An MYP Personal Process Project is an independent study unit undertaken in grade 10 in which students teach themselves a unit of study that results in a product.
The purpose of the Personal Project is to:
- Consolidate their subject-specific learning across the five years of the MYP. They take their research skills from Humanities, their essay writing skills from English, their team-work skills from Physical Education, etc., and apply them to an individual study unit.
- Pursue a Passion Project: Students can either develop a passion they already have or they can pursue a new area of interest. This is a good opportunity for students to test out any future careers. For example, if a student wants to study the medical field, then doing a scientific PP might help them gauge just how interested they really are in the topic.
- Improve their Approaches to Learning (ATL) skills. The PP directly assesses the ATL skills within the criteria. The skills are found throughout the entire project; however, Research skills are in Aiii, Self-Management skills are in Biii, and Thinking, Social and Communication skills are in Cii & iii.
My school has added one more purpose, which is to prepare students for the rigor of the Diploma Programme. This statement is actually a point of contention, as some teachers believe the PP has no link to the Extended Essay. However, during debreiefing sessions, our students always make the link themselves. E.g. If they struggled this much with Self-Management and it’s only grade 10, then what’s going to happen when they have multiple IAs due in grade 12?
