Personal Project

1. Personal Project M5 2010/11 Introduction Peter Dunoon Personal Project/MYP Coordinator

2. Personal Project 2010/2011 • Your CHOICE of topic; • Your choice of AOI – you must select one AOI, AS WELL AS ATL; • Needs to be approved by Coordinator; • Discuss with your Homeroom Tutors and fellow students; • Your Project should be based on something you enjoy doing; • Needs to be backed by R-E-S-E-A-R-C-H and your research evidence must be documented [in the correct format]; • Needs to follow a process and be documented through your Process Journal;

3. Personal Project • There are seven assessment criteria that you need to understand fully [on Page 5-6 of your PP Handbook]; • Deadlines: • September 2010 – Project/AOI selection – completion of pages 9-18 of Personal Project Handbook; • September-October 2010 - Preliminary research – completion of pages 19-28 of Personal Project Handbook; • October 18th – Personal Project Contract, page 29 PP Handbook [finalisation of your Project topic and AOI ];

4. Personal Project • In groups [4 groups of 3] use the paper/markers to brainstorm some ideas for possible Projects and match these with possible AOIs: • Put your names on the sheets;

5. The Personal Project Your Personal Project has a number of stages; Each stage has a number of steps within it; Your Personal Project Booklet will help to guide you through the process; YOU need to be organized and use both your PP Booklet and your Process Journal to help you through each stage along the way; Use your Process Journal as much as possible.

6. The Personal Project The following presentation relates to Criteria A, B, C & D, as outlined in your PP Booklet and relates especially to: Criterion A: Planning and Development; Criterion B: Collection of Resources; Criterion C: Choice and Application of Techniques; Criterion D: Analysis of Information; See your Handbook Pages 6-7; Beginning your research process; Locating resources Research methods and tips; Questioning techniques; Resource alternatives;

7. Types of Research: Your Personal Project may include a variety of research methods: [See Criteria C: Choice of Application and Techniques] • Literature Search; • Interviews; • Questionnaires/Surveys; • Experiments; • Field Studies; • In your reflective essay you are asked to make an analysis of the research methods … which worked best for you?? Why/Why didn’t it work?

8. Refections before you start: Is this doable? Is this meaningful? [considering especially AOI] Is this important? Is it really interesting? Is it something I can commit to for at least six months?

9. AOI … Area of Interaction Your AOI needs to be clearly expressed; See Criteria D [ability of student to analyse information in terms of the Project’s goal and focus on the chosen AOI] This is NOT just a one off statement! Your AOI needs to be reflected as the guiding principle of your Personal Project …. This is crucial to the success of your written assessment, Reflective Essay.

10. Locating information: Criterion B: Collection of Resources: Identify where to look for information; Within the school; Fileserver/Class Resources/Technology/APA Bibliography Within your own community; Within a broader community; Locate a range of relevant resources; [CRITERIA B] Learning how to use and evaluate research tools that are appropriate to the topic; [CRITERIA B]

11. Locating [Secondary Library Resources] Stonehill Library Catalogue; Other Library Catalogues; Online Resources; Online Journals; Newbank; EBSCO databases; Stonehill How to cite/Reference Style Brochure [on the school network: Fileserver/Class Resources/Technology/APA Bibliography];

12. Research models: MYP Research Process: The inquiry cycle: Reflection; Awareness and Understanding; Action; Is NON linear and flexible enough to encompass all types of thinking, be it critical, creative, analytical or more reflective types of inquiry;

13. Research Models: Interviews; Surveys; Literature Reviews; Field Work;

14. Criterion B: Collection of Resources: Selecting [researching stage] Evaluatingthe resources you have found. Checking the currency [datedness] of the material you find. Checking for bias in the material that you find. Using skim and scan strategies when you are reading. Selecting material appropriate to your topic. Continuing to utilize your Process Journal … include successes as well as failures, to document your research process.

15. Criterion B: Collection of Resources: http://www.virtualsalt.com/evalu8it.htm Credibility … a trustworthy source, author credentials, evidence of quality control, known or respected authority, organizational support. Goal: an authoritative source, a source that supplies some good evidence that allows you to trust it. Accuracy … an up to date source, factual, detailed, exact, comprehensive, audience and purpose reflect intentions of completeness and accuracy. Goal: a source that is correct today (not yesterday), a source that gives the whole truth. .

16. Criterion B: Collection of Resources: Reasonable information source/site … fair, balanced, objective, reasoned, no conflict of interest, absence of fallacies or slanted tone. Goal: a source that engages the subject thoughtfully and reasonably, concerned with the truth. Supported information … listed sources, contact information, available corroboration, claims supported, documentation supplied. Goal: a source that provides convincing evidence for the claims made, a source you can triangulate (find at least two other sources that support it).

17. Note-taking: For your Personal Project you will need to become an excellent note-taker, no matter what research methods you choose. The following are some tips to remember:

18. Note taking skills: Reading Features of good notes: are organized into key points and minor points; record relevant source / bibliographical details, eg author, title, publisher, date of publication, page number/s; use visual techniques, eg highlighting, graphics, colours, and underlining to identify main points; use abbreviations and symbols to show connections between key points and minor points; have line spaces so that you can add to your notes later, eg for revision; Don't take down every word! Don't write sentences;

19. Note Taking Skills: Interviews Before the Interview: Develop a mind-set geared toward listening. Do a ‘trial run’ interview with a friend to test yourself before the official interview; Skim any relevant reading material you might need to acquaint yourself with any new or unfamiliar technical terms, or other personal background you might need to know, relevant to the interview; Take care in formulating your questions;

20. Note Taking Skills: Interviews Enhance your physical and mental alertness: eat a snack before the interview; Choose an appropriate notebook that will enhance systematic note taking; Actively listen;. Resist distractions, emotional reactions or boredom. Pay attention to the speaker for verbal, postural, and visual clues to what's important. Label important points and organizational clues: main points, examples.

21. Note Taking Skills: Interviews If the speaker has an accent you find hard to understand or has mannerisms you find distracting, relax and ask them to repeat the information; Be consistent in your use of form, abbreviation, etc; Ask questions if you don't understand; Instead of closing your notebook early and getting ready to leave, listen carefully to information given toward the end of the briefing; summary statements may be of particular value in highlight main points; there may be possible quiz questions, etc.

22. Note Taking Skills: Interviews AFTER The Interview: Clear up any questions raised by the speaker: Fill in missing points or misunderstood terms from text or other sources;. Edit your notes, labeling main points, adding recall clues and questions to be answered. Key points in the notes can be highlighted with different color highlighter; Make note of your ideas and reflections, keeping them separate from those of the speaker/color code;

23. Note Taking Skills: Interviews PERIODICALLY Review your notes: glance at your recall clues and see how much you can remember before rereading the notes. If you do a series of interviews, look for the emergence of themes, main concepts, over the course of several interviews.

24. Questions/Interviews or Surveys: Can be big or small; Can be factual; Can be frivolous; Can be abstract; Can be personal; Can stimulate the desire to know; Can stimulate the desire to act;

25. Questions/Interviews or Surveys: Can have many answers; Can have many different but correct answers; Can be interpreted differently depending on the context of the questioner; Can have different answers for different people depending on their context;

26. Surveys: Why survey? Who will you survey? What KIND of survey will you do? Questionnaire or Interview? What will you do with the survey results?

27. Organising [sorting/recording] [See Criteria B] Your Process Journalwill assist you to keep organized … use it from the beginning! Keep referring back to your PP Booklet; Sort your information into categories. Reflect on your reading and write notes in your journal, in your own words … if you use the thoughts of others give evidence! Develop your own note taking style. Ensure that your notes stay relevant to your topic. Quote accurately with appropriate citations. Record all the Bibliographic detail for each source … start today!

28. Criterion A Planning and Development: Presenting [synthesising/communicating] [See Criteria A] Completion of your product: How will you present your project at the exhibition? Pulling your information together [if you have continually used your Process Journal, this will be easy]. Checking to see that all information is relevant to your Project and supports your chosen Area of Interaction. Drafting, editing and re-drafting your Reflective Essay. Ensuring your work is in the correct format . Writing up the final draft of your Reflective Essay.

29. Evaluating [reflecting]: Think about the processes that you have gone through to create your product. Think about your performance in each of the Criterion. Analyze how your research could be improved. Identify the research skills that you need to improve on. Identify, specifically what you could do to make these improvements in future pieces of work. All of these things should be addressed in your Reflective Essay.

30. Bibliographies and Citation:[See Criteria B] A Bibliographyis a reference list which shows all the resources that you have used in your project; In-text citations are for citing the ideas of others within your work; Follow the Stonehill IS style [APA] … this is available from Mr.Peter and is on the school network; Use the Noodlebib to help manage your reference and citations lists. Ask the Library staff for assistance!

31. Bibliographies and Citation Continued ... Some other tips on Bibliographies: Style tips and some reference FAQs: http://apastyle.apa.org/previoustips.html Examples of layout for specific source types: http://www.ccc.commnet.edu/apa/

32. Some Useful Resources: Hyperwords: Interacts with all words on the web, not just links: http://www.hyperwords.net Zotero: Helps collect, manage and cite your research sources. Runs from web browser. Saves searches, captures pages, stores files, images and links, allows for note taking, and can be accessed from any computer: http://www.zotero.org Clusty: A whole new way to search the web … queries several of the top search engines, combines the results and generates an ordered list based on comparative ranking … this metasearch process helps raise the best results to the top and push search engine spam to the bottom. http://www.clusty.com

33. A last word on citation tools: A citation tool [eg, noodlebib] is as good as the person operating it. Get to know your preferred citation style [APA] and you will do better than someone who has totally relied on an automated citation tool.

34. Personal Project: The Personal Project is one of the best ways to prepare well for your future studies, especially at IB Diploma level. If you can get the process right you will have a great start to your Diploma years. Good luck, remember to keep focused, especially on your goal/AoI, seek support when you need it and keep in regular contactwith your supervisor!