IB Core Series - What is CAS ?
Our IB Subject courses make up 42 points (7 being the maximum obtainable score for each subject), and the remaining 3 points make up the IB Core: consisting of CAS, the Extended Essay, and the Theory of Knowledge.
We are looking at two of the core elements of the IBDP: CAS and EE, as part of our IB Core Series of articles.
CAS (Creativity, Activity & Service) has been designed to strengthen and extend students’ personal and interpersonal learning from previous academic years by providing students opportunities for self-determination and collaboration with others. It provides a valuable counterbalance to the academic rigor of the IB Diploma Programme by motivating students to show initiative and develop crucial skills such as collaboration, problem-solving, and decision-making.
CAS is organized around the three strands of creativity, activity, and service. Throughout the DP, students are required to log 10 CAS experiences (Kings InterHigh Policy). Each experience must fit within one or more of the CAS strands and achieve all learning objectives required.
Creativity—exploring a vast range of artistic expressions, from creating a movie to organizing a fashion show! In short: It must involve creative thinking.
A few ideas:
Creating a website to post blogs on a subject that interests you.
Write for your school newspaper.
Choreograph a dance routine. (Creativity + Action)
Host a bake sale in your neighborhood. (Creativity + Service)
Activity—physical exertion contributing to a healthy lifestyle.
A few ideas:
Join a gym and work on personal fitness for a reasonable amount of hours. (FYI- only signing up for a gym membership will not count.)
Go on a yoga retreat.
Become a lifeguard in your area by volunteering. (Action + Service)
Take pictures of your travels involving physical exertion and write about them in a travel blog. (Creativity + Actions)
Service—an unpaid and voluntary exchange between the student and the community. The rights, dignity, and autonomy of all those involved are respected.
A few ideas:
Volunteer at an animal shelter.
Sign up as a tutor for the IB peer tutoring program.
Participate in a cook-off and donate the food to a shelter for the less fortunate. (Creativity+ Service)
Run a marathon to spread awareness of a social issue. (Action + Service)
Check out more ideas here: https://lanterna.com/blog/cas-ideas-part-2/
Note:
A CAS experience cannot be:
An experience where you earn financially.
An experience that’s already a part of your required academic IB curriculum.
A dangerous experience with an uncontrollable risk.
An unethical experience.
An experience that requires minimal effort, such as a tick-box exercise.
The CAS experiences you choose can be a source of distraction from the rigor of IB academics, which is why I highly recommend picking ideas that match your interests. It may also be useful to consider if your chosen experience covers one or more of these learning objectives.
CAS learning objectives:
Identify your strengths and develop areas for growth. ✅
Demonstrate the challenges undertaken and new skills developed in the process. ✅
Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience. ✅
Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences. Demonstrate and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively. ✅
Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance. ✅
Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions.✅
Pro tip: Add a tick mark next to the learning objective while creating an outline of your CAS experience.
But it doesn’t stop here. IB also requires a ‘CAS Project’ to be uploaded onto your portfolio.
A CAS project is a series of collaborative sequential CAS experiences that lasts at least a month.
Here are a few examples from the official IB Briefing:
Creativity: A student group plans, designs, and creates a mural.
Activity: Students organize and participate in a sports team, including training sessions and matches against other teams.
Service: Students set up and conduct tutoring for people in need.
Service and activity: Students plan and participate in the planting and maintenance of a garden along with members of the local community.
Creativity, activity, and service: Students rehearse and perform a dance production for a community retirement home.
Congratulations! You’ve now covered the basics of what forms a CAS Experience and a CAS Project.
Additionally, the IB requires you to log these experiences onto a CAS Portfolio using the five-key ingredients:
Investigation: Identify your interests, skills, and talents to be used in considering opportunities for CAS experiences.
Preparation: Clarify roles and responsibilities, develop a plan of action to be taken, identify specified resources and timelines, and acquire any skills as needed to engage in the CAS experience.
Action: Implement your idea or plan. This step often requires decision-making and problem-solving.
Reflection: Reflect upon what happened, express feelings, generate ideas, and raise questions. How did you develop and grow? What could've gone differently?
Demonstration: Store your learning and accomplishments (a combination of the first four ingredients) in a CAS portfolio and discuss it with your peers.
Final Tip: Don’t leave your project for the last month because year 2 of the IBDP will require more focus on academics and exam prep. So, try to divide the workload and take your time to plan.
This may seem like a lot of information at one glance, but after you log your first few experiences, it’ll certainly seem doable. Good luck!
Special Credits to Mr. Alistair Wallace, IB Science Leader of Learning & Head of Subject - Chemistry at King's InterHigh.
References:
Creativity, activity, service - International Baccalaureate® (ibo.org), accessed on 27th October 2022 Available on: https://ibo.org/programmes/diploma-programme/curriculum/creativity-activity-and-service/
Official Subject Brief- Creativity, activity, service- For students graduating in 2017 and after |International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme, accessed on 26th October 2022
Available on: cas-2016-English-1st-final-web.pdf (ibo.org)
Guide to IB CAS | CollegeVine Blog, accessed on 27th October 2022
Available on: https://blog.collegevine.com/guide-to-ib-cas
What is IB CAS (Creativity Action Service)? | World Schools (world-schools.com), accessed on 27th October 2022
Available on: https://world-schools.com/ib-international-baccalaureate-
cas/#:~:text=CAS%20is%20an%20essential%20counterbalance%20to%20the%20academic,and%2 0to%20develop%20collaboration%2C%20problem-solving%20and%20decision-making%20skills.
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