Help completing Criterion C  

 
Words: 400 -500 words 
Due date: Friday, January 26 
 
 
Criterion C: taking Action 
1) create a product/outcome in response to the goal, global context and criteria  
2) demonstrate thinking skills 
3) demonstrate communication and social skills.  
 
Level 1‑2  Level 3‑4  Level 5‑6  Level 7‑8 

creates a limited  creates a basic  creates a substantial  creates an excellent 

product/outcome in response  product/outcome in  product/outcome in response  product/outcome in response 
to the goal, global context and  response to the goal,  to the goal, global context and  to the goal, global context and 
criteria  global context and criteria  criteria  criteria 
       
demonstrates limited thinking  demonstrates adequate  demonstrates substantial  demonstrates excellent 
skills  thinking skills  thinking skills  thinking skills 
       
demonstrates limited  demonstrates adequate  demonstrates substantial  demonstrates excellent 
communication and social  communication and social  communication and social  communication and social 
skills.  skills.  skills.  skills. 
 

Task specific clarifications: 
 
 

Student justifications:  Teacher Justifications: 
 
 
 
 
Sample 1: 
 
3. Taking Action 
3.1. Create a product/outcome in response to the goal, context and criteria 
 
The process undertaken to produce this project was a long and extensive one. I began by creating a 
document to write down questions I had about my topic and found answers to my inquiries through 
researching the resources available to me, including asking MYP teachers questions in order to narrow 
down the scope and sharpen the focus of the project. (see Appendix 3) 
 
I gathered my information together and instead of just copying and pasting down what I had found, I 
decided to rewrite what I understood from my findings into my own words. This helped me to process and 
understand the information and allowed me to convey my opinions and thoughts more concisely and 
directly. I believe this prepared me a successful interviewing. 
  
3.1.1. Researching 
 
One video that I felt offered a bountiful amount of information on the topic of addiction was a video titled 
‘The Chemistry of Addiction’ by Hank Green, on his Youtube channel, Sci Show. Another resource that I felt 
added directly to my project was a web page article by 
https://www.addictionsandrecovery.org/what-is-addiction.htm. (see Appendix 7) 
 
3.1.2. Compare - Demonstrating thinking skills 
 
With the research relevant to my query collated, I compared the differences in answers between each 
source, then rewrote the information to reflect minimum bias, keeping the information objective, so as to 
be available to as large a teenage audience as possible. 
 
3.1.3. Rough draft - Demonstrating thinking skills 
 
To prepare myself for the interview, I decided that it would be best to come prepared to the meeting with a 
rough draft of a script. Seeing as previously in the process, I had written down my own personal questions 
and had answered them with full understanding, I thought I could incorporate some of the answers that I 
wrote into my script. I believed that going into the interview having prior knowledge on addictions would 
be a form of showing my respect to the professional addictions counselor who had taken time off from 
work to come meet with me as well as I would know exact terminology and topics to discuss with him which 
would be essential in order to extract as much information from the interview as possible. (see Appendix 4) 
 
3.1.4. Revising - Demonstrating thinking skills 
 
I revised over the words that had been written for my draft script and edited what I believed could have 
been better, or improved. In the MYP, we are constantly reminded to recheck our work before submission. 
The purpose of this exercise is to lessen the amount of possible mistakes that could be made as well as to 
tighten loose ends. One loose end that I found while revising, was my lack of emphasis towards my goal. I 
was able to rectify the situation by adjusting the questions I aimed to pose at the professional counselor. 
 
3.1.5. Practicing - Demonstrating communication skills 
 
Before commencing with the interview, I practiced reading my script out aloud in front of my peers, to 
receive some feedback for improvements. Majority of my peers thought that I should slow down my 
reading pace and soften my facial expressions, to create a more comfortable ambience for the counselor. I 
appreciated their feedback and understood that the more comfortable the ambience, the smoother the 
flow of the conversation. I believe that practicing in front of my peers not only grew me in my 
communication skills but also highlighted areas of communication that my peers could remember and 
incorporate into their own personal projects. 
 
 
3.1.6. The interview - Demonstrating social skills 
 
As I went in for the interview, I reminded myself of all the preparation that had been done, of knowledge 
and understanding, development of thinking and communication skills. Just thinking about the process 
that had led me to that moment spurred me on to deliver with deep conviction and to capture the interview 
to the best of my filming abilities. (see Appendix 6) 
 
3.1.7. Global Context: Identities & Relationship, and Criteria 
 
According to the IB, Identities and Relationships is, ‘An inquiry into the nature of the self; beliefs and 
values; personal, physical, mental, social and spiritual health; human relationships including families, 
friends, communities and cultures; rights and responsibilities; what it means to be human’. I believe that my 
interview directly correlated to the global context since I explored the social, physical and mental aspects 
of addictions, as well as the relationship between the change in chemical activity in the brain due to 
addiction and its effects on behavior. I also believe that my interview met all five of my specifications in my 
criteria, and it was met to the best of my abilities.  
 
 
 
Sample 2: 
Section 3 
Criterion C: Taking Action 
 
Create a product/outcome in response to the goal, context and criteria 
 
Using all the planning and steps I took during the duration of the project, the outcome was a 
success. Taking all the time to constantly re-plan and alter aspects of my outcome, allowed it to 
succeed. There are some aspects that I wish I spent a longer time perfecting and in the future I 
will plan more time for advertising. Advertising had a great impact on my outcome, as it a ected 
how many people participated and how many people become aware of the shelter. 
 
Over the course of my project I have been taking a number of photos, at the volunteering and 
the fun run itself. These captured the development of my volunteers, the stages of them bonding 
with their animals, and learning to handle the dogs. I also used pictures to capture my fun run. I 
took a photo of all the participants, volunteers and some of the workers of the animal shelter. 
(See appendix 4) 
 
Demonstrating thinking skills 
 
During my personal project I had to develop, improve and use a number of di erent thinking 
skills. I had to use reason, to explain my thought and ideas to all of the volunteers and the 
founders and workers at Animal Lovers League. I had to process the information that was 
coming from Animal Lovers League. I had to be very creative during this project, I had to think of 
solutions to the problems I faced, and to plan and organise the fun run and volunteering. I had 
to inquire into many aspects of my project, examples are if I could work with the shelter and 
details of volunteering and the event. I lacked in all of these and developed all of them through 
this project. (See appendix 6) 
 
The thinking skill I shared the most was the inquiry skills I developed, I used my experience to 
better educate my peers with communication with organisations. I explained to my pears that I 
had to constantly look into the website looking for all of the details of the organisation. I 
explained that I had to constantly revisit the website to try to answer my questions when they 
were being unresponsive. 
 
Demonstrate communication and social skills 
 
Before my personal project started my communication skills were very limited, I was very shy and 
struggled to email, talk to and convince people. I struggled to talk to many people in my year and 
the year below and wouldn't try to do anything that involves other people. The reason behind this 
I was too shy and unconfident to be able to be a leader, communicator or be persuasive. 
 
During my project I was able to bring myself out of my comfort zone and develop many 
communication skills, as my project consisted of a lot of communication. The communication in 
my project started in the very second week, and continued to the very end of my project. (See 
appendix 3). The ways my communication skills developed was through email, talking to people in 
my year and other years, calling, messaging, and verbally communicating with Animal Lovers 
League. The reason behind having to communicate in so many di erent ways was, it was very 
di cult to communicate e ectively with the shelter. When I were to email the shelter, they would 
take a very long time to reply, when I called the shelter they wouldn't answer my questions. I was 
finally able to communicate with the shelter through text messaging with two main volunteers 
and the founder, going through all these steps allowed me to become confident with 
communicating and able to use a multiple number of di erent ways of communication. (See 
appendix 1,5,6) 
 
Going through all the steps to get e ective and stable communication with Animal Lovers 
League, I became a little of an expert with persuasion and determination. I had to constantly 
persuasive Animal Lovers League to communicate. I also realized for an organisation that relies 
solely on the help of others it was very hard to help the shelter, I passed this onto my peers. I told 
my peers that if they were to help a shelter or other organisations it might be really di cult to 
communicate with them, as it was also di cult to communicate with other shelters. (See 
appendix 1,3,5)   
 
 
 
Sample 3:  
       
Section 3 
Criteria C: Taking Action 
 
Create a product/outcome in response to the goal, context and criteria 
 
The product created at the end of this project was a short cookbook consisting of 8 dishes with historical background from various 
locations around the world. The idea was to bind all the dishes in a uniform matter, but for the reader to be able to see clear di erences 
between the influences and culture in each dish and area it was from. The cookbook is a response for my goal, which was to explore the 
di erence in countries histories and their e ect on cuisine. The compilation of dishes from past/present lead to 8 formulated dishes that 
are recipes written by myself, in regards to cultural expression of each place. From the process of researching the history of each region 
and personally experiencing elements of each culture, the recipes written myself yet being heavily influenced by common 
recipes/traditional recipes. The final cookbook is shown in Appendix H, complete with the table of contents and photos of each dish as I 
created them. 
 
Demonstrating thinking skills 
 
Some of the thinking skills I had when starting this project include solving problems, linking ideas together and seeing connections. These 
thinking skills aided my transition between each phase of the project. The main thinking skill I lacked when starting this project was 
making decisions. Decision making is an important leadership skill to have as well, in the sense that you can direct your own path and lead 
your own way to the outcomes you wish to achieve. They were critical to the project as without decisions, I would not have finished in the 
timeframe given to us at the start of the project. The main thinking skill I shared with peers was to aid them in making connections 
between their data collection and planning; assisting their transition from one phase to another. 
 
 
Demonstrate communication and social skills 
 
As an extrovert and one who enjoys socializing with others, my communication and social skills were quite e ective at the start of this 
project. However, most of my communication occurred with individuals who I was comfortable with, as I am not very accustomed to change 
of environment. Despite travelling often, for the most recent years of my life I have been situated in the same place. I had some trouble 
communicating and finding people to communicate with when searching for a diversity of sources for traditional dishes of each country. 
This project aided me in developing communication skills with those from a di erent cultural background. Learning gradually how to 
communicate with people about their di erences to add to the cultural aspect that was a part of my goal from the start of the project. I 
shared some communication tips such as speaking openly, speaking with use of hand gestures and visual pictures. I shared this skill with 
my peers who were also conducting projects about cultural expression, as it is a skill that will be used often in the future when I travel on 
my own and they will as well. I shared the skill through practicing using only visual cues with them to explain something, therefore 
practicing how to simplify actions. This also aided me with later writing of steps for each of my recipes, to address my target audience.  
 
 
 
 
Sample 4:  

Taking action 
 
Demonstrate thinking skills, communication skills and social skills 
In order to complete my Photography BlogSpot I had to critically and creatively think to solve 
problems that occurred throughout the process. I have broken down each stage of creating my 
Photography BlogSpot into photography elements and blog creating with examples of how I have 
demonstrated my critical and creative thinking. 
 
Colour Balance On the morning I set out to capture photos with accurate colour balance, the 
natural light was clouded by some dark clouds from 8am until 9am so I missed some valuable 
lighting time for accurate colour balance, however, I was able to compensate this by ensuring 
that I choose subject matter such as the Chinese Good Luck Charms and Lassi Stall, as these were 
not blocked by shadows and I could apply the research from ‘Introduction to White Balance’ by 
Darren Rowse to my product. I held up a white sheet of paper next to these two scenes, held the 
shutter half way down and then turned the lens to the scene and took the photo. This research 
enabled my two images that capture colour balance to show a “truer colour cast”. By applying the 
photography element of colour balance to these photographs, I was able to capture aesthetically 
pleasing images that capture the multicultural nature of the Parap Markets. 
 
Lighting 
As the natural lighting from the sun was clouded by dark clouds, I had to work extra hard to 
capture the best lighting. I wanted my lighting photos to capture the soft light that shines 
through the colour tarps above the Parap Markets stalls. To compensate for this I chose to apply 
my researched information from ‘The Complete Beginners Guide to Natural Light’ by Andrew 
Gibson by taking these two photos “from a long angle which reveals form and texture.” By 
applying the photography element of lighting to these photographs, I was able to capture 
aesthetically pleasing images that capture the multicultural nature of the Parap Markets. 
 
Perspective 
I struggled to find the correct place at the Parap Markets to demonstrate forced perspective 
without intruding on very busy stallholders. I ended up deciding to use my favourite raspberry 
smoothie cup and a dish of noodles to demonstrate my research of forced perspective. I chose to 
incorporate both Steve McCurry’s advice from the Vlog ‘Nine Photo Composition Tips’ with Jeff 
Meyers article ‘10 Rules for Photo Composition’ to take these two images. I chose to use the 
natural lines of the silver bench and the edges of the table to natural frame these objects as per 
Steve McCurry’s advice. I also incorporated Jeff Meyers advice to ‘fill the frame’ to give a more 
‘interesting take on things.’ By applying the photography element of perspective to these 
photographs, I was able to capture aesthetically pleasing images that capture the multicultural 
nature of the Parap Markets. 
 
Composition 
When taking my photographs that capture composition effectively I transferred Jeff Meyer’s 
advice in ’10 Rules for Photo Composition’ by simplifying the scene and using the rule of thirds. I 
chose to simply photograph simple scenes with aesthetically pleasing composition of focussing 
on just one stall with human movement. When taking my second photograph to capture 
composition I chose to apply the rule of thirds and framing as recommended by both Steven 
McCurry on this Vlog and Jeff Meyer to effectively capture the composition of the Indonesian 
stall. By applying this photography element of composition, I was able to capture aesthetically 
pleasing images that capture the multicultural nature of the Parap Markets. 
 
Creating the BlogSpot Creating my Photography BlogSpot took a total of 10 hours, as I needed to 
update my MacBook Pro to OS X Yosemite to use the addNons necessary for WordPress. The 
process of creating a WordPress BlogSpot was very straightforward. By following the information 
presented by Andrew Gibson in the article ‘How to create a Photography Website with WordPress’ 
I was able to create this BlogSpot and upload my images with the correct headings in no time. 
I had to creatively think of the best way to make sure my Photography BlogSpot was aesthetically 
pleasing and complimented by photographs. I chose to transfer Lauren Lim’s advice from the 
article ‘The Secrets of Successful Photography Blogging’ and “be consistent in the layout of your 
blog”, “go for quality over quantity” and “use descriptive and meaningful titles.” I chose to use a 
simple Calibri font that has smooth lines and allows lots of white space. As I had already chosen 
to use just eight photographs, I was able to ensure I had quality images, over a large quantity of 
images with limited quality. (see Appendix 6)