IB MYP Design – Global contexts and design situations Revision Notes

For full explanations and a worked example from start to finish, read the global contexts study guide first.

These revision notes cover the six MYP global contexts as they apply to design problems for IB MYP Design. They are aligned to the International Baccalaureate Organization, Middle Years Programme Subject Brief – Design, from 2014, and cover the “global contexts” part of its curriculum overview. They suit MYP years 4 and 5 (no SL/HL split). MYP has no prescribed content list – schools design their own units – so this page covers a topic the brief lists and the criterion A skill of identifying a problem from a design situation. Your teacher will share the task-specific clarifications for any assessed work.

Links: practice questions, course hub, printable checklist, design cycle revision notes, criteria in practice revision notes, assessment revision notes.

Definitions

• Global context – one of six lenses the brief says you explore key and related concepts through. In design it decides which problem you pick out, who you research and what you test.
• Design situation – the open starting scenario. The brief says criterion A and the ePortfolio both begin from one.
• Problem statement – one specific, evidenced need for a named client or target audience. It does not name a solution.
• Design brief – a short statement of what you will design, for whom and why. The brief says the ePortfolio folder contains a design brief and a specification.
• Client / target audience – the person or group the solution serves. Criterion D asks how the solution will impact on them.
• Context-linked success criterion – a measurable target that only makes sense because of your chosen context.

The six contexts at a glance

The brief names the six contexts. The “lens” column is Marlbridge’s own summary, not IB wording.

Global context	Lens in a design project	One example test
Identities and relationships	How the product affects who users are and how they connect	Do pairs of users find it easier to share or meet?
Orientation in space and time	How people move through places, routines and history	Time taken to complete a route or process
Personal and cultural expression	What the product says; whose style or tradition it carries	Target users rate whether it reflects them
Scientific and technical innovation	New materials, components or software doing the job better	Speed, strength or accuracy against an existing product
Globalization and sustainability	Resources, waste and wider effects across the product’s life	Mass of waste or energy used, before and after
Fairness and development	Access, cost and who is left out	Share of under-served users who can use it unaided

Must-know distinctions

Do not confuse	With	The difference
Innovation (related concept example)	Scientific and technical innovation (global context)	One is a concept to understand; the other is the lens for the whole unit
Sustainability (related concept example)	Globalization and sustainability (global context)	Same word, different role – say which you mean
Systems, development (key concept examples)	Fairness and development (global context)	Key concepts frame the curriculum; contexts set the real-world lens
Design situation	Problem statement	Situation is open and given to you; statement is narrow and written by you
Problem statement	Design brief	Statement names the need; brief adds what you intend to design

Method in steps: situation to problem statement

1. Read the situation and list every difficulty it mentions or implies. 2. Gather first evidence (a short survey, observation or interview). 3. For each likely context, write the problem it picks out. 4. Choose the context the evidence points to most strongly. 5. Write one statement: [audience] need(s) a way to [need] because [evidence], within [constraints]. 6. Check: one audience, one need, evidence included, no solution named, testable.

Method in steps: choosing the context

1. Does it change who I research? 2. Does it change what I test? 3. Can I get the evidence in the time I have? 4. Is it at the heart of the need, not added at the end? If two fit, pick one main lens and mention the other briefly.

Small worked reminders

Weak to strong problem statement

• Weak: “Make a better bus shelter.” (Names a product, no audience, no evidence.)
• Strong: “Parents with pushchairs at the Wendmere Road stop (a fictional stop) need a way to wait out of the rain, because 9 of 25 people interviewed said the shelter is too narrow for a pushchair, within the council’s existing footprint.”

9 of 25 = 9 ÷ 25 × 100 = 36%. Put the fraction and the percentage in your folder so the evidence can be checked.

Context changes the research question

Same bus-stop situation:

• Fairness and development: “Which waiting users cannot use the current shelter, and why?”
• Orientation in space and time: “When in the day is the stop busiest, and how long do people wait?”
• Globalization and sustainability: “What materials could replace the current panels with less waste?”

Context changes the test

A context-linked target such as “12 of 16 pushchair users can wait fully under cover” means 12 ÷ 16 × 100 = 75%. State the target before testing and compare honestly afterwards.

What the brief does and does not say

• It does list the six global contexts, key concept examples (communication, communities, development, systems) and related concept examples for design (adaptation, ergonomics, sustainability, innovation).
• It does say each criterion has eight achievement levels (1–8) in four bands, and that criterion A starts from a design situation.
• It does say design is formally assessed as product design, digital design or combined digital and product design.
• It does say the ePortfolio presents you with a design situation, from which you identify a challenge or problem, then research, develop, create and evaluate a solution.
• It does not tell you which context to use. That is your choice, or your teacher’s for a unit.

For the other concept lists, see the key and related concepts unit if your school uses it.

Quick self-test

1. Name the six MYP global contexts.
2. Is “ergonomics” a key concept, a related concept or a global context?
3. Give one difference between a design situation and a problem statement.
4. What is wrong with “Design an app to help pensioners shop”?
5. Which context most directly asks “who is left out by current solutions?”
6. A student names Globalization and sustainability on the cover page, but every test measures speed. What is the problem?
7. Rewrite “Queues are too long” so it contains evidence.
8. 12 of 16 testers meet a target. What percentage is that?
9. Give two questions that help you decide whether a context is doing real work.
10. Why is “reduce plastic waste worldwide” a poor problem statement for a school project?

Answers

1. Identities and relationships; Orientation in space and time; Personal and cultural expression; Scientific and technical innovation; Globalization and sustainability; Fairness and development.
2. A related concept (the brief gives it as an example for design).
3. Any one: the situation is given and open, the statement is written by you and narrow; the statement names one audience and one need with evidence; the situation may hold several problems.
4. It names the solution (an app) before any inquiry, and gives no evidence of the need.
5. Fairness and development.
6. The context has no test. The evaluation cannot show the context mattered; at least one test should measure something like waste, energy or materials.
7. For example: “45% of 120 students surveyed named queue time as the biggest lunchtime problem” (any version with a real count or measure).
8. 12 ÷ 16 × 100 = 75%.
9. Any two: does it change who I research; does it change what I test; can I get the evidence in time; is it at the heart of the need.
10. It is too big to research or test, has no specific audience and no measurable outcome you could check.

Where marks are usually lost

• The context is chosen after the product is made, so research and tests ignore it.
• The problem statement names the solution (“design a lamp”) instead of the need.
• No evidence in the statement – a claim like “people find it hard” with no count or measure.
• More than one problem in the statement, so the specification later has no clear target.
• Mixing up “innovation” or “sustainability” as concepts with the global contexts that contain those words.
• Research questions that would be the same whatever the context, so the context adds nothing.
• No success criterion links to the context, so criterion D cannot judge its impact.
• The evaluation reports averages only and hides the users the context was meant to serve.
• The client or target audience changes between the problem statement and the evaluation.

Official syllabus

International Baccalaureate Organization, Middle Years Programme Subject Brief – Design, from 2014. The six global contexts and the criterion A wording come from the brief; summaries, examples and data here are Marlbridge’s own and are fictional.