Why modify the original MYP Design Assessment Criteria? You may be like some schools that are moving away from the MYP. Your school may be headed towards a more standards-driven curriculum of instruction and assessment. If so, you have an opportunity to keep what works and improve what may not in terms of student understanding and achievement. For example, design learning expectations are made more transparent for students by modifying content and layout.
The Basics – Layout
The original MYP Design Achievement Levels are ranked from lowest to highest. These Modified MYP Design Assessment Criteria (A, B, C, and D) start with the higher achievement levels at the top of each document. Why? Well, where is the first place a student will probably look? Most students tend to start scanning for information at the top of a paper or web resource. As students reference these Modified MYP Design Assessment Criteria, they will naturally and more frequently be exposed to the 5, 6, and 7 level descriptors rather than the 1, 2, 3.
The Basics – Color
An internet search for the MYP Design Cycle produces many examples with this color arrangement:
Criterion A – Inquiring and Analyzing – Blue
Criterion B – Developing Ideas – Orange
Criterion C – Creating the Solution – Green
Criterion D – Evaluating – Red
Note: The MYP Design Cycle is sometimes called the IB Design Cycle.
Note: From Chirag Mehta’s site, the Name that Color Project produced these color names (the hex values were determined with Adobe Photoshop):
Criterion A – Inquiring and Analyzing – Cornflower Blue – #3ac5d6
Criterion B – Developing Ideas – Cream Can – #f1c953
Criterion C – Creating the Solution – Mantis – #6ebf58
Criterion D – Evaluating – Carnation – #f44a58
Each modified MYP Design Assessment Criterion(A, B, C, and D) displays small amounts of each of these colors to easily associate them with the proper part of the design cycle.
MYP Grade Boundaries – From 0-8 to 1-7
Our middle school changed from a 0-8 MYP grading scale to a 1-7 scale. This fact combined with the tendency of students to score on the higher end of the scale prompted the modification of the grade boundaries and descriptors to fall into these areas:
- 7
- 6
- 5
- 3 to 4
- 1 to 2
- NA
Design Thinking Assessment Criteria
The MYP Design Assessment Cycle and the MYP Design Assessment Criterion share commonalities with design thinking. For example, designers solve problems for an audience. Certain aspects of design thinking language can enhance MYP (e.g., an emphasis on empathy). Each modified MYP Design Assessment Criteria is available as a PDF file download and summarized as follows:
Criterion A – Define and Research a Design Problem
Students define and research a problem to be solved according to the needs of a specific audience. These needs are based on how the audience might be perceiving a problem, circumstance, or situation. By empathizing with their audience, designers are more able to fully justify the need to solve the problem.
Criterion B – Develop Ideas
Students brainstorm possibilities to solve the problem then refine these ideas with design specifications to guide the creation of a solution. Design specifications connect with the audience’s needs and adhere to realistic constraints. This process develops the best idea to become the chosen solution.
Criterion C – Plan and Create a Solution
Students plan the steps to create the solution based on the best idea, build the solution while documenting the process, and identify and justify any modifications to the plan.
Criterion D – Test and Evaluate a Solution
Students evaluate the solution against the design specifications to determine its success.
Final Essentials and Other Elements
The score, characteristics of the score (one word, at-a-glance language), and level descriptors are the headers in each of the four resources. Brainstorming is emphasized before design specifications, in Criterion B – Developing Ideas. At the younger ages, it may be more prudent to encourage and solicit creative responses before establishing the rules (i.e., design specifications). This approach may encourage students to be more inclined to buy into the lesson if possibilities seem more open at the start.
Out-of-the-box thinking and conventional methods are encouraged to develop a wide range of ideas. Why include conventional thinking too? These routine solutions may be the best design for a particular problem and audience! It’s important to encourage openness to a broad range of possible ideas regardless of a designer’s desire to produce a creative solution–a focus on the problem and audience is key. In fact with so much emphasis on innovation, pragmatic solutions may even be perceived as thinking that came from outside of the box!
The focus of these design assessment modifications are for students ages 11 to 14; however, these resources may be used for other age groups as appropriate:
Criterion A – Define and Research a Design Problem
Criterion B – Develop Ideas
Criterion C – Plan and Create a Solution
Criterion D – Test and Evaluate a Solution