DESIGN PROJECT | DESIGN TECHNOLOGY | 2019-2021

INTERNAL ASSESSMENT
INTRODUCTION- HELPSHEET

The internal assessment (IA) requirement is worth 40% of the final assessment and consists of one
design project. Student work is internally assessed by the teacher and externally moderated by the IB.
The performance in IA at both SL and HL is marked against four common assessment criteria, with an
additional two assessment criteria for HL.

The Diploma Programme Higher level design

PURPOSE cycle (Design Technology Guide, first assessment
2020, IB).
The Internal Assessment enables you to
demonstrate the application of your skills and
knowledge and to pursue your personal interests.
The design project allows a wide range of contexts
to be explored through the varying material
disciplines of design technology, including:
• product design
• food product design
• fashion design/textiles
• electronic product design
• robotics

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA TIME ALLOCATION

The internal assessment requirements at SL and at
HL are different:
• the first four assessment criteria (A–D) are
common between SL and HL;
• however, at HL, design projects have additional
Requirements, which are assessed using two
additional criteria (E and F).
SL – HL DIFFERENCE
Internal assessment is an integral part of the
design technology course, contributing 40% to the
final assessment in the SL and the HL courses.
This weighting should be reflected in the time that
is allocated to teaching the knowledge, skills and
understanding required to undertake the work, as
well as the total time allocated to carry out the
work. It is recommended that a total of
approximately 40 hours (SL)and 60 hours (HL)
should be allocated to the work.

• SL: it is important that SL focuses on invention; This should include:

The process of discovering a principle. A technical • Time for the teacher to explain to students the
advance in a particular field often resulting requirements of the internal assessment.
in a novel product. Criteria A – D. • Class time for students to work on the internal
assessment component and ask questions.

• HL: the additional two criteria for HL take the
invention towards becoming an innovation; the
business of preparing the product for
manufacturing it in a commercial way. Criteria E –
F.
• Time for consultation between the teacher and
each student.
• Time to review and monitor progress, and to
check authenticity.

GUIDANCE

• You must discuss the work with the teacher. You

are encouraged to initiate discussions with the
teacher and to obtain advice and information.
You are not penalized for seeking guidance.
• Once the first draft of each section is submitted,
the teacher is permitted to make general comments
and annotations regarding its strengths and
weaknesses, but these should not be corrections.
The work can then be handed back so that student
may carry out a final edit.

IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS (Check the DT

guide)

Make sure you are well informed about:

• Academic honesty (DT Guide, first assessment
2020). You are encouraged to initiate discussions with the
• The assessment criteria and the clarifications (DT teacher
Guide, first assessment 2020). and to obtain advice and information.
• The command terms (DT Guide, first assessment
2020).

INNOVATION

A distinction is typically made between invention (an idea may manifest) and innovation (ideas applied
successfully) -McKeown 2008. The term innovation globally means: a new way of doing something. It
may refer to incremental or radical changes in thinking, products, processes, or organizations. The goal of
innovation is: positive change to the human condition to make someone or something better.

STAGES OF INNOVATION SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

1. [SL] Invention: development of an idea into a Sustainable development is development that

viable product. meets the needs of the present without
2. [HL] Once designed, the product should be compromising the ability of future generations to
prepared for manufacturing it in the most meet their own needs.
economical way.
3. Product promotion through marketing and sales.
4. Maintain the market position of the product
through redesigning and technological
development.
DRIVERS FOR INVENTION
• Express creativity / for personal interest
• Scientific or technical curiosity
• Constructive discontent
• Desire to make money
• Desire to help others
TYPES OF INNOVATION
• Sustaining innovation: small changes to the
concept to improve an aspect of it. For example:
changing its basic shape. A new or improved
product that meets the needs of consumers and
sustains manufacturers.
• Disruptive innovation: a change to the concept
itself. A new way of addressing a problem or
need. A product or type of technology that
challenges existing companies to ignore or
embrace technical change.
SOCIAL DESIGN
Within the design world, social design is sometimes
defined as a design process that contributes to
improving human well-being and livelihood. It is the
idea that designers have a responsibility and are
able to cause real change in the world through
responsible design. Designers can contribute to
designing more ecological products by carefully
selecting the materials they use and designing for
people‟s needs rather than their wants.
AREA’S OF SOCIAL DESIGN
1. Design for learning
2. Design for mobility
3. Design for public or communal space
The Sustainable Development Goals.
Consider the UN Sustainability Development Goals
throughout the whole IA. Using, amongst others,
waste mitigation strategies, resource management
and a Circular Economy approach.
INNOVATION STRATEGIES FOR DESIGN
For the IA, it is good practice to develop ideas upon
existing concepts, possibly combining principles
and functionality of different innovations and
technologies, to create solutions for the identified
problem.
Configurational innovation would be the hardest
one to achieve, since you have no multidisciplinary
team available.
1. Modular innovation: the basic configuration
stays the same, but one or more key components
are changed/ improved/added. Adding
novelty components to improve/change
functionality.
2. Architectural innovation: the technology and
functionality of the components stays the same,
but the configuration of the components is
changed to produce a new design. Putting existing
components together in novel ways.
3. Configurational innovation (really hard to
achieve):changes are made in both technology and
organization. Introduces a new meaning, way of
doing, potentially a paradigm shift.
4. Design and health
5. Design against crime and/or terrorism
6. Design for remote locations or spaces
7. Design for safety at home or in the workplace
8. Design for minority user groups
9. Design for waste management
10. Design for energy conservation
STRUCTURE OF THE IA
The following headers, including corresponding
content, must be present in your IA (in the same
order):
1. Problem statement
2. Design brief
3. Design specification
4. Feasible ideas
5. Concept modeling
6. Justification of the final idea
7. Materials and manufacturing techniques
8. Design proposal
9. Plan for manufacture
10. Testing strategy
11. Evaluation against the design specification
12. Suggesting improvements
13. Development of a commercial product [HL]
14. Presentation of the commercial product [HL]
15. Design proposal for the commercial product[HL]
16. Justification of materials and components for
commercial production [HL]
17. Justification of manufacturing techniques for
commercial production [HL]
18. Justification of scale and volume of production
for commercial production [HL]
19. Works cited
Do not add more or different headers!
IMPORTANT!
• Place no references to the school in the
document, so that IB can revise it anonymously.
• Make sure that everything is spelled correctly
and that the structure of each sentence is correct.
Have someone else read it to check.
• Never draw conclusions yourself, out of the blue.
These must always be substantiated with evidence
(and their corresponding sources).
• Do not plagiarize. If you quote someone you
always state this. Make sure you write the rest of
the text in your own words.
• Always cite the sources you used. Use MLA8.
• An authenticity check (using turnitin.com or
similar) will be carried out on the final draft to be
assessed.
ADDITIONAL
• Work on A4-format. A4-pages should be portrait.
• SL: approximately 34 A4-pages, maximum 38
pages, and no more than 3000 words.(Please read
criteria wise word limit at the end of the document)
• HL: approximately 52 A4-pages, maximum 56
pages, and no more than 4000 words. (Please read
criteria wise word limit at the end of the document)
• Font: Arial.
• Size: 11 pt.
• Handwritten work (in drawings) should be more
or less the same size as Arial 11 pt. and should be
easily readable (use capitals).
• Headers should be in bold.
• Do not add a title page.
• Do not add a content page.
• Do not add appendices. Appendices are not
allowed: examiners will not read them or any
information contained within them.
• Make sure that if you add scans of drawings that
they are clearly visible, not taken out of proportion
and that annotations do not exceed 10 words and
are easily readable.
• Add page numbers.
ANNOTATIONS
• Annotations must not be more than 10 words
each. Any annotation more than 10 words will
be considered as counting towards the word count.
• Annotations must be legible, preferably typed.
Students and teachers should ensure annotations
can be read clearly.
• Handwritten annotations must be clear and
equivalent to Arial font size 11pt. To ensure clarity
when scanned, black ink is strongly recommended.
HOW TO CITE?

FOR A WEBSITE FOR AN IMAGE

In-text citation: In-text citation:

• Schools in rural areas frequently don‟t have walls
or clean toilets (Kumar).
• Kumar experienced that schools in rural areas
frequently don‟t have walls or clean toilets
(Kumar).
• “Rural schools often lack walls and clean toilets”
(Kumar).

Works cited:
• Kumar, Raksha. “„Help Desks‟, India: staying in
class made easier for rural children.” Impact
Journalism Day, date unknown.
http://impactjournalismday.
com/story/help-desk/ Accessed
14 February 2019.
Figure 1. Shov Kapur Varun, “Delhi Metro and CNG Buses in
Azadpur Neighborhood”, 2012.
FOR A BOOK
Works cited:
In-text citation: • Varun, Shov Kapur. “Delhi Metro and CNG Buses
• There are five distinct stages in the history of in Azadpur Neighborhood”. Creative Commons,
depression 12 Aug. 2012,
(Solomon 285). https://creativecommons.org/licenses/
• Solomon wonders whether episodes of violence by/2.0. Accessed 14 February 2019.
are connected to depression (103).
• “There are stalwarts to whom such emotional
insight is meaningless” (Solomon 103).

Works cited:
• Solomon, Andrew. “The Noonday Demon: An
Atlas of Depression.” Simon & Schuster, 2002.

The following screenshots are taken from DT TSM, MY IB, first assessment May 2020.
STANDARD LEVEL
 HIGHER LEVEL

First four criteria (A-D) are same for HL, followed by E & F.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
• International Baccalaureate Organization.“Diploma Programme Design technology guide
- First assessment 2020”. International BaccalaureateOrganization, published March 2014,
updated June 2018.
• International Baccalaureate Publishing. “Designtechnology teacher support material”.
International Baccalaureate Organization,date unknown, https://ibpublishing.ibo.org/
server2/rest/app/tsm.xql?doc=d_4_deste_tsm_1410_1_e&part=1&chapter=1, Accessed
March 2020.
• Trumpold, Ruth. “Design Tech for IB students”.Date unknown, http://www.ruthtrumpold.id.au/
destech/, Accessed March 2020.
•Steffie Ballemans; MYP Design and DP Design Technology teacher at the International School
Eindhoven.

Thank you very much to the creators of these sources!