In the final year of the programme, each student completes a personal project, a significant piece of work that is the product of the student’s own initiative and creativity.
Each project must reflect a personal understanding of the areas of interaction. The process and finished product must allow the student to investigate and focus on a theme, topic and/or issue closely connected to at least one area of interaction of the MYP. Students apply the skills acquired throughout the earlier years of the programme.
Students are expected to choose their project, which can take many forms, and take the process through to completion under the supervision of a teacher in the school. This involves:

Planning
Research
A high degree of personal reflection.
Types of Personal Project

The personal project may take many forms, for example:

An original work of art (visual, dramatic, or performance)
A written piece of work on a special topic (literary, social or psychological)
A piece of creative writing
An original science experimentAn invention or specially designed object or system
The presentation of a developed business, management, or organizational plan.

Assessment
The personal project is assessed by teachers against a set of IB assessment criteria and students must achieve a level 3 or above to be awarded the MYP certificate.

Introduction to the Areas of Interaction
From its beginning, the MYP has been guided by three fundamental concepts:

Holistic learning
Intercultural awareness
Communication

Holistic learning emphasizes the links between subjects. Intercultural awareness encourages students to learn about and value their own and others’ culture. Communication is deemed fundamental to learning as well as being an essential life skill. These concepts should guide curriculum design and school activities.The eight subject groups in the MYP provide a broad traditional knowledge base and they are linked by the five Areas of Interaction (AoI):

Approaches to Learning
Community and Service
Homo Faber (Human Ingenuity from August 2008)
Environment (Environments from August 2008)
Health and Social Education

These areas of interaction allow for connections among the subjects themselves and between the subjects and the world outside the classroom. For example, the Health and Social Education AoI could be used to link the work done in several subject groups on the topic of safety: P.E. could address safety by looking at strategies for injury prevention or first aid, while mathematics could analyse accident statistics. Alternatively, Language B could develop safety vocabulary and suitable grammar structures, while science and technology could focus on the proper use of tools and lab equipment. In this way, connections are made between subjects so that holistic learning is encouraged.