核心 · 经验规划与反思

IB Diploma Programme Creativity, Activity, Service (core component, taken at both levels; 2016 guide). CAS is a continuing programme of experiences in the three strands over the eighteen months of the diploma, one collaborative CAS project CAS项目 of at least a month's duration, and a portfolio 学习档案 of evidence showing each of the seven learning outcomes 学习成果 at least once. This handout teaches the strands, the outcomes, the project and the reflection 反思 that carries it. All worked examples are original.

Must-know for creativity, activity, service:

CAS runs through three strands: CREATIVITY (arts and beyond: making, performing, thinking of new things), ACTIVITY (physical exertion contributing to a healthy lifestyle) and SERVICE (collaborative and reciprocal engagement with the community, with the school's approval and the community's real need). Completion is judged on the seven learning outcomes, each evidenced at least once: identify own strengths and areas for growth; demonstrate that challenges were undertaken, developing new skills; demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience; show commitment to and perseverance; demonstrate the skills and benefits of working collaboratively; demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance; and recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions.

Worked example. A student's term: the school play's lighting design (creativity, new skill), a weekly swim club (activity, perseverance), and a library reading scheme for younger students (service, planned with the librarians' real need): three strands, several outcomes, one portfolio.

The CAS project is collaborative: a team engages others and sustains the work over at least one month, conceived by the students, not assigned. The portfolio is the evidence trail: plans, photographs, records and reflections, organized so each learning outcome can be seen at least once. The discipline: evidence over assertion (the portfolio shows the play's lighting plot evolving, not a claim of growth), and coverage over quantity (one outcome evidenced well beats five experiences listed).

Worked example, continued. The project: a team of four runs a month-long repair cafe (service and creativity, engaging fifteen volunteer fixers): stages from proposal to evaluation owned by the team, the portfolio carrying each stage's evidence against the collaborative and ethical outcomes.

CAS reflection is ongoing and meaningful: during (what is this asking of me?), after (what did I learn, and what would I change?), and later (how did it change what I did next). The failure modes: the diary (events without learning), the alibi (one sentence of growth bolted onto a photograph), and the end-of-course dump (reflection reconstructed at the end cannot show development). The strongest reflections name a real decision and its consequence.

Worked example, concluded. The repair-cafe reflection that counts: the team planned for twenty visitors and got six, traced the overestimate to advertising inside the school only, and moved the posters to the community centre: a decision, an evidence trail, and a changed outcome.

A second worked example. A student's service strand: a weekly reading scheme for younger students, planned with the librarians' real need. Mid-programme the reflection earns its keep: attendance fell from nine readers to five, the student traced the drop to the sessions clashing with choir practice, and moved the slot an hour later; attendance returned to eight. The portfolio carries the decision (the clash, the move), the evidence (the attendance counts), and the consequence (readers returned) against the commitment and the ethics outcomes: not a diary of hours, but a decision with its trail.

• Three strands each explored over the programme (strands).
• Seven outcomes, each evidenced at least once (outcomes).
• One student-conceived collaborative project, a month minimum (project).
• Reflection during, after and later; decisions and consequences (reflection).
• The portfolio showing evidence over assertion (portfolio).

Boundary notes: the school must see the learning: outcomes evidenced, the project student-owned, the reflection honest. All worked examples are original.