The World is Your Classroom Personal Inquiry Project

Project Requirements and Expectations

Getting Started:

1. Documenting the Process: Your Process Journal

Your process journal is where you will document your learning throughout your project. You can keep your
journal as a word document, create a blog, portfolio, video or use any format you like to maintain it.

You must show your Inquiry Supervisor (one of the teachers organizing the trip), Learning Mentor and
travel club peers evidence of your process documented in your journals when you meet with
him/her/them.

The Process Journal IS: The Process Journal ISNT:

Used throughout the project to document its Used on a daily basis unless this is useful for the student
development
A place to record initial thoughts and developments, Written up after the process has been completed
brainstorming, possible lines of inquiry and further
questions raised
A place for recording interactions with sources such as Additional work on top of the project; it is part of and
teachers, supervisors, outside contributors supports the project
A place to record selected research and to maintain a A diary with detailed writing about what was done
bibliography
A place for storing useful information such as A static document with only one format
quotations, pictures, ideas, photographs
A means of exploring ideas and solutions An essay
A place for evaluating work completed
A place for reflecting on learning
Devised by the student in a format that suits his or her
needs
A record of reflections and feedback received

In your process journal you should:

o Date every entry
o Aim for one entry every week. Entries can include:
Brainstorming, thinking maps
Notes, charts, short paragraphs
Notes on what has been learned from research
Bibliography of resources
Pictures, sketches, photographs
Self and peer assessment
Challenges/difficulties faced
Questions to ask your supervisor and answers received
Feedback from peers
2. Choose your inquiry topic

As you think about choosing your inquiry topic, consider the following questions to get you started:

What is something I have always wanted to learn but have never had the opportunity?
Why did I choose to go on this trip? What is it about the destination that interests me?
What can I learn now that will make the trip experience more meaningful to me?
What are my future goals and how can I use this trip to explore my areas of interest?
What do I know about the destination? What can I learn from the people, history or culture?

Example topic: Photography

3. Select a Learning Mentor

Once you have a general idea of your inquiry topic, identify a teacher in the International School with whom
you will meet at least once a month and who will help to guide you through your project

Your Learning Mentor should be a current teacher of yours whose subject area is most closely
related to your general topic
Your Learning Mentor should be one of your current teachers so that
o You have regular contact with them
o They have subject/discipline expertise to share with you
o You can receive extra credit in their current class for this project
If you cannot find a Learning Mentor related to your general topic, or if the appropriate teacher
does not wish to assist you in this project, please meet with your Inquiry Supervisor as soon as
possible to find and alternative

Example Learning Mentor: Art or Technology teacher

4. Develop your SMART goal

You should develop a goal that you can accomplish, but that challenges your knowledge, skills or
techniques in an appropriate way. Make sure that you can achieve your goal with the time and resources
available to you. Discuss your goal with your Learning Mentor and your Inquiry Supervisor to make sure it
is realistic, not too simple or too complex.

Example Goal: Produce a supplementary coffee table style photography book to go with the yearbook which
documents the travel club experience.

5. Develop your criteria for success

How will you know that your project is successful? This is probably the only time that you not only get to
select your topic but also get to determine how your project will be evaluated. You will create your own
 rubric that will be used by your Learning Mentor to evaluate your project. Working with your Learning
Mentor and Inquiry Supervisor, you decide what constitutes a high-quality product/outcome.

You should not define your criteria until you have spent some time researching your goal. Your criteria
should only be determined once you have a clearer understanding of what you want to achieve and what
your product/outcome will be.

Example Criteria for Success: would take into consideration photographic composition, publishing design
choices, accompanying photo descriptions etc.

6. Develop your process

Determine the steps you will take to reach your goal. Prior knowledge will influence your work but you
must show evidence of new learning throughout your project, therefore:
Research will be a necessary component of your projects process
You must select a range of sources and a variety of source types including: subject-area content,
people, personal experience, survey data, published media, internet resources, interviews, video or
audio recordings, images etc.

Example process: research photography skills, interview yearbook staff for pointers, watch videos on how to
take good photographs, research the aesthetics of photography, sample coffee table books as examples,
attend a workshop, study trip itinerary to plot out expected chapters of book and what images you hope to
capture

7. Reflect! Reflect! Reflect!

You must reflect on your learning throughout your project. These reflections must be included in your
process journal. Reflection topics include:
What am I learning? How am I learning it?
What strategies am I using to help me learn?
Whats going well?
Where am I struggling? What do I do when Im struggling? What helps?
Do I need to ask for help? Who should I ask? What do I do with the advice they give me?
Do I need to adjust my plan or goal?
How do I keep myself motivated?
Am I providing valuable feedback to my peers? How can I help them?

8. Feedback

The travel club will meet regularly to share project progress so that you may learn from each other. Each
traveler will be expected to briefly share the current progress of their project. You are expected to provide
critical feedback to your peers and to accept critical feedback from them. This is an opportunity for you to
learn from each other, both of the specific area of interest as well as the process.
9. Present Final Outcome/Product

Your final product/outcome artifact will be due 1 month after returning from the trip experience. This will
give you time to incorporate learning or evidence from the experience into your artifact.

Sample Final Outcome/Products:

Coffee table photography book
Travel guide
Song/performance
TedTALK
Movie
Speech
Art critique or work of art
Comic book
Essay

10. Final Reflection

Your final reflection can be included in your journal or written separately. It is due at the same time as
your final outcome/product.
You will use the criteria for success that you developed at the beginning of the project, along with
the rubric you designed and evaluate your final outcome/product.
The final reflection should evaluate both the final outcome/product and your learning process.
You should also answer the following question: In what ways did this personal project impact my
trip experience?
 What Are You Interested In?
Architecture
Art history

Local Dance
Art Famous
Landmarks

Traditional
Literature Crafts History War
Politics

Poetry

ELA Singers/Songs
Indigenous
people Soc
Language Movies Climate Revolutionaries

Drama/Theatre

Business
Other Economics

Urban Issues Sport & Leisure

Inventions/Discovery Photography Tech industry

Medicine

Sci Ecology
Gaming/Apps

ICT
Birds/Animals Environment