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Getting to know Personal and Professional Skills
We want you to embrace how PPS can be the heart of your CP experience. This is the place where you can truly get a sense of yourself and your development through the five themes of Personal Development, Intercultural Understanding, Effective Communication, Thinking Processes and Applied Ethics. You will have the skills to see and understand your development in many different contexts whether that be in your school courses, home life or your interaction with the wider world. These modules allow you to connect all your courses through PPS.
Where to start?
This term we start out with four modules which encompass all the five themes. Each module has an introductory page as you see below and then two further learning engagemnets each. Let's look at the first one:
Module 1: Who am I?
Who am I?Welcome to Module 1 where we will explore what makes us tick and how that knowledge can help us grow as learners in lots of different settings. Over the following activities, module 1 will explore...
How is it designed?
If you have had a look above, you will notice that each page has individual and collaborative work and asks you to explore various elements of your CP course. Each page is also built with a Prepare, Activate, Explore, Develop, Reflect and Extend structure. Have a look at the following which will give you a taste of what to expect
This is where we might build on your previous understanding and tell you what you need to do to get the most out of the activity. Most importantly, we address WHY you are doing it. You might see a sign like or another part of the course as a context.
Remember your process journal should accompany
This is an activity to get you into the topic and identifying your first thoughts and preconceptions. It could involve discussion with a sign like this.
you will find videos, text, activities and podcasts throughout the learning engagement with signs like this.
In addition to the resources you will find, it's time for build some ATL skills here around the topic whether that be Research, Communication, Social, Thinking or Self-management. It always focus on you doing. You will find ATL implicitly and explicitly explored in every module. We zoom in on particular aspects at relevant times.
This is an opportunity to go deeper into ideas and develop skills such as critical and creative thinking. It is always easier to access these skills if you build up your understanding first. You might be asked to reflect in different ways and create presentations as examples.
This is the part where you get to consider what you truly think about what you have explored. An IB student tends to leave school with more self-awareness than the average student (sweeping statement but true!) and that can be put down a course that allows you time to consider the processes you are going through! However, reflection can look like many things so it's important not only to use this skills but actually see the worth in it!
A hugely important part of all learning is how you will transfer it into different parts of your life so here we prompt you to consider the wider significance and impact on your life. Here are just a few of the signs you might see.
Also transferring ideas to different contexts let us build up a conceptual understanding of the world and how everything is connected.
Why not explore more?
These first four modules are designed to introduce you and explore the 5 themes using real-world contexts and link to your whole CP experience.
Module 2: Who am I with others?
The world in which I liveWhat role does culture play in your life? How do you connect what is happening directly around you with what is happening globally? Here we start to explore the significance of...
Module 3: Applying Ethics
Why are Applied Ethics so important to the CP?The IB's mission statement refers to the importance of appreciating how 'other people with their differences, can also be right'; with the theme of Applied...
Module 4: Thinking for myself
Working towards being independentAs you progress through your CP, you will have already heard words that crop up in lots of different areas. For example, compare, contrast, evaluate, synthesise, imagine...
Selected Pages
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Module 5: The Adaptable Communicator Free
Responding to contextIn this introduction, we start thinking about the workplace and how you are already developing skills...
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Module 6: Who am I becoming? Free
Works in progressBy the time you look at this module, you will have been doing the CP for a while. You will have experiences...
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Module 1: Who am I? Free
Who am I?Welcome to Module 1 where we will explore what makes us tick and how that knowledge can help us grow as learners...
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M7.2 Creative thinking in DP subjects
Thinking creatively is everywhere!We have been exploring how thinking creatively is about risk-taking as you have to step...
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M7.1 Critical thinking
Why does everyone go on about critical thinking?'Critical thinking' is a term you have undoubtedly heard time. We know apparently...
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M7.2 Thinking in creative ways
What are the benefits of thinking in different ways?Imagine. Predict. Innovate. All words that demand independent thought...