CAS handbook

CAS
 CAS Handbook

Introduction

Why CAS?
CAS is meant to give you, a chance to have a set of worthwhile and fun
experiences that van be the highlight of your Diploma Programme i” CAS is at the
heart of the Diploma Programme and isn’t an isolated part of the IB diploma. The
skills and values you will develop within CAS will help your academic subjects.
CAS encourages you to see the links between what you learn in class and the
experiences you have outside of it.

The aims of CAS

The CAS programme aims to develop students who:

 Enjoy and find significance in a range of CAS experiences

 Purposefully reflect upon their experiences
 Identify goals, develop strategies and determine further actions for personal growth
 Explore new possibilities, embrace new challenges and adapt to new roles
 Actively participate in planned, sustained, and collaborative CAS projects
 Understand they are members of local and global communities with
responsibilities towards each other and the environment.
 CAS Handbook

CAS Strands

CAS consists of three strands, each experience you engage in, must include
at least one of these strands.

C – Creativity :
‘Exploring and extending ideas leading to an original or interpretive product or
performance’

The creativity strand opens up a lot of opportunities for you to do

something you have always wanted to do or take things to a new level of
accomplishment.
Creativity could be anything that involves arts and other experiences that
involve creative thinking. From learning salsa to creating your own app or
website, writing poetry or develop a plan to reduce your family’s greenhouse
gas emissions.

Approaches to creativity:
There are many approaches to the creativity strand, such as:

 Ongoing creativity:
You may already be engaged in creativity as part of a school group or
club, or through some other form of sustained creativity. You may
continue this as part of creativity; however, you will be encouraged to
further extend and develop your participation if appropriate.

 School-based creativity:
You are encouraged to participate in meaningful creativity and to explore
you own sense of original thinking and expression. In school, there may be
appropriate creativity opportunities in which you can engage. These
experiences could be part of the school’s CAS projects, a school club or
other opportunities.

 Community based creativity:

Participating in creativity within the local community advances your
awareness and understanding of interpersonal relationships with others,
particularly if the creativity experience involves the local community.
For example, you could join a community-based theatre group
contribute towards a community art gallery, create sculpture for the
community park, take cooking classes or other opportunities.

 Individual creativity:
You may decide that you wish to engage in solitary creativity experiences
such as composing music, developing a website, writing a compilation of
short fiction stories, designing furniture, creating arts and crafts, or
painting a series of portraits. Such creativity experiences are of most
benefit when they take place over an extended duration of time. You can
be encouraged to set personal goals and work towards these in a sustained
manner.
 CAS Handbook

A – Activity:
‘Physical exertion contributing to a healthy lifestyle’.

This strand encourages you to do something physical that will benefit your
wellbeing. You might take up yoga, go to the gym or any outdoor activity such
as climbing. It might be something totally new to you or something that you
already like and try to take to a new level of accomplishment.

Approaches to activity
There are many approaches to activity, such as:

 Ongoing activity:
You may already be engaged in activity as part of a school team or club, or
through some other form of sustained physical exercise. You may continue
in this as part of your activity; however, you should set personal goals in
keeping with the principles of CAS. You will be encouraged to further
extend and develop their participation if appropriate.

 School-based activity:
You are encouraged to participate in meaningful activity that benefits
your physical well- being. In school there may well be appropriate
activity opportunities in which you can engage. You may elect to
initiate a school-based activity such as basketball or tennis and engage
other CAS students or any student within the school.

 Community-based activity:
Participating in activity within the local community advances your
awareness and understanding of interpersonal relationships, particularly
if the activity experience involves members of the local community.
However, single events of activity can lack depth and meaning. When
possible, activity experiences best occur with a regularity that builds and
sustains relationships while allowing the growth of physical well being
for yourself. For example, rather than a single activity experience at a
community-based fun run, students could be encouraged to join a
community-based running club, a dance class, an aerobics class or an
out-of-school sports group.

 Individual activity:
You may decide that you wish to engage in solitary activity experiences
such as, for example, attending a gym, bicycling, roller-skating,
swimming, or strength conditioning. Such activity experiences are of most
benefit when they take place over an extended duration of time.
Students can be encouraged to set personal goals and work towards these
in a sustained and correctly applied manner.
 CAS Handbook

S – Service:
‘Collaborative and reciprocal engagement with communities in response to an authentic
need ‘.

Service is meant to be a social act working with people outside of the family an
not for a profit. Unpaid and voluntary exchange that has a leaning benefit for you
as a student. The aim for you to contribute in your own way to make the world a
better place. Because service has a direct impact on others, it is very important
for it to be well-planned to ensure the impact is positive.

Approaches to service
There are many approaches to service, such as:

 Ongoing service:
When investigating a need that leads to a plan of action implemented
over time, you develop perseverance and commitment. You observe how
your ideas and actions build on the contributions of others to effect
change. Your reflections may show deeper awareness and knowledge of
social issues.

 School-based service:
While you are encouraged to participate in meaningful service that
benefits the community outside school, there may well be appropriate
service opportunities within the school setting. In all cases an authentic
need must be verified that will be met through your action. Service needs
met at a school may prepare you for further action within the larger
community; for example, by tutoring within the school, you may then be
better prepared to tutor at a community centre.

 Community-based service:
Participating in service within the local community advances your
awareness and understanding of social issues and solutions. However,
single incidents of engagement with individuals in a service context can
lack depth and meaning. When possible, interactions involving people in
a service context best occur with a regularity that builds and sustains
relationships for the mutual benefit of all. For example, rather than a
single service experience at a retirement facility, you can decide to
establish regular visits when they realize their efforts are valued and have
reciprocal impact.

 Immediate need service:

In response to a disaster, you could want to move towards immediate
action. Typically you quickly attempt to assess the need and devise a
planned response. Later, you can be reminded and encouraged to further
investigate the issue to better understand underlying causes. This provides
greater context even if the service action has already taken place. With
increased knowledge, you may commit to ongoing assistance, for example,
 CAS Handbook
such as joining with prevention or community resilience initiatives
regarding an environmental issue.

 Fundraising:
The preferred approach is for most students to initially develop their
understanding of the organization they choose to support and the issues
being addressed. You can draw from your interests, skills and talents to
plan the method and manner of fundraising. Ideally, you directly
communicate with the organization and establish accountability for funds
raised.
Sharing the rationale for the fundraising educates others and advocates the
chosen cause. You can also be asked to consider other ways to augment
their contribution through direct, advocacy, or research service.

 International service:
You are encouraged to participate locally in service before considering
service opportunities outside the country. When participating in
international service, you must understand the

background and the circumstances of an identified and authenticated need

to support your involvement. When direct communication with an
overseas community is not possible, you could cooperate with an outside
agency to provide an appropriate service. You do benefit from serving in
an international context when able to make clear links to parallel issues in
your local environs and they understand the consequences of your service.

 Volunteerism:
You could volunteer in service experiences organized by other students,
the school or an external group. In such cases, you benefit from prior
knowledge of the context and the service need. Being informed and
prepared increases the likelihood that your contribution will have
personal meaning and value. Utilizing the CAS stages prior to
volunteering is highly recommended.

 Service arising from the curriculum:

Teachers can plan units with service learning opportunities in mind,
students may or may not respond and act. For example, while studying
freshwater ecology in environmental systems and society, you could
decide to monitor and improve a local water system.
 CAS Handbook

Overview of CASiii

 Your CAS programme begins at the start of DP 1 and continues regularly,

ideally on a weekly basis, for at least 18 months, with a reasonable
balance between Creativity, Activity and Service. Some of you
experiences have to take place outside school.

 You will spend roughly 3-5 hours per week on CAS. This includes the
time you spend undertaking the experience, recording evidence of
participation and on reflection. ( CAS is emphatically not about counting
hours, hour counting is the worst measure of a meaningful CAS program.

 You are expected to maintain a CAS portfolio, on ‘Managebac’, as

evidence of your engagement in CAS. The CAS portfolio is a collection
of evidence that showcases your CAS experiences, and reflections on
the learning outcomes.

 Completing CAS is based on your achievement of the seven CAS

learning outcomes. Through your CAS portfolio you must provide
evidence that demonstrates achievement of each learning outcome.

 You will engage in CAS experiences involving one or more of the

three CAS strands. A CAS experience can be a single event or may be
an extended series of events.

 At least one of your CAS experiences should be a CAS project. This is a

collaborative and sustained experience of at least one month’s duration
that challenges you to show initiative, demonstrate perseverance, and
develop skills such as problem solving, and decision-making. Your CAS
project can address any single strand of CAS, or combine two or all three
strands. You should use the CAS stages as a framework for implementing
your project.

 You should use the CAS stages (investigation, preparation,

action, reflection and demonstration) as a framework for CAS
experiences and the CAS project

 There will be three documented interviews that you will have with the CAS coordinator.

 CAS emphasizes reflection, which is central to building deep and rich

experiences in CAS. Reflection informs your learning and growth by
allowing you to explore ideas, skills, strengths, limitations and areas for
further development and consider how you might use prior learning in
new contexts. You should reflect at least 3 times during an experience
throughout the stages ending with a self-assessment form.
 CAS Handbook

CAS Criteria

CAS must:
 Fit within one or more of the CAS strands
 Be based on personal interest, skill, talent or opportunity for growth
 Provide opportunities to develop the CAS learning outcomes
 Not be used or included in your Diploma course requirements.

CAS should:
 Support, and be supported by the academic disciplines
Can you think of any experiences, which give you the opportunity to use
skills or knowledge that you have gained in one of your academic subject
areas. You can use these in a real world setting in order to help you refine
them. (See Appendix CAS and the DP subjects)

 Foster international mindedness

It is important that at least some of your experiences challenge you to
activity engage in issues of global importance. Experiences that require
you to think about think about topics that are global important can be used
to act locally.

 Develop self-awareness and a sense of identity

Through the experiences and your reflections, you should try to evaluate
yourself as well, think about your strengths and areas for growth. Perhaps
things you like or dislike, your moral principles etc. Work out what is
important to you in life and how to use your talents to make a better
world.
 CAS Handbook

Learning outcomes
The CAS learning outcomes are extracted from the IB learner profile
characteristics. It is not necessary to thick all the learning outcomes in your
experiences all at ones. You should try to only select the ones that are applicable
for that specific experience. You are required to present evidence, demonstrating
achievement of all seven CAS learning outcomes. Much of that evidence will
come from reflection on your CAS experiences and projects.

 Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth

You are able to see yourself as an individual with various skills and abilities,
some more developed than others, and understand that you can make choices
about how you wish to move forward.

 Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process
A new challenge may be an unfamiliar activity, or an extension to an existing
one. The acquired or developed skills may be shown through the experiences
you have not previously undertaken or through an increased expertise in a
familiar area.

 Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience

It can be shown in activities that are part of larger projects, for example,
ongoing school activities in the local community, as well as in small student-
led activities. You should use the CAS stages from forming the idea to execute
your plan.

 Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences

At a minimum, this implies attending regularly and accepting a share of
the responsibility for dealing with problems that arise in the course of
activities.

 Demonstrate skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively

Collaboration can be shown in many different activities, such as team sports,
playing music in a band, or helping in a kindergarten. You are able to identify,
demonstrate and critically discuss the benefits and challenges of collaboration
gained through CAS experiences.

 Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance

You may be involved in international projects but there are many global issues
that can be acted upon locally or nationally, for example environmental
concerns or caring for the elderly. You should identify and demonstrate your
understanding of these global issues, make responsible decisions, and take
appropriate action in response to the issue.

 Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions.

Ethical decisions arise in almost any CAS experience (for example, on the
sports field, in musical compositions, in relationships with others) you should
show you awareness of the consequences of choices and actions in planning
and carrying out your CAS experiences.
 CAS Handbook

Responsibilities

Students

The relevant section of the IB programme standards and practices document

states that you should have opportunities to choose your own CAS experiences
and to undertake experiences in a local and international context as appropriate.
This means that, as far as possible, you should ‘own’ your personal CAS
programme. With guidance of the coordinator of advisor, you should select
experiences for yourself, initiating new ones when appropriate.

You are expected to:

 Approach your CAS programme with a proactive attitude, ensuring that

you develop a clear understanding of the purpose and expectations of the
programme.
 Develop an individual and meaningful CAS programme, which will span
the duration of your Diploma programme.
 Ensure a suitable balance between the different CAS strands; Creativity,
activity and service, in your individual CAS programme. You should
understand and apply the CAS stages where appropriate.
 Determine personal goals, explore your personal values, attitudes
and attributes with reference to the IB learner profile
 Discuss your plans for CAS experiences with the CAS coordinator and
CAS advisors, in both formal and informal meetings.
 Take part in a variety of experiences, some of which are self-initiated,
and at least one CAS project.
 Maintain a CAS portfolio in Managebac and keep records of CAS experiences
 Record sufficient evidence of the achievement of the seven learning
outcomes in Managebac; ensure that each learning outcome is met
multiple times throughout your CAS programme.
 Understand the reflection process and identify suitable opportunities
to reflect on CAS experiences.
 Behave appropriately and ethically in your choices and behaviors.
 Identify links between the DP core subjects / DP subjects and CAS
 Find appropriate supervisors for all CAS experiences

Advisor
The CAS advisor’s role is to provide you with mentoring and advice. CAS advisors will:

 Advise you on all aspects of the CAS programme

 Advise you on the meaning and purpose of the CAS learning outcomes
 Assist you with clarifying and developing the attributes of the IB learner profile
 Support you in understanding ethical concerns and international mindedness
 Provide feedback on your reflections
 Assist you in identifying personal and group goals
 Monitoring the range, frequency and balance of experiences undertaken
 Discuss goals and achievements in regular meetings (at least once every 2 months)
 Provide ongoing guidance and support to students
 CAS Handbook
 Advise and monitor progress towards meeting the CAS learning outcomes
 Periodically review your CAS portfolio
 Developing your powers of reflection through discussion and individual consultation
 Reading and responding to experience journals
 Helping you to make connections (for example: CAS experiences to
subject learning, local activity to global concerns) and will look for
generalizable understandings.

Coordinator

The CAS Coordinators role is to:

 Familiarize you, your parents, CAS advisors and the wider community with CAS
 Promote the importance of CAS
 Provide CAS lesson hours, once a week in which you will be educated about;
o All aspects of the CAS programme
o Meaning and purpose of the CAS learning outcomes
o Reflection
 Meet each student in three formal documented interviews
 Report on your progress to your parents
 Promote and publicize your achievements in CAS
 Provides professional development and supervise CAS advisors where appropriate
 Inform and work with CAS supervisors where appropriate
 Report completion/non-completion of CAS to the IB
 Periodically review your CAS portfolios

Supervisor
The CAS supervisor will assist you, offers guidance and will oversee you CAS
experiences when needed. For each experience you will be asked to select an
appropriate supervisor who will be able to oversee your progress. A supervisor
must be an adult, who is not a family member and should, where possible be an,
‘expert’ in the experience you choose. You should request permission of the
supervisor before you start your experience and explain them clearly what the
role involves using the information letter. If you genuinely cannot find a
supervisor for an experience you may ask you CAS advisor or coordinator to be
your supervisor.

o Give you feedback on your progress during the experience through the
supervisor review form.
o Comment on your engagement with the CAS experience
 CAS Handbook

CAS Stages

‘The CAS stages s a suggested method for approaching your CAS programme,
designed to support planning for and implementing CAS involvement. It is
recommended that the CAS stages be followed for all CAS experiences.

In figure 1 you can see two circles. The center representing the
experience as part of the process with four key elements:
Investigation, preparation, action and reflection (occurring
intermittently in response to the experience). The outer circle has
two elements and guides you in formally summarizing your
experiences: reflection and demonstration

Figure 1 - The five CAS stages iv

1. Investigation
Identify your interests, skills, and talents that you can use in your CAS
experiences, as well as areas for personal growth and development. You
investigate what you want to do and determine the purpose for your
experience. In case of service, you would identify a need you want to address.

2. Preparation
Clarify the roles and responsibilities, develop a plan of action and identify
specified resources and timelines. If necessary acquire skills needed to engage
in the CAS experience.

3. Action
This is when you would implement your idea or plan. This often requires
decision-making and problem solving. You may work individually, with
partners, or in groups.

4. Reflection
You will describe what has happened, express feelings, generate ideas, and
raise questions. Reflection can occur at any time during CAS to further your
understanding, to assist with revising plans, to learn from experience, and to
make explicit connections between your growth, accomplishments, and the
learning outcomes for personal awareness. Reflection could lead to new
action.

5. Demonstration
You will demonstrate what and how you have learned and what you have
accomplished. You will do this by sharing your CAS experiences through your
portfolio but most definitely during the CAS presentation at the end of the
course. Here you will demonstrate and communicate your learning and
understanding to others (teachers, parents, peers)
 CAS Handbook

CAS Portfolio

In order to create a good CAS portfolio each of your chosen CAS

experiences/project should include the following information:

1. Proposal (Called Summary in MB)

For each experience you will fill out a proposal, which is the first screen you
get when you create a new experience in MB. Further guidance on the
elements that need to be included can be found in appendix CAS proposal
guidance.

- Describing the experience/project

Each experience you take part in should have a detailed description
explaining exactly what it is you will do. Ensure you include the
following information:
o What you intend to do?
o When do you intend to do it, and how regularly?
o Where will it take place?
o Who will be involved in the activity with you?

- Goals
You should always formulate an appropriate goal that you will work
towards within that specific experience. These goals should be challenging
for you but not impossible to achieve. The goal that you create for the
experience is not the same as the learning outcomes. You should meet
your learning outcomes in the course of striving for your goals. Whether
you achieve your goals is not all that relevant in the end. You can use the
SMART goal format to help you to formulate an appropriate goal.

- Learning outcomes
Think carefully about which learning outcomes you will be able to
achieve through your experiences. You must demonstrate evidence for
each of them at least once in your CAS portfolio, so give yourself a
number of opportunities as part of different experiences.

- Supervisor details
All experiences must have a supervisor and their details should be
recorded in Managebac. A supervisor must be an adult, who is not a
family member and should, where possible, be ‘experts’ in the experience
you choose. You should request permission of the supervisor before you
start your experience and explain them clearly what the role involves. If
you genuinely cannot find a supervisor for an experience you may ask you
CAS advisor or coordinator to be your supervisor.

IMPORTANT
The CAS coordinator/advisor will only approve your chosen CAS experiences
once a satisfactory proposal is uploaded to Managebac. It is essential that you get
this approval before you begin your experience
 CAS Handbook

2. Evidence

Evidence can include all of the following:

 Photographs and video taken during the experience
 Investigation & preparation documents
 Proposal documents
 Anything you produced as part of the experience (E.g. documents,
flyers, artworks, slideshows, lesson plans, emails, letters etc.)
 Copies of certificates, awards, medals, logbooks, etc. awarded during the experience.
 Reflection (see below for more details)
 Supervisor reviews (see below for more details)

3. Reflection

You would do your reflection through the different stages of CAS, although
only when you really have something to reflect upon. Maybe you have
gained new insights during the investigation stage, this might be a useful
element to reflect upon in order to show your development in one of the
learning outcomes. Your reflection should try to demonstrate that you have
met the learning outcomes you have selected for that experience. Separate
reflections throughout the different CAS stages will help you to
demonstrate your learning. There are different ways in which you can
reflect, obviously you can write a journal entry but you could also think
about recording audio, record a video diary, photo essay, complete a piece
of abstract art. Try to be creative and find a medium that works for you. A
self- evaluation template should finalize each activity.

4. Supervisor Review

A written review from you supervisor, explaining what you did and the
effort and commitment you showed is an extremely important piece of
evidence. If you don’t get one the other evidence you provide is not well
backed up. Supervisor reviews can be submitted in English or Dutch, via
Managebac or on paper.
You must ask for the supervisor review immediately upon finishing the
experience. It looks very bad having to go back and ask for these 12
months later. If the supervisor is not able to complete the review online
via Managebac, you will find a hard copy of the review form in this
handbook that you can give them to complete.
 CAS Handbook

CAS Timeline
Year 1
Date Activity
Initial CAS briefings and workshop
Sept
Introducing the CAS Website and CAS handbook
Year 1 students will be involved in a collaborative CAS experience.
1st recorded experience in Managebac(MB) and approved proposal, meaning you should have
been active using Managebac by this time.
Progress meeting with your Advisor/ coordinator.

First formal meeting with your Advisor/Coordinator: You should have a plan for at least 2
OCT experience and understand how it will help you achieve some CAS learning outcomes. You are
also expected to complete the CAS planning form #1 based on your interests and goals.
Brainstorm project and experiences, and start planning your involvement in CAS over the duration
of your Diploma Programme.

Add new experiences in your portfolio and get approval

Interim 1 report (DP 1)

Plan CAS project and work on the proposal

Progress meeting with your Advisor/ Coordinator.

Nov.
CAS Project recorded in MB and proposal approved
By this time you should have completed several experiences and have the next upcoming
experience proposals approved.
CAS planning completed
Dec. By this time you should have most of your experience descriptions and supervisor details
uploaded
You should submit your first self- assessment report to the CAS coordinator

Term 1 Report (DP 1)

Jan. Semester 1 Break

CAS planning completed
Feb. (By this time you should have most of your experience descriptions and supervisor details
uploaded)
Progress meeting with your Advisor/ coordinator.

March Interim 2 report (DP1)

 CAS Handbook

April You should have demonstrated and documented substantial engagement in a number of CAS
experiences.
CAS DAY (CAS Celebration )
Second interview with coordinator: at this stage you should be able to display your progress and
May discuss both your evidence and reflection so far. Each learning outcome needs to be covered
(completed) at least 1 once at this stage.
Term 2 Report (DP1)

June Summer break

July You should continue the CAS program during the summer vacation. Right at the start of
August September, DP2, you should be ready to start with a new CAS experience again.

Year 2
Sept. Ongoing CAS experience
Year 2 participate in year 1 workshop to reflect on CAS

Progress Meeting with your CAS advisor/coordinator

Ongoing CAS experience

Progress Meeting with your CAS advisor/coordinator

Oct.
Interim 1 Report (DP2)
Nov. Ongoing CAS experience

Progress Meeting with your CAS advisor/coordinator

Dec. Ongoing CAS experience
Progress Meeting with your CAS advisor/coordinator
You are expected to be close to finishing their CAS portfolios by the end of semester 1
Term 1 Report (DP2)
Jan. Semester Break
CAS project finished (final deadline before the presentations take place) CAS project presentations
Feb.
Third interview with coordinator: at this stage you should have evidence for all of the CAS
outcomes and most of your supervisor reviews completed.
March
CAS portfolio is completed
Interim 2 Report (DP2)

April All CAS portfolios completed and ready for submission to the IBO

May DP Exam

Reflection Tools
IMPORTANT
It is imperative that your engagement in CAS demonstrates continuity throughout the
2 years of the DP. There cannot be any interruptions in your CAS timeline, even over
the summer holiday between DP 1 and DP 2.
In reflection it is important that it challenges and guides you in developing critical
thinking about your experiences. Reflection is what enables you to think critically
 CAS Handbook
about you experiences and to learn independently.

What reflection is and is not

Reflection is Reflection is not

 Honest  Only led by teachers
 Varied  Forced
 Done in many different ways  Right or wrong
 Sometimes boring  Good or bad
 Difficult  To be graded
 Sometimes creative  Copying what someone else said
 Building self-awareness  Predictable
 Necessary for learning  To be judged by others
 Surprising  Done to please someone else
 Sometimes really fun  A waste of time
 Helpful for planning  Only written
 Done alone or with others  Only discussion
 About thoughts, feelings and
ideas

Reflection throughout the different CAS stages

As described before, reflection should be an ongoing process, taking place over
time. It should influence and be influenced by your decisions and actions at
each of the CAS stages.

Reflection before: Investigation and Preparation

In the first two stages you will consider how you might use prior learning in new
contexts. It is the moment of inquiry, and provides you with opportunities to
develop decision-making skills. All three elements of the DP (EE, TOK, CAS)
should be grounded in three coherent aims, including support and be supported by
the academic disciplines. You may discover information, methods of analysis,
great ideas and proposals for significant CAS experiences in other DP subjects.
TOK may provide interesting questions to ask yourself before deciding to take
any action.

Reflection during the experience: Action

In this reflection you would focus on your actions, deal and discuss your
problem-solving skills by considering alternatives and courses of action in order
to understand what you are doing well and what needs to be improved.

Reflection after the experience: Demonstration and communication

Afterwards you will do a self-evaluation, try to take a step back from your work
and discuss your ideas, questions, share your changing perspectives and draw
conclusions and think about the learning outcomes that you have achieved. You
will demonstrate your achievement and progress of the learning outcomes by
reflecting on your CAS experiences included in your portfolio.
 CAS Handbook
The different parts of the reflection process

The reflective cycle below captures the main points of the different parts of the
reflection process. There are many ways to represent and carry out a reflection
process. What matters is that you find your own style and follow the process at
your own pace.

Reflection can be carried out in countless forms. You should be able to identify
ways of expression that you find enjoyable, and which are a good fit with the
nature of the experience and you personal learning style. You can consider any
of the following forms:

 Online: websites, blogs and other social media, apps, power point presentations
 On paper: drawing, creating a poster, letter, chart or scrapbook
 Dramatic or visual: a dramatic performance, video, audio, a verbal
presentation, a song, poem, comic strip, photography etc.

Here are some ideas to work through, with questions to guide you. Remember
this is not a linear process; these are moments that make up a whole reflection
process. You can go through the different moments in different stages.
 CAS Handbook
 Describing the situation
What happened? What is happening?

 Analyzing them and unwrapping the experience. Each experience

may have emphasis on different parts of your personality and
contribute in different ways.
How have I felt, or how do I feel now? How do I think others have felt?
What were the activities carried out? What abilities and attitudes were
put into action be others and me

Why have I acted this way?

What did I expect to accomplish by this experience?
What have I worked with?

 Evaluating situations and making sense of what happened

What have been the outcomes of the experience? For me and for
everyone Involved? For the environment. Have I achieved my
objectives? What difficulties did I encounter? How and what did I
do to overcome them? What else could I have done differently?

 Drawing conclusions and learning achieved

What did I learn from this experience? What of the IB learner profile
attributes did I develop? Was I able to build or develop any good? For
me, for others, for the community?

 Changing perspectives, generating ideas, asking questions

How did my decisions impact on others' lives? What are the consequences
of my decisions and actions for others, the environment and me? What did
I discover about others, the community and myself? Have I changed my
perspectives? In what way?

 Planning further actions and looking ahead

How can I apply what I have learnt in other life situations?
 CAS Handbook

CAS & TOK

CAS and TOK have some common ground, which can help you to write
compelling reflections. As you get to learn more about both, you can use this to
your advantage. TOK explores a number of ‘Ways of Knowing’ that can be
useful in analyzing your CAS experiences in order to draw out learning but also
the other areas of TOK prove to be useful in deepening your reflection. See
appendix CAS and Theory of knowledge for more information.

 Language: Which types of language were used and were relevant to this experience, why?
 Sense perception: What did you see, hear, smell and feel (touch) during the experience?
 Emotion: How did the experience make you feel before, during and afterwards?
 Reason: what logical conclusions can be drawn from your experience?
 Imagination: What did you anticipate your experience would be like before it happened?
 Faith: Does your faith give you a perspective on this experience? If so
what is it? Intuition: Does your logical analysis of the experience differ
from your "gut feeling"?
 Memory: Which previous experiences of yours were relevant to this one and why? v

CAS & EE
CAS and the EE share their relationship in finding an inspiring topic for your
Extended Essay. Your CAS experiences can serve as inspiration for choosing a
particular topic for your Extended Essay. You will find further information on
this in Appendix CAS and the Extended Essay

CAS & ATL

The approaches to learning (ATL) are part of a broad educational approach to
prepare you for life after school. You will definitely work on and develop your
ATL skills throughout the CAS programme. If you want to now specifically
which attributes of the five categories of ATL skills you will develop through
CAS, you can read Chapter 9 of the CAS textbook. A reflection on your
developing ATL skills could definitely become part of your reflections.
 CAS Handbook

Bibliography
 De Bono's Thinking Hats. N.d. Graphic. n.p. Web. 13 July 2016.

 MYP: From Principles into Practice. Cardiff, Wales:

International Baccalaureate Organization, 2014. Print.

 Williams, Rob S., and Lenny Dutton. The next chapter

MYP Global Contexts. Digital image. An Excited Educator.
Blogger.com, Sept. 2014. Web. 13 July 2016.

i
Cannings, John, Maria Ines Piaggio, Peter Muir, and Tom Brodie.
Creativity, Activity, Service (CAS) for the IB Diploma: An Essential
Guide for Students. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2015. Print.

ii
Creativity, Activity, Service Guide. Geneve: Intermational Bacalaureate, 2015. Print.
iii
Student CAS handbook (2015), R. Gerrisch, page 4, St. Paul’s co-educational college
iv
CAS Guide (2015) page 16, IBO
v
Student CAS handbook (2015), R. Gerrisch, page 4, St. Paul’s co-educational college