Making it personal

Learning-centred methodologies have helped, but they are often maddeningly difficult to implement, especially for large classes. Customising activities can be an extremely time-consuming process for the teacher and, unless it is done well, it can be a poor learning experience for the students.

That’s why the personal projects programme for eleventh-year students at the New International School of Thailand (NIST) is so interesting. Totally student driven and implemented, it is almost the ultimate learner-centred activity. Yet it is also structured, disciplined and tightly integrated into the curriculum, ensuring that it meets a genuine academic purpose.

"I think it’s one of the most exciting things in education," says programme coordinator Leanne Shirtliffe.

The interpretive self-portrait of Malika Desai

"We talk a lot about life-long learning in education circles and I think the personal project is an example of how schools can set up a process that encourages students to become life-long learners. It makes education more meaningful than just sitting in classrooms opening books."

The personal project, says Shirtliffe, is the "culmination" of NIST’s middle years programme (MYP). It lays the groundwork for many of the independent research projects required by the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma programme in the final two years of high school.

The students choose their topic in April near the end of year 10. "They can develop whatever they want, do whatever they want, especially something they enjoy," explains Shirtliffe.

"They have to do three things. They have to create some sort of product. At the same time, they keep a process journal, a running account of what they do.

Once they’ve finished their project (typically by November), they write a personal statement of about 1500 words which explains the process, how they went about it, which research tools they used and what they would have done differently if given the chance. Then it’s assessed internally and eventually it’s sent away to the IB organisation for moderation.

"Essentially the personal statement is reflection on the process, Shirtliffe says. "That’s what they’re evaluated on. They could have a product that’s mediocre, but reflect really well on what they would do differently and still score very high."

According to Shirtliffe, all full-time secondary school teachers at NIST supervise one or two personal projects. "They give ‘gentle guidance’, make sure students are adhering to timelines and deadlines and they report any problems to me," she says.

Ismail Jamaludin wanted to help young children understand the importance of caring for our environment. He chose computer animation because of its appeal to the younger set. It was his first ever experience with the medium.

The personal projects are as diverse as the NIST students who produce them. Some seek to develop longstanding interests or talents. Others try something that is completely new to them. Some projects are intensely individual while others are oriented towards community service.

Shraddha Menon chose community-service, but her reason in doing so was, at least in part, to overcome what she deemed was a personal failing.

"I’ve always been scared of slum people, to be honest. I kept them at a distance. I thought that maybe if I tried to interact with them, it would be good for me," Shraddha explains.

That is how Shraddha ended up spending a part of her summer holidays in the teeming slums of Bombay, India, teaching a group of women how to make stuffed dolls to sell as an additional source of income.

First, however, she herself had to become proficient in doll-making. "I didn’t know how to make dolls, but I always found them attractive," Shraddha says. "In Bombay I went to a lady who teaches how to make stuffed dolls, so I learned how to make them from her."

The next step was to "adopt" a slum which she then visited regularly on a weekly basis. "When I went there I had all these thoughts. Would they kick me out or would they welcome me, but it turned out they were really nice people," Shraddha recalls.

Her first "client", a flower girl selling flowers door to door, has actually gone on to set up her own little business, Shraddra says with visible satisfaction.

What did Shraddha herself feel she learned from the project? "To face my fears – to face what I’m scared of," she replies.

Priyanka Deshmukh also chose a community-oriented project and an ambitious one at that. She set out to design a public park on the order of Bangkok’s Lumpini Park.

"Actually my idea was to design a house, but then I thought that instead of designing something for myself, which I can do any time, I thought I’d do something for the community," Priyanka explains.

Inspired by a scale model of her school, she set out to make a similar model of her park. But she also decided to go a step further by doing a computerised 3D virtual model as well.

To find out what she should include in her park Priyanka conducted several surveys of people of all ages, one in Lumpini park itself. What she wanted, she says, was something different than your run-of-the-mill park.

"Usually when you think of a park, all you think about are things like lawns and benches and just a place to sit. But what I thought is that I could do something for community that would make a difference."

In her final product, which Priyanka says has gone through several revisions, she has several distinct sections. One is for elders, conveniently located near the entrance so they don’t have to walk far to reach it. Across the way is the children’s section. It includes a bike rental area, an idea she took from the results of her surveys.

Further inside Priyanka’s park is a diversified sports section with a first-aid centre nearby to treat the inevitable injuries. Then there is a general section for picnics and a lake for boating.

At the centre of the park is a large distinctive clock tower. "It gives a certain uniqueness to the park," she says.

Priyanka says she is considering approaching the Bangkok Metropolitan Authority with her concept. Who knows? With the Thai Tobacco Monopoly scheduled to become a park, her timing could not be better.

Malika Desai took the term "personal project" very literally, using it as a tool for self-understanding. She set out to produce an interpretative self-portrait and an autobiographical novella.

"I’ve always been interested in art, so I thought I could make a self-interpretation of myself," Malika explains. Her novella would consist of "me talking about my thoughts on the global issues, my thoughts on people around me, my thoughts on myself and how I want the world to be, how I want myself to contribute to the world."

She began with an interesting self-study. "I always looked at myself idealistically, so I thought maybe it was time to look at myself from a realistic point of view," Malika says. "So I started off with research about what people thought about me and the characteristics they thought I possess."

What she discovered was a bit of a surprise. "Some people thought that I don’t think of myself a lot. But when I look at it my way, I’m selfish – it’s human nature," Malika recounts.

Priyanka Deshmukh and her public park — as a scale model (top) and virtual model (bottom).

The personal project gave many students a chance to delve deeply into a long-time interest, talent or hobby. For Dexter Maitriborirak this involved introducing a non-technical audience to the inner workings of a computer.

"Many people use a computer but they don’t know how it actually works. My project basically shows how the signal from your keyboard ends up as a letter on your screen," Dexter explains.

Not surprisingly, he used computer animation to do so, using more and more sophisticated techniques as time when by. "At first it started as a basic GIF animation and I upgraded to flash as I learned how to do it," he says.

Was he satisfied with the result? "Improvement needed," Dexter replies. "I’m planning to make it into a Shockwave presentation so it’s more interactive."

In one of the most ambitious of all the personal projects, Ken Onishi was able to combine his passion for football with his expertise in video editing to produce a VCD of highlights of last year’s World Cup.

"What I did was to record all the World Cup matches into about 50 video cassettes. From there, I took the important scenes and goals that I liked and I put them into the computer. I connected a video player to the computer and saved the images as a video file," Ken explains.

What followed was a massive editing job. Using a program called Media Studio, Ken turned his raw footage into its final form, complete with music, text and titles. Getting it into a single VCD was a major accomplishment, he says, requiring converting the original file into a more compressed MPEG format.

"It was a lot of work. I had never done this kind of long-term project," Ken says, sounding a bit surprised that he pulled it off. It was worth it, he says, and it could even form the basis for a future career.

Several musically-inclined students used their projects to get their first taste of composition. Passakorn Tangcaravakoon, who penned a three-minute classical flute composition, found the experience to be very different from performing.

"It’s hard," he says. "Some days you can’t compose – you can’t do anything at all. But other days you can and you can go as far as you want."

Even three minute’s worth of music is a painstaking process for a beginner. Passakorn began by researching different types of music. He analysed what he liked about various pieces of music and how they were arranged. He composed at the piano, he says, writing first on paper and then typing everything into the computer.

The process has been a rewarding one. "I’ve learned how to compose. I learned the different musical terms and different rhythms. I’ve also learned how to edit a piece of music and how to make the whole thing work."

Karuna Nandkishore was so moved by last year’s horrific massacre at a German school that she wrote a classical instrumental composition reflecting the emotions the people involved must have felt during that day.

"It’s meant to make the audience think about what they’ve just heard and how tragic a story like that can be," Karuna explains.

"At the beginning of the day when the students come to school, they are all happy. Later on as the day progresses, the tension starts to build. The massacre starts to occur, the police start coming to the school and then I end the music with a single gunshot showing that it’s all over and how the boy killed himself.

"I used my computer and I also got some sound effects off the Internet, such as gunshots and sirens. Then I used the electrical piano I had at home to create the baseline that I needed and then I combined everything together and it turned out to be a pretty acceptable piece," Karuna says with an obvious sense of pride.

This year’s programme culminated with a personal project’s night held early last month. The eleventh grade students were all on hand to show and explain their projects to the school community. Parents of the eleventh graders were invited as were tenth-grade students and their parents, so they could get an idea of what the personal projects involved.

This year’s eleventh-grade class was the first NIST MYP group to reach that level, so they were very much on their own in choosing the topics. Shirtliffe says she expects the next class to benefit greatly from seeing their results and the programme can only improve with time. We’ll be watching.

Danielle Berg’s personal project was entitled Bangkok Through Poetry and Photos. Here is an example of each. The Everything We Share by Danielle Berg There is not a second in this city that I can call my own and live it as if I made it. You live this minute as I live this minute caught in the same clockwise wave. And there is not a breath in this city that is solely mine because we all Inhale Exhale in one giant heave to one steady pulsating rhythm of the city. But there is as I see it, one thing I can have all to myself and that is the city.

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Last modified: May 5, 2003