IB Math IA Complete Guide Part 4: Criterion C Personal Engagement | Mr. Flynn IB

Summary

This video script delves into Criterion C of personal engagement in academic projects, emphasizing its importance for scoring high. The speaker explains the levels of engagement and suggests ways to demonstrate it, such as caring about results, collecting data, creating models, and reflecting in the first person. Examples illustrate how personal interest can elevate a project, with the speaker advocating for originality and passion to make the project uniquely the student's own, ultimately leading to outstanding personal engagement.

Takeaways

• 📝 Criterion C focuses on personal engagement in an IA (Internal Assessment), which is graded on a scale of one to three.
• 🔍 Personal engagement levels are described as 'some', 'significant', and 'outstanding', with the latter being the goal for students.
• 🤔 Understanding the descriptors is straightforward, but applying them effectively in an IA can be more complex.
• 💡 Personal engagement is demonstrated by showing care about the subject, results, and providing personal opinions and reflections.
• 🏂 Examples given include modeling a snowboard jump, which is easy to show personal engagement due to its personal nature.
• 📉 For more abstract topics, like GDP and crime correlation, it's important to still convey personal interest and care in the results.
• 📚 The speaker advises against choosing topics that are too common or can be easily found in books or online, to ensure uniqueness.
• 🔬 Engaging in research, data collection, questionnaires, and creating models or conducting experiments can enhance personal engagement.
• 💻 Learning new math or software skills specifically for the IA can also demonstrate personal engagement and initiative.
• 🗣️ Giving opinions and reflecting in the first person can show both personal engagement and good reflection, which often go hand in hand.
• 🌐 Considering real-world situations from different perspectives, such as historical, global, or local, can add depth to the IA.
• 🌟 The IA should be original and unique, with no two projects being the same, even if they cover similar topics.
• 🔥 Passion and interest should be evident throughout the paper, making the reader feel the student's enthusiasm for the project.

Q & A

What is Criterion C in the context of the video?

Criterion C refers to 'Personal Engagement', which is one of the three criteria being discussed in the video, and it assesses the level of personal involvement and interest a student demonstrates in their project.

What are the three levels of personal engagement described in the video?

The three levels of personal engagement are 'some personal engagement', 'significant personal engagement', and 'outstanding personal engagement', with the latter indicating the highest degree of personal involvement.

Why is it important to show that you care about your results in your project?

Showing that you care about your results is important because it demonstrates personal engagement and interest in the project, which can enhance the quality of the work and make it more compelling to the reader.

What does the video suggest as a way to show personal engagement through the choice of topic?

The video suggests choosing a topic that is personal or of genuine interest to the student, as this can naturally lead to a higher level of personal engagement and passion in the project.

What is the advice given in the video regarding the originality of the project?

The video advises that the project should be original and unique, avoiding topics that are common or can be easily found in books or on the internet, to demonstrate outstanding personal engagement.

How can collecting your own data contribute to personal engagement?

Collecting your own data can contribute to personal engagement as it shows initiative and effort in gathering relevant and potentially unique information for the project.

What role does creating your own model play in demonstrating personal engagement?

Creating your own model from a video or photo can demonstrate personal engagement by showing that the student has taken the time to learn new skills and apply them to their project in a meaningful way.

Why is giving your opinion considered important in the context of personal engagement?

Giving your opinion is important because it shows that you are not only presenting facts but also reflecting on the findings, adding a personal perspective and demonstrating deeper engagement with the subject matter.

What is the relationship between personal engagement and reflection as discussed in the video?

The video suggests that personal engagement and reflection often go hand in hand, with good reflection typically accompanying a high level of personal engagement in a project.

How can using higher-level mathematics or software contribute to personal engagement?

Using higher-level mathematics or software can contribute to personal engagement by showing that the student has gone beyond the basic requirements, learning new skills, and applying them to enhance their project.

What is the final advice given in the video regarding demonstrating passion and interest in the project?

The final advice is to ensure that the passion and interest are evident throughout the paper, so that the reader can perceive the student's deep involvement and commitment to the project.

Outlines

00:00

🔍 Understanding Personal Engagement in Criterion C

The first paragraph introduces the concept of personal engagement as part of Criterion C, which is one of three criteria to be assessed. The speaker explains that while the descriptors for personal engagement are straightforward, applying them can be complex. The levels of engagement range from 'some' to 'significant' to 'outstanding'. The speaker aims to clarify these levels by discussing bullet points and providing examples of outstanding personal engagement. Key points include the necessity of caring about one's results, the importance of making the investigation personal, and avoiding topics that are too generic or have been extensively covered elsewhere. Suggestions for demonstrating personal engagement include conducting research, collecting data, creating questionnaires, and using software tools. The speaker also emphasizes the importance of giving opinions and reflecting on the findings in the first person, which ties into Criterion D.

05:02

🏂 Examples of Personal Engagement and Originality

In the second paragraph, the speaker provides examples to illustrate personal engagement in projects. They discuss the difference between a generic topic like modeling a basketball shot and making it unique by adding personal touches. The speaker stresses the importance of originality and uniqueness in a project, even if the topic itself is not new. They mention that passion and interest should be evident throughout the paper, indicating that the student is deeply invested in the subject. The speaker also shares examples of projects that demonstrated high levels of personal engagement, such as a snowboarding model at Ski Dubai and a school modeling project to calculate the area for painting. They conclude by stating that personal engagement can be shown in various ways and is not limited to personal stories or journeys.

10:02

🎓 Achieving Outstanding Personal Engagement

The third paragraph focuses on how to achieve the highest level of personal engagement in a project. The speaker explains that personal engagement is not just about performing a physical activity related to the topic but can also be demonstrated through deep involvement and making the project one's own. They provide an example of a complex mathematical investigation into a sliding puzzle game, which, despite not being a personal journey, shows a high level of engagement due to the student's deep interest and effort in understanding and applying advanced mathematics. The speaker concludes by emphasizing that personal engagement can be achieved in many different ways and that the next video will discuss reflection, another important criterion.

Keywords

💡Personal Engagement

Personal Engagement refers to the degree of personal interest and investment one has in a particular task or project. In the video, it is the central theme as the speaker discusses the importance of showing genuine care and involvement in one's work to achieve a high level of personal engagement. The concept is exemplified through various examples, such as modeling a snowboarding jump, which inherently involves the individual's passion for the sport.

💡Descriptors

Descriptors in this context are the terms used to classify or evaluate the level of personal engagement, such as 'some,' 'significant,' and 'outstanding.' They serve as a grading scale to measure the intensity of an individual's connection to their work. The script explains that while the language of these descriptors is straightforward, applying them effectively requires a deeper understanding.

💡Criterion C

Criterion C is a specific evaluative standard mentioned in the transcript, which pertains to personal engagement in an academic or project context. It is one of the criteria against which the quality of a student's work is judged, with the transcript emphasizing the need to excel in this area to achieve top marks.

💡Examples

Examples in the script are used to illustrate the concept of personal engagement. They range from practical applications like collecting one's own data or conducting a questionnaire to more creative tasks such as creating a model from a photo or video. The examples serve to demonstrate how personal engagement can manifest in different forms of academic work.

💡Originality

Originality is emphasized as a key aspect of personal engagement, suggesting that projects should bring something new and unique to avoid being derivative. The script warns against choosing topics that are too common or can be easily found in books or on the internet, advocating for a personal twist or approach to make the work stand out.

💡Interest

Interest is closely tied to personal engagement, as a genuine interest in the subject matter can drive deeper involvement and passion in one's work. The transcript suggests that the reader or evaluator should be able to discern the student's interest through the enthusiasm and effort evident in the project.

💡Reflection

Reflection is mentioned as a companion to personal engagement, suggesting that a thoughtful analysis or contemplation of one's work can further demonstrate a personal connection to the project. The script implies that good personal engagement often goes hand in hand with good reflection, as both involve a deep and critical examination of one's work.

💡First Person

The use of the first person in the script refers to writing or speaking from a personal perspective, which can enhance the sense of personal engagement. The speaker suggests that using 'I' or 'we' can make the narrative more personal and directly connect the individual to the work, although it should be balanced to maintain academic integrity.

💡Real World Situations

Real world situations are used in the script to highlight the importance of applying academic work to practical contexts. The speaker encourages considering how the project relates to real-life scenarios, which can increase personal engagement by making the work more relevant and meaningful.

💡Passion

Passion is portrayed as a driving force behind outstanding personal engagement. The transcript suggests that a student's passion for their work should be evident throughout the paper, indicating a high level of commitment and enthusiasm that goes beyond mere academic requirement.

💡Uniqueness

Uniqueness is a quality that the speaker advises students to strive for in their projects to demonstrate personal engagement. By ensuring that their work is distinct and not a replication of others', students can showcase their individuality and creativity, which is highly valued in academic and personal endeavors.

Highlights

Criterion C focuses on personal engagement, which is scored out of three and involves demonstrating a personal connection to the IA topic.

Descriptors for personal engagement range from 'some' to 'significant' to 'outstanding', indicating the depth of the student's connection to the project.

To show personal engagement, students must care about their results and this should be evident through comments and opinions on their findings.

Personal engagement can be demonstrated through a personal interest in the topic, such as modeling a snowboard jump, which is inherently more engaging than abstract concepts.

Avoid topics that are too generic or can be easily found in books or on the internet, as they lack originality and personal touch.

Research and collection of secondary data can add to personal engagement by showing initiative and effort.

Collecting one's own data, such as measurements or timing runs, can make the IA more personal and demonstrate engagement.

Creating questionnaires to gather opinions can be a method to involve others and show personal investment in the project.

Using personal models derived from videos or photos can visually represent personal engagement and creativity.

Experimentation can be a way to show personal engagement, especially when it involves learning new mathematical concepts.

Learning and using new software tools, like GeoGebra or Logo Pro, can indicate a proactive approach and personal interest.

Providing opinions throughout the IA can demonstrate both personal engagement and reflection, which are closely linked.

Using the first person when reflecting can enhance the sense of personal engagement and ownership of the project.

Considering real-world situations and different perspectives can add depth and show a broader understanding, contributing to personal engagement.

The IA should be original and unique, with each student's project differing in approach or methodology.

Passion and interest should be evident throughout the paper, indicating a high level of personal investment and engagement.

Achieving a high score in personal engagement is challenging but possible with a good aim and topic.

Examples provided in the video demonstrate varying levels of personal engagement, from a swimming analysis to a complex mathematical investigation.

Personal engagement is not limited to physical activities but can also be shown through deep involvement in theoretical or abstract topics.

Transcripts

hi guys so in this video we are going to

look at criterion c which is

personal engagement so it's out of three

to begin with and it's pretty

straightforward the descriptors

well it's just straightforward the

language but understanding them is more

complicated

so one is some personal engagement two

is significant personal engagement and

three is outstanding personal engagement

let me go through these bullet points

and hopefully we'll get to explain what

outstanding personal engagement is

i'll then show you some examples um some

good examples of personal engagement

one you need to care about your

expiration and your results and this

needs to be evident

now that is easier said than done

um if you have an aim that is really

personal

and like let's say the

the um snow the snow jumping the

snowboard

jump modeling guy and that's it's easy

for him to show that he cares about the

model and the jump and all that thing

it it's harder to show that you really

care if you're like

looking at the correlation between gdp

and crime or whatever it is

um but you need

to well whatever you're doing you need

to show the reader that you care about

your results so comment on your results

give your opinion the ia should be

personal finding the probability of

making the track team

is more personal than investing

investigating pythagoras ethereum

now you don't have to do it like a

really personal

um ia like where you go and um

actually go go to ski dubai or whatever

uh create a create a model of you doing

something you find that probably

that you can that you can i don't know

make the

swim team or whatever it is it doesn't

have to be all about you it can be about

something else or countries or whatever

but it helps if it's about if

it helps if it's about you or at least

that it's about something that you're

interested in

or a country that you're from things

like that don't go down the route of

investigating pythagoras theorem or

anyone's theorem for that matter

unless you've kind of got your own real

interesting personal take on pythagoras

theorem

it's not worth doing my kind of general

rule is if you can find it in a book

or on some website

don't do it it's already been done

before okay you i've written you could

for lots of lots of these because you

don't have to do them all you might just

want to do one or two of them but

you could do research and collect

secondary data so

go and find data on some reputable

website whatever

you could collect your own data so that

might make it a little bit more personal

if you actually go out and collect your

own data

take measurements time your runs

whatever

you could do a questionnaire so that's

that's a way of collecting data as well

and that's that adds to personal

engagement because you're going out and

you're actually

going to the trouble of making a

questionnaire and going asking people

their opinions

you could create your own model from a

video or a photo so look i've shown you

and i will show you numerous examples of

that

that definitely looks good the

tennis shot basketball shot um

whatever uh the photo of the school

any of those things look look good you

could

do an experiment if you do an experiment

um as personal engagement

you could learn new math now i don't

often rec well i don't

recommend learning new math but

sometimes you haven't studied

integration and you want to do an ia

on area well that's fine because you're

going to be learning integration anyway

and and you can actually well your

teacher will know

that you learned that on your own in

that loud personal engagement

um learning to new to to use new

software like geogebra logo pro that's

great that's

that shows that you're personally

engaged give your opinion whenever

possible

now there's i find there's a

criterion c and criterion d they kind of

go

together so it's very hard to have good

it's very hard to very bad personal

engagement but very good reflection

or vice versa normally you've both

you've good reflection and good personal

engagement

or um bad reflection and bad persuasion

and a lot of that is to do with

giving your opinion if you give your

opinion a lot and talk about what's

going on

you will um when it shows that you're

personally engaged

and you're reflecting at the same time

at least

some of the time right in the first

person so i sometimes say

all of the time right in the first

person um

but at least some of the time at least

like stop when you're reflecting right

in the first person

look at real world situations

consider different perspectives

historical global local perspectives

what what's going on

and again that might not be applicable

in your situation but

um if you can do it if you're modeling

climate change

how is this affecting a certain certain

particular particular place

in the world or the whole world or

whatever your ia should be original and

must be unique

now i've talked about this before i've

seen

many nia on

let's say modeling a basketball shot

where

let's say this guy's here he's going to

throw

he throws his basketball into the basket

right

that's not that original now it depends

what he does you could do something

really original

within that but let's just say it's not

a really original topic

well fine it's not original but and

let's say i've seen

loads of these right let's say i've seen

20 of these types of ias but none of the

20 that i've seen

have had the exact same function

that to model it because everyone's done

it

slightly different or used a slightly

different video

or a different picture or whatever

whatever they've done

so they're all unique no one's is the

same unless

you've gone out and plagiarized someone

or someone's copied someone or something

weird is going on

and finally passion and interest should

be

abundant in the overall read of the

paper so make of that what you will but

the

your teacher the reader should be able

to read it and go

yes this student is really really into

this ia

they really care about what's going on

they have made it their own they've made

this ia their own

and uh there's evidence of outstanding

personal engagement so look it's

it's it's not it's not always well it's

not easy to get three out of three here

but if you've done a really kind of

uh if you have a good aim and if you've

got a good topic

it's very possible to do okay let me

just show you

some examples now look the truth is

i i mean i have loads and loads and

loads of examples and personal

engagements that i could have shown you

um that the swimming one is obviously

full of personal engagement because it's

a very personal one

this is the snowboarding one again so

look

snowboarding he's gone to ski dubai he's

gone to the trouble of modeling this

he's learned how to new how to use

logger pro

he the mathematics is actually

useful for his uh

real life situation so look definitely

three out of three personal engagement

for that one

um another one i wanted to show you was

okay this one this ia here was

so this is our school and he's modeling

the school in order to find he wants to

find the area

of the front of the school and to see

how much paint

they will use to paint this front of the

school now

like i wanted to show you this example

because you could say

like you could say well this is this is

obviously

he's just m he's just made up a problem

to fit to to solve that would fit or

make a nice ia

well maybe he has and like you could say

why would he possibly care about that

area of the front of the school

that's a fair question why would anyone

care about what that is unless you're

actually going to be buying the paint

um well fine maybe he doesn't

maybe he doesn't fully care about that

final answer but you can tell from

reading the ia that

he definitely cares about all these

functions he cares about the

about how to fit how to create the model

and it's there's personal engagement

is all over this it's all over this

paper

so he's learned how to i mean like i

never taught him how to how to do any of

this

he's just gonna figure out how to do it

by himself so um

that's an example of an ia that is

um yeah full of personal engagement last

one i want to show you is

okay with this like this is an ia that's

totally

not i wanted i wanted to give you

an example of an a that is totally not

um

a personal journey or story whatever

that this is simply um investigating if

the probability of a

m by n sliding puzzle game is

determinable from a given

arrangement so it's literally this game

and he's trying to find the probability

of um well he's trying to find whatever

that aim said there

and look if this is a definitely not

an ia that i recommend people to do

but definitely nia that is three out of

three for personal engagement

because he's totally engaged

in the ia and he's totally made the ia

his own

and he's gone and used mathematics

that's that is

this is a higher level ia but he's gone

and used my mathematics

that is not necessarily beyond the

course but certainly not

in the higher level course and this

actually took me

hours and hours just to try and

understand it so um that yeah

personal engagement isn't just about you

doing

uh a snowboard jump you can get personal

engagement

in many many different ways and well

this kind of shows it shows um the main

ways to do it okay so that's personal

engagement

ideally you can get three out of three

surely

everyone should be getting two out of

three in personal engagement

next video i will show you is

reflection