IB Middle Years Programme Design: Syllabus Guide

This guide covers the full framework of IB Middle Years Programme Design, from 2014. It complements the subject overview and the assessment revision notes already on the site by setting out the design cycle that structures the subject and the four assessment criteria used to judge student work – the actual process and standards students are held to, not just the course’s aims.

The MYP requires at least 50 hours of teaching time for design in each year of the programme, rising to a recommended 70 hours of guided learning per year in MYP years 4 and 5 for students pursuing MYP eAssessment.

The design cycle

Design, and the technologies it produces, has driven profound changes in how societies access and process information, adapt their environments, communicate and solve problems – MYP Design asks students to engage with this directly rather than studying it only in the abstract. Inquiry and problem-solving sit at the heart of the subject, structured through the design cycle – the methodology used to structure inquiry, analyse problems, develop feasible solutions, create those solutions, and then test and evaluate them. A solution in this subject can be a model, prototype, product or system independently created and developed by the student. This cycle is not a one-off sequence followed once per year; it is the repeated structure every design project in the course is built around.

Key and related concepts

The framework is organised around key concepts of communication, communities, development and systems, explored through more specific related concepts such as adaptation, ergonomics, sustainability and innovation. As in every MYP subject group, students explore these concepts through the same six global contexts – identities and relationships, orientation in space and time, personal and cultural expression, scientific and technical innovation, globalization and sustainability, and fairness and development.

The four assessment criteria

• Criterion A: Inquiring and analysing – presented with a design situation, students identify a problem needing a solution, analyse the need for that solution, and conduct an inquiry into the nature of the problem.
• Criterion B: Developing ideas – students write a detailed specification that drives development of a solution, and present that solution.
• Criterion C: Creating the solution – students plan the creation of their chosen solution, then follow that plan to create a prototype sufficient for testing and evaluation.
• Criterion D: Evaluating – students design tests to evaluate the solution, carry out those tests, and objectively evaluate its success, identifying areas for improvement and explaining the solution’s impact on its client or target audience.

Each criterion maps directly onto one stage of the design cycle, so the four criteria are, in effect, the design cycle’s four stages made into assessable outcomes – inquiring and analysing (the problem stage), developing ideas (the specification stage), creating the solution (the build stage), and evaluating (the test stage). As with every MYP subject, each criterion is scored on eight achievement levels (1-8), grouped into four descriptor bands that teachers apply consistently across every design project a student submits.

MYP eAssessment: the ePortfolio

Students seeking IB-validated design course results demonstrate their achievement by submitting an ePortfolio rather than sitting a written on-screen examination, unlike several other MYP subject groups. Presented with a design situation, students identify a challenge or problem, research, develop and create a product or solution, and evaluate its success. The submitted ePortfolio takes the form of a complete design folder containing a design brief and specification, and is formally assessed as product design, digital design, or combined digital and product design.

ePortfolios are marked by students’ own classroom teachers against the published criteria for MYP year 5, and in each examination session the IB moderates a sample of ePortfolios from every school, adjusting grades as necessary to ensure rigorous, internationally consistent standards – so classroom marking is not the final word on a student’s result. This moderation process is what makes an MYP-validated design result comparable across different schools and countries, despite the subject’s inherently open-ended, project-based nature.

How to approach it

Because the ePortfolio is assessed as a complete design folder rather than a single final product, documenting the process – not just presenting a finished prototype – is where most of the marks actually sit: a polished product with thin process documentation across criteria A and B will typically score lower than a rougher prototype backed by a genuinely thorough inquiry, specification and evaluation. Because criterion D specifically requires objective testing and an honest account of a solution’s limitations, resist the instinct to only showcase what worked – design work that transparently identifies real weaknesses and explains how the solution could be improved is exactly what this criterion rewards, not a claim that the solution is already perfect. MYP Design eAssessment tasks are explicitly aligned with the skills that prepare students for the DP Design Technology course, so building genuine fluency with the design cycle here pays forward directly if a student continues design at Diploma level.

Design is one of the subjects the MYP certificate accepts as satisfying its arts/practical requirement – the certificate requires a satisfactory level of achievement in at least one course from physical and health education, arts or design, so for students taking design as that elective, a genuinely well-documented ePortfolio carries weight beyond the subject itself.

Official syllabus

International Baccalaureate Organization, Middle Years Programme Subject Brief – Design, from 2014, © 2015.