IB MYP Design – Global contexts and design situations Study Guide

This study guide teaches how the six MYP global contexts work inside a design project for IB MYP Design. It is aligned to the International Baccalaureate Organization, Middle Years Programme Subject Brief – Design, from 2014, and covers the “global contexts” part of the brief’s curriculum overview. It suits MYP years 4 and 5, including students building an ePortfolio for eAssessment. There is no SL/HL split in the MYP.

MYP has no prescribed content list: schools design their own design units. This page covers a topic the IB’s brief lists – the global contexts through which you explore design – and the skill its criterion A names: taking a design situation and identifying the problem that needs solving. Your teacher will share the task-specific clarifications for any assessed work.

Use it with the global contexts revision notes and the global contexts practice questions. The course hub is at /boards/ib/ib-myp/myp-design/ and the printable checklist is at /checklists/ib/ib-myp/myp-design/.

What this unit covers

Area	What you should be able to do	Criteria it feeds
The six global contexts	Name all six and say what each one points you towards in a design problem	A
Design situation to problem statement	Turn an open situation into one specific, evidenced problem for a named client or audience	A
Choosing a context	Pick the context that genuinely drives the need, and justify the choice	A
Context and research	Write research questions that the chosen context makes necessary	A
Context and evaluation	Turn the context into tests you can run and judge honestly	D

This page does not re-teach the design cycle or the four criteria in general. For those, read the design cycle study guide and the criteria in practice guide.

What the brief says

The brief states that MYP design promotes inquiry by developing conceptual understanding within global contexts. Key concepts (its examples include communication, communities, development and systems) frame the curriculum. Related concepts (its design examples are adaptation, ergonomics, sustainability and innovation) ground the learning in the subject. You explore both through the six global contexts:

1. Identities and relationships
2. Orientation in space and time
3. Personal and cultural expression
4. Scientific and technical innovation
5. Globalization and sustainability
6. Fairness and development

For assessment, the brief says criterion A (inquiring and analysing) starts with a design situation, from which you identify a problem that needs to be solved, analyse the need for a solution and inquire into the nature of the problem. The ePortfolio works the same way: you receive a design situation, identify a challenge or problem, research, develop and create a solution, and evaluate its success. The submitted folder contains a design brief and a specification. Each of the four criteria has eight achievement levels (1–8) in four bands.

So the global context is not a label for a cover page. It is the lens that decides which problem you pick out of the situation, who you research, and what “success” means when you test.

The six contexts as design lenses

The brief lists the six contexts but does not define them; your teacher can share fuller descriptions. The table below is Marlbridge’s plain-English summary of the questions each context tends to raise in a design project.

Global context	Questions it pushes you to ask	Typical evidence you would then need
Identities and relationships	Who is the user? How does the product affect how they see themselves or connect with others?	Interviews, observation of how people use a space together, user profiles
Orientation in space and time	How do people move through a place or a process? How has this need changed over time?	Mapping routes and timings, history of earlier solutions, time-of-day data
Personal and cultural expression	What does the product say about its user or community? Whose style or tradition does it carry?	Analysis of existing products and their aesthetics, feedback on appearance and meaning
Scientific and technical innovation	What technology or material could solve this better than current solutions?	Research into materials, components or software; technical testing
Globalization and sustainability	What does the product use and waste across its life? Who else in the world is affected?	Material sources, energy use, end-of-life options, waste measurements
Fairness and development	Who is excluded by current solutions? Who can afford or access the product?	Accessibility testing, cost comparisons, feedback from under-served users

Two traps in naming. First, “sustainability” appears in the brief both as a related concept example and inside a global context’s name (Globalization and sustainability). Second, “innovation” is a related concept example, while “Scientific and technical innovation” is a global context. When you write about your project, say which one you mean. “Systems” and “development” are key concept examples; “Fairness and development” is a context.

From design situation to problem statement

A design situation is open and wide. It describes a setting and a difficulty but does not tell you what to make. A problem statement is narrow. It names who has the problem, what exactly the problem is, the evidence that it is real, and any limits you already know. It does not name the solution.

A useful pattern:

[Client or target audience] need(s) a way to [do something they cannot do well now] because [evidence], within [known constraints].

Worked example: one situation, six lenses

Design situation (original, fictional): “At Kestrel Hill School, a fictional school, the canteen is crowded at lunchtime. Queues are long, a lot of food is thrown away and some students say lunch is the worst part of the day.”

Step 1 – Gather first evidence. A student surveys 120 students (fictional data) and asks for the single biggest lunchtime problem.

Biggest problem	Students	Percentage
Queue time	54	45%
Food waste	30	25%
Nowhere to sit with friends	24	20%
Menu does not reflect my food	12	10%
Total	120	100%

Each percentage is students ÷ 120 × 100, for example 54 ÷ 120 × 100 = 45%.

Step 2 – See how each context picks out a different problem.

Context	Problem it picks out	Draft problem statement
Identities and relationships	Friends split up by the queue and seating	Younger students need a way to find a shared table with friends because 20% of those surveyed say there is nowhere to sit together
Orientation in space and time	Crowding at one point in a fixed 40-minute break	Students need a clearer route from queue to seating because the queue and the exit cross at one door
Personal and cultural expression	Food cultures missing from the menu display	The canteen needs a menu display that reflects the food cultures of its students because 10% say the menu does not reflect their food
Scientific and technical innovation	Slow ordering	Students need a faster way to order because queue time is the top complaint (45%)
Globalization and sustainability	Waste	The canteen needs a way to cut plate waste because 25% of students name it as the biggest problem
Fairness and development	Access	Wheelchair users need a way to queue and collect food independently because the current counter is too high to reach

Notice that the last row needs new evidence: the survey did not ask about access. A context can send you back to gather data you did not think of at first. That is the context doing its job.

Step 3 – Choose. Queue time is the biggest complaint, so the student chooses Scientific and technical innovation and writes the final statement:

Students at Kestrel Hill School need a way to get their lunch faster, because 45% of 120 students surveyed named queue time as the biggest lunchtime problem, within a budget the school sets and without extra staff.

The statement names the audience, the need and the evidence. It does not say “an app” or “a pre-order screen”. Those are ideas for criterion B.

Choosing a context that does real work

Four checks help you pick the right context rather than the one that sounds best:

1. Does it change who I research? Fairness and development might send you to users the current design excludes. Identities and relationships might send you to groups of friends rather than individuals.
2. Does it change what I will test? If the context makes no difference to your tests, it is a label, not a lens.
3. Can I get the evidence in the time I have? A Globalization and sustainability project that needs full life-cycle data for imported parts may be too big. Narrow it.
4. Is it at the heart of the need? Pick the context the evidence points to, not one added after the product is finished.

If two contexts both fit, pick one as the main lens and mention the other briefly. Trying to serve all six spreads your research too thin.

How the context shapes research

Once the context is chosen, write research questions that it makes necessary. For the canteen project under Scientific and technical innovation:

• What ordering technologies do other canteens use, and how long does each take per student? (secondary research)
• How long does each stage of the current queue take – choosing, paying, collecting? (primary research: timing 30 students)
• Which parts of the process can technology change within the school’s budget? (primary: interview with the canteen manager)

Under Fairness and development the same canteen would need very different questions: what counter height suits a wheelchair user, and who cannot use a phone-based system. The context decides the questions.

For deeper work on research plans and analysing existing products, see the criterion A unit.

How the context shapes evaluation

Criterion D asks you to design tests, carry them out and objectively evaluate the solution, including its impact on the client or target audience. Your context should appear in at least one success criterion.

For the canteen project, a context-linked success criterion might be: “At least 90% of 30 testers are served within 4 minutes.” 90% of 30 is 27 testers. If a trial shows the average wait falls from 11 minutes to 7 minutes, that is a reduction of 4 ÷ 11 × 100 = 36.4% (3 s.f.). Report both the target and the result, then say what it means for the students who were waiting.

Under Globalization and sustainability, the matching test would measure plate waste before and after, not waiting time. Same situation, different context, different test.

Common errors

• Choosing the context last. If the context appears only in the introduction and the evaluation, it did not shape the project. Choose it when you write the problem statement.
• Naming the solution in the problem statement. “Design an app for the canteen” skips inquiry. State the need; let criterion B produce the ideas.
• A statement with no evidence. “Queues are too long” is a claim. “45% of 120 students named queue time” is evidence.
• Several problems at once. “Reduce queues, waste and loneliness” is three projects. Pick one.
• Too big to test. “Reduce plastic waste worldwide” cannot be tested in a school project. Narrow the audience and place.
• Mixing up concepts and contexts. Innovation (a related concept example) is not the same as Scientific and technical innovation (a global context).
• A context with no test. If no success criterion links to your context, your evaluation cannot show the context mattered.

Where to go next

Condense this into recall with the revision notes, then try the practice questions. For how the ePortfolio is put together, read the ePortfolio preparation checklist and the syllabus guide.

Official syllabus

International Baccalaureate Organization, Middle Years Programme Subject Brief – Design, from 2014. The brief lists the six global contexts and says criterion A begins from a design situation; the worked examples, context summaries and data on this page are Marlbridge’s own and are fictional.