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MYP Guides

Investig8

Your task: write an investigative article of 1200 to 1500 words

Activity 2

https://forms.gle/9CSunrLKupMAtQau9

Quick Links

Workshop slides

Citing Sources, Captioning Images and Captioning Tables and Charts

eLibrary

Click on the images below to access the resources, or click on the resource names for more information. Passwords for remote access here.

Personal Project

The Personal Project is a large, independent project that students undertake at the end of their MYP course. This is a project for you to create and present what is of personal interest to you. This is your project to do what you would like to do, and a chance to demonstrate the understanding and skills you have developed throughout the MYP. The project itself should be based on an area of interest or personal passion where you can apply and demonstrate your learning. Through the process of inquiry, action and reflection, students are encouraged to demonstrate and strengthen their ATL skills.

The aims of the Personal Project are to encourage and enable you to:

inquire
- explore an interest that is personally meaningful
- take ownership of their learning by undertaking a self-directed inquiry
act
- transfer and apply skills in pursuit of a learning goal and the creation of a product
reflect
- recognize and evidence personal growth and development

The Personal Project includes the following main parts:

A written report
A product
An exhibition

You are expected to spend a minimum of 25 hours on their personal project.

View the full VSA Personal Project Guide.

Choosing a Topic

If you need some inspiration when starting your project, come to the Library!

Browse the bookshelves, magazines, have a look at PressReader, or ask me about what new resources we have in the Library!

Researching the Personal Project

Before you start your research, think about where you might be able find useful information for your topic. Don't just go straight to Google!
Write down the types of sources you could use in your project and how you will try to find them in your plan.
Record your research in your process journal throughout the project.

Make sure you:

visit the VSA library and see if there are any books or magazines that would be useful for your project
check the VSA eLibrary (Pressreader, Credo)
ask me (Mr Mac) if you need an help finding anything in the Library or eLibrary

Make sure you use a variety of different sources. which of these might be useful for your topic?

Secondary

Primary

Books

interviews and discussions with people inside/outside school, or experts who are knowledeable about your topic

Newspapers and magazines

Conduct experiments

Websites

Collect your own data

YouTube and other videos

Send out surveys

Visit museums

Observe and analyze a similar product

Note: what is considered a primary source or secondary source might vary depending on your topic. If in doubt, check with your supervisor or Mr Mac.

You will also need to evaluate the sources you use, using a method such as OPVL.

At VSA we use MLA 9 to document all of our sources. You need to include both a works cited list and a works consulted list.

The Process Journal

Use your process journal to record the research process..
Record how sources have shaped your project and your thinking
Identify the research skills you have at the beginning of the research process, and use the process journal to show how your research skills develop, with evidence.
Document the search strategies, interview and survey techniques that you use.
When writing your report, use extracts from the process journal in your report to provide evidence.
If you copy anything from a website or other source into your process journal, make sure that you clearly identify what you have copied by using "quotation marks" or highlight the text you have copied in a different colour. Note the URLs too, or add the source to MyBib so that you can find it again later when creating your works cited/consulted list.

Documenting the research process in your process journal will help you to:

organise your research
document your sources
avoid plagiarism
help you to reflect on your research ATLs

Evaluating Sources

More information here

Documenting Sources with MLA

You need to include a works cited list and a works consulted list in your personal project report.

The works cited list should include all the sources that you have cited with an in-text citation in your report.

The works consulted list will include all the sources that you looked at but didn't cite in your report. This might include things like YouTube tutorials that you watched but didn't refer to specifically in your report.

Note: refering to sources in your report (with in-text citations), for example to justify the criteria you have used for your product, can provide evidence of how you have used ATLs such as information literacy.

Avoiding Plagiarism

Plagiarism, whether deliberate or accidental, will lead to serious consequences.

If you copy anything from a website or other source into your process journal or notes, make sure that you clearly identify what you have copied by using "quotation marks" or highlight the text you have copied in a different colour. Note the URLs too, or add the source to MyBib so that you can find it again later when creating your works cited/consulted list. This will help you to avoid accidentally plagiarising.

Cite any images, diagrams, graphs and include captions. Follow copyright law and fair use guidelines if you are reusing images on a public website.

At VSA we use MLA 9 as our citation style. If you are using MyBib, set it to MLA 8 to make sure that the accessed date is added for online sources.

For more information on using MLA, check the VSA Library MLA Guide.

The Report

Requirements:

No title page
At least 11-point font size
images used as evidence must be clearly visible
Works cited and works consulted lists must be submitted separately and do not count towards the page limit

Objective A: Planning

Objective B: Applying skills

Objective C: Reflecting

Students present what they did in their project.

Students show how ATL skills contributed to the learning goal and product.

Students report on why they did their project.

Students:

state a learning goal for the project and explain how a personal interest led to that goal
state an intended product and develop appropriate success criteria for the product
present a clear, detailed plan for achieving the product and its associated success criteria.

Students:

explain how the ATL skill(s) was/were applied to help achieve their learning goal
explain how the ATL skill(s) was/were applied to help achieve their product

support the explanations with detailed examples or evidence.

Students:

explain the impact of the project on themselves or their learning
evaluate the product based on the success criteria
support their comments with specific evidence or detailed examples.

Examples of supporting evidence could include:

a list and/or diagram of interests and related learning goals
a list of possible strategies to achieve personal and academic goals
a diagram showing the connections between the learning goal and the product
a series of steps leading to the completion of the product
a timeline for completing short- and long-term tasks.

Examples of supporting evidence could include:

a series of inquiry questions (research skills)
sample correspondence with the project supervisor (communication skills)
screenshot of daily reminders or alerts to complete personal project tasks (self-management)
reflection about resolving a conflict (social skills)
summary of prior learning that is relevant to the project (thinking skills).

Examples of supporting evidence could include:

evaluation of the product against the success criteria
images showing key features of the product
analysis of the causes for success and/or failure
summary of new knowledge or insights related to the learning goal.

Source: Personal Project Guide (For use from September 2021/January 2022)

Research ATL Skills

ATL Skills

When providing evidence of research ATL skills, consider using the following

Appropriate use of In-text citations and a works cited/consulted list
Using SIFT to evaluate sources and guide the research process
Excerpts from your process journal that document the research process
Evaluation of research (OPVL)
Interview notes
Survey results
An annotated bibliography
A series of inquiry questions

Information Literacy

Finding, interpreting, judging and creating information

Collect, record and verify data
Access information to be informed and inform others
Make connections between various sources of information
Understand the benefits and limitations of personal sensory learning preferences when accessing, processing and recalling information
Use memory techniques to develop long-term memory
Present information in a variety of formats and platforms
Collect and analyse data to identify solutions and make informed decisions
Process data and report results
Evaluate and select information sources and digital tools based on their appropriateness to specific tasks
Understand and use technology systems
Use critical-literacy skills to analyse and interpret media communications
Understand and implement intellectual property rights
Create references and citations, use footnotes/endnotes and construct a bibliography according to recognized conventions
Identify primary and secondary sources

Source: MYP: From principles into practice 2014 (Updated August 2022)

Media Literacy

Interacting with media to use and create ideas and information

Locate, organize, analyse, evaluate, synthesize and ethically use information from a variety of sources and media (including digital social media and online networks)
Demonstrate awareness of media interpretations of events and ideas (including digital social media)
Make informed choices about personal viewing experiences
Understand the impact of media representations and modes of presentation
Seek a range of perspectives from multiple and varied sources
Communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats
Compare, contrast and draw connections among (multi)media resources

Mars

Introduction

Earth is dying.

There are too many people and not enough resources. We don’t have enough food, and we won’t ever have enough food again for the number of people now on Earth, there are just too many to feed. We must leave Earth and find somewhere new to call our home.

The great news though is that we have identified Mars as an excellent planet to build a new colony on. Space X has a plan to get us there, and we are looking for scientists to help design what the new colony will look like on Mars. There are many things to think about to be able to survive on the planet, and we need your help.

Books about Colonising Mars

Research Links

Stop! Do you know these websites or organisations? If you do, and consider them trustworthy, continue ...

Five steps to colonising Mars [BBC]
Mars [Britannica School]
Colonization of Mars [Wikipedia]Check the 'See also' and 'References' sections for extra resources.
Missions: Mars - SpaceX
NASA Mars Exploration
The Strange, Deadly Effects Mars Would Have on Your Body [Wired Magazine]
The case against Mars colonisation [The Guardian]
Rice on Mars faraway farming [The Engineer via Gale]
Pouring a Foundation on Mars [NYT]Register with your VSA school email to view
The Case for Colonizing Mars
If Mars Is Colonized, We May Not Need to Ship In the Bricks [NYT]Register with your VSA school email to view
Race to Mars

Expert Tips

Did you know that you will get different search results if you search with different spellings?

How are your results different when you search using colonisation instead of colonization?

SIFT and OPVL

Documenting Sources: The Rubric

Work cited list clearly identifies all sources of research
Works cited list is in MLA format and alphabetical order
In-text citations used correctly throughout to identify sources of information.
All Pictures and / or diagrams cited
MOre information here

Don't Make these Mistakes!

MAD (Missing Acccesed Date)
Missing author name in your references - make sure you check the web page for the correct author name!

See this Guide on Paraphrasing

Citing Images

Year 7 I & S: Occupation Propaganda

Secondary Sources

Books

PreviousNext

Websites

Gale

South China Morning Post

OPVL

Historical Thinking Chart

Videos

Y8 I&S: Children in Conflict

Introduction

Statement of Inquiry

Empathy leads to action, action leads to change - and this is especially true in promoting equity for Children affected by conflict.

Inquiry Questions

Factual

How do conflicts impact children? What are the rights to be protected?

Conceptual

How do rights promote equity?

Debatable

How can empathy influence action and change?

Children in Conflict

Previous Next

Citing Images in Posters, Presentations & Videos

Images on a Poster

Find images from a reliable source when possible (e.g. Archive, Museum, Library, Book, Newspaper).
Find the original source of images by clicking a link if provided, or use google reverse image search.
Include a caption below your image (Title of image or description of image) with an in-text citation. No need to use Fig. 1 on a poster, though you do need to include this in a report or essay.
Make sure there there is enough information so that anyone reading your poster can easily find the original image that you have used.
Include your works cited page on the back of your poster.