CAS Project

INST­RUC­TI­ONS FOR A CAS PRO­JECT

A CAS pro­ject is a col­la­bo­ra­ti­ve, well-con­si­de­red se­ries of se­qu­en­ti­al CAS ex­pe­rien­ces, en­ga­ging stu­dents in one or more of the CAS strands of cre­a­ti­vi­ty, ac­ti­vi­ty and ser­vi­ce. Stu­dents must be in­vol­ved in at le­ast one CAS pro­ject du­ring their CAS prog­ram­me.

A CAS pro­ject:

• aims to en­su­re par­ti­ci­pa­ti­on in sus­tai­ned col­la­bo­ra­ti­on > stu­dents may dis­co­ver the be­ne­fits of te­am­work and of ac­hie­ve­ments re­a­li­zed through an exc­han­ge of ide­as and abi­li­ties
• chal­len­ges stu­dents to show ini­ti­a­ti­ve, de­monst­ra­te per­se­ve­ran­ce, and de­ve­lop skills such as tho­se of coo­pe­ra­ti­on, prob­lem-sol­ving and de­ci­si­on-ma­king.
• in­vol­ves col­la­bo­ra­ti­on bet­ween a group of stu­dents or with mem­bers of the wi­der com­mu­ni­ty
• of­fers stu­dents the op­por­tu­ni­ty to be res­pon­sib­le for, or to ini­ti­a­te, a part of or the en­ti­re CAS pro­ject
  • wor­king col­la­bo­ra­ti­ve­ly also pro­vi­des op­por­tu­ni­ties for in­di­vi­du­al stu­dents to en­han­ce and in­teg­ra­te their per­so­nal in­te­rests, skills and ta­lents into the plan­ning and imp­le­men­ta­ti­on of CAS pro­jects
• can add­ress any sing­le strand of CAS or com­bi­ne two or all three strands. The fol­lo­wing examp­les are pro­vi­ded to help ge­ne­ra­te furt­her ide­as wit­hout li­mi­ting the sco­pe and di­rec­ti­on of a CAS pro­ject:
  • Creati­vi­ty: A stu­dent group plans, de­signs and cre­a­tes a mu­ral.
  • Acti­vi­ty: Stu­dents or­ga­ni­ze and par­ti­ci­pa­te in a sports team inc­lu­ding trai­ning ses­si­ons and matc­hes against ot­her te­ams.
  • Ser­vi­ce: Stu­dents set up and con­duct tu­to­ring for pe­op­le in need.
  • Cre­a­ti­vi­ty and ac­ti­vi­ty: Stu­dents cho­re­og­raph a rou­ti­ne for their marc­hing band.
  • Ser­vi­ce and ac­ti­vi­ty: Stu­dents plan and par­ti­ci­pa­te in the plan­ting and main­te­nan­ce of a gar­den with mem­bers of the lo­cal com­mu­ni­ty.
  • Ser­vi­ce and cre­a­ti­vi­ty: Stu­dents iden­ti­fy that child­ren at a lo­cal school need back­packs and sub­se­qu­ent­ly de­sign and make the back­packs out of re­cyc­led ma­te­ri­als.
  • Cre­a­ti­vi­ty, ac­ti­vi­ty, and ser­vi­ce: Stu­dents re­he­ar­se and per­form a dan­ce pro­duc­ti­on for a com­mu­ni­ty re­ti­re­ment home.
• lasts at le­ast 10 hours with a mi­ni­mum du­ra­ti­on of one month (Ac­ti­on-sta­ge)
• is re­la­ted to Agen­da 2030 go­als

Think glo­bal­ly, act lo­cal­ly!

The five CAS sta­ges are:

1. In­ves­ti­ga­ti­on: Stu­dents iden­ti­fy their in­te­rests, skills and ta­lents to be used in con­si­de­ring op­por­tu­ni­ties for CAS ex­pe­rien­ces, as well as are­as for per­so­nal growth and de­ve­lop­ment. Stu­dents in­ves­ti­ga­te what they want to do and de­ter­mi­ne the pur­po­se for their CAS ex­pe­rien­ce. In the case of ser­vi­ce, stu­dents iden­ti­fy a need they want to add­ress.
2. Pre­pa­ra­ti­on: Stu­dents cla­ri­fy ro­les and res­pon­si­bi­li­ties, de­ve­lop a plan of ac­ti­ons to be ta­ken, iden­ti­fy spe­ci­fied re­sour­ces and ti­me­li­nes, and ac­qui­re any skills as nee­ded to en­ga­ge in the CAS ex­pe­rien­ce.
3. Ac­ti­on: Stu­dents imp­le­ment their idea or plan. This of­ten re­qui­res de­ci­si­on-ma­king and prob­lem-sol­ving. Stu­dents may work in­di­vi­du­al­ly, with part­ners or in groups.
4. Ref­lec­ti­on: Stu­dents desc­ri­be what hap­pe­ned, exp­ress fee­lings, ge­ne­ra­te ide­as, and rai­se qu­es­ti­ons. Ref­lec­ti­on can oc­cur at any time du­ring CAS to furt­her un­ders­tan­ding, to as­sist with re­vi­sing plans, to le­arn from the ex­pe­rien­ce, and to make exp­li­cit con­nec­ti­ons bet­ween their growth, ac­comp­lish­ments, and the le­ar­ning out­co­mes for per­so­nal awa­re­ness. Ref­lec­ti­on may lead to new ac­ti­on.
5. De­monst­ra­ti­on: Stu­dents make exp­li­cit what and how they le­ar­ned and what they have ac­comp­lis­hed, for examp­le, by sha­ring their CAS ex­pe­rien­ce through their CAS port­fo­lio or with ot­hers in an in­for­mal or for­mal man­ner. Through de­monst­ra­ti­on and com­mu­ni­ca­ti­on, stu­dents so­li­di­fy their un­ders­tan­ding and evo­ke res­pon­se from ot­hers.

The CAS sta­ges pro­vi­de a fra­me­work that enab­les stu­dents to:

• inc­re­a­se self-awa­re­ness
• le­arn about le­ar­ning
• exp­lo­re new and un­fa­mi­li­ar chal­len­ges
• emp­loy dif­fe­rent le­ar­ning sty­les
• de­ve­lop their abi­li­ty to com­mu­ni­ca­te and col­la­bo­ra­te with ot­hers
• ex­pe­rien­ce and re­cog­ni­ze per­so­nal de­ve­lop­ment
• de­ve­lop att­ri­bu­tes of the IB le­ar­ner pro­fi­le.