have learned in different subject groups, through a cycle of inquiry, action and reflection. The project allows students to take ownership of their learning, translating this into something creative and personally meaningful.
Our students began their Personal Projects by identifying a learning goal based on personal interest. Hanna Jones, who designed and sewed a quilt where each section represented an aspect of Norse Mythology, stressed the importance of choosing a topic that inspires. “(It’s important to) do something that you feel will set your heart on fire for a very long time,” she said. “This is just such an amazing opportunity to explore your interests … You’ll have something you can be really proud of for a really long time.” Starting out with basic skills in sewing, Hanna was able to experiment and build her knowledge, using applique, embroidery, screen printing, machine sewing and hand sewing. Persistence was important. “Since I’d never really done a project this big … it just took so many different steps,” she said. “Something I thought would take a couple of hours ended up taking days. But it was a really good learning experience.”
Nathan Burns, who engineered his own hovercraft, stressed the importance of venturing into the unknown. His research involved considering existing builds as well as “a lot of calculations”, which forced him to overcome several challenges. “For as much planning I didn’t there was still a lot of uncertainty,” he said. “I spent a lot of time on coding that didn’t end up working,” he said. “If I’d done more research prior, then I would have understood better what I could have done.” Nevertheless, the whole experience was personally fulfilling. “It’s not some scary school project,” he said, “actually making it (was) really fun.”
Ricky Sicurella made his own gothic inspired armoured medieval gauntlets from sheet steel and brass, having always been interested in metalwork. Having a cousin who is a hobbyist machinist also helped, and Ricky was keen to learn skills in collaboration: “I wanted to do something that allowed me to build on interpersonal connections, and improve our relationship while creating an impressive product,” he said. He too had to overcome several obstacles. “After cutting the metal pieces I found I had used the wrong scale in the printing process … I had to reprint them and start again, but I managed to overcome it,” he said. Having found a project that personally appealed to him and that gave him “passion and happiness,” was crucial.
A major aim of the MYP is to develop critical thinkers who successfully integrate disciplinary perspectives so that they can understand complex issues and ideas. Dr Julie McGonigle, who spent four hours visiting the exhibition, was inspired by the creativity on display: “As someone said on my way out – it was an embarrassment of riches, and they were so right!” she said. “Hearing each young person speak about their passions and sharing their learning was truly superb. To see 175 students demonstrating passion and purpose towards a single end was one the best moments in the St Andrew’s calendar … and there’s a lot of competition.”
