Human+ingenuity

The purpose of ingenuity is to develop opportunities for the student to appreciate the human capacity to invent, create, transform, enjoy and improve the quality of life. It therefore encourages the student to see the relationships between science, aesthetics, technology and ethics.

 Many areas of human activity can be explored through //ingenuity //, including:

• systems, such as laws, methods of government, transport, education and health care • communication, which may include statistics, language, mathematical formulae and codes • technology, such as buildings, machinery and tools • thought, including principles, concepts, ideas, opinions and attitudes • art, such as painting, sculpture, embroidery, theatre and music • culture, for example, fashion, rituals and food.

Within a personal project, focusing on //ingenuity //is much more than presenting a product as an example of human creativity or achievement. It involves questioning, investigating the creative process, reflecting on one’s own and others’ involvement in it, engaging with the product, and reflecting on its role and context. The personal project is a rich opportunity for students to complete an extended piece of work that challenges their own creativity and thinking about issues of concern to themselves.

 The following themes could relate to this area of interaction:

• the development of mathematical and scientific thought through the ages • ethical values through the ages • the diversity of moral and aesthetic judgments <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 18.6667px;">• the human capacity for change, and for reaction to changes <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 18.6667px;">• the influence of men and women of genius <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 18.6667px;">• great cultural and historical movements <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 18.6667px;">• great scientific discoveries <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 18.6667px;">• the impact of inventions and discoveries on society.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 18.6667px;">The personal pr <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 18.6667px;"> oject may be the best opportunity in the MYP for students to use their creativity in the development and treatment of these ideas. Allowing students sufficient scope for personal expression places them in the position of //<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">ingenuity //.

Key Questions
Why and how do we create? What are the consequences?

**Example**
//__**Reflection from a 10th grade Personal Project, 2009:**__//

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 18.6667px;"> //If wanted to focus on the learning experience of building the guitar, I could have used Approaches to Learning (ATL) as my AOI. ATL is all about the question “how do I learn?” This AOI is designed so that I learn to learn, which should ultimately enable me to learn to do things by myself. So this AOI would also have fit this project well, because that is ultimately what I was doing, I was learning to build a guitar by myself. I did not have a teacher or an instructor, all I used was the internet and my old guitars. So this was a project that really was a test of my approach to learning and I think the learning experience I had was definitely very useful. After I built the guitar I had learned many new things such as how the bridge works, how the pickups work, what the electronics are or even just practical skills such as soldering. So ATL would also really have been an AOI I could have used for this project and would surely also have worked well.// <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 18.6667px;"> //So now the question is why I chose to do Ingenuity as opposed to Approaches to Learning as my AOI. The reason why I preferred Ingenuity over ATL was because of what I wanted to focus the project on. When I started this project I did not necessarily only want to learn how to build a guitar, but what I was really interested in was actually building the guitar. Of course to build a guitar you need to know how to build one as well, but it is not what I wanted to focus on. I wanted to focus on how humans invented and have created such amazing “machines.” So I decided to use Ingenuity as my AOI and I think it fit the project very well!//