Grade 10
Capstone. Every unit is now at MYP Year 5 / e-portfolio standard. Students work to the full strand language ("explains and justifies," "detailed and accurate," "fully justified"). The year culminates in a portfolio publication drawing from every prior grade's work, functioning as a bridge to DP Design Technology, DP Computer Science, or DP Visual Arts.
Unit 1 · Sep–Oct IoT / Connected Device Project
ABCD - Key Concept
- Systems
- Related Concepts
- Innovation, Global Interactions
- Global Context
- Scientific and Technical Innovation
- Statement of Inquiry
- Connected systems create new possibilities — and new risks — by allowing local devices to participate in global networks.
- Inquiry Questions
- Factual: What is IoT? What is MQTT, HTTP, Wi-Fi? Conceptual: What changes when a device becomes connected? Debatable: Who is responsible when a "smart" device fails?
- Skills / Tools
- ESP32 or ESP8266 programming (Arduino IDE). Wi-Fi connection basics. HTTP GET / POST. Simple cloud dashboards (Thingspeak has a free tier, Adafruit IO as fallback). Privacy and security fundamentals. Research into real IoT failures and successes.
- AI Integration
- Professional-level integration. Students use DeepSeek and Kimi as full research and planning partners: (1) literature review of IoT failure cases, (2) stakeholder analysis simulation, (3) technical architecture review, (4) drafting and refining the design brief. Required: AI contributions are cited in the folder the way a collaborator would be cited — with specific roles ("DeepSeek suggested the MQTT-over-HTTP tradeoff analysis; I verified with the Hivemq documentation"). This is the documentation standard students need for the DP Personal Project and eventual university work.
- Summative Assessment
- Full design folder (IB e-portfolio format) for a proposed IoT solution — Criterion A is the summative focus (justified problem, research plan, analysis of 3+ existing connected products, detailed design brief). Criterion B completed to detailed-specification standard. Prototype begins but does not need to be fully functional this unit. AI Use Log is now cited-collaborator format.
- Budget Note
- ESP32 dev boards (class set of 10 @ \~30 RMB = 300 RMB). Plus reuse of Grade 8–9 sensors. Budget subtotal \~300 RMB.
Unit 2 · Nov–Jan IoT Project Build-Out & Evaluation
ABCD - Key Concept
- Systems
- Related Concepts
- Function, Innovation
- Global Context
- Scientific and Technical Innovation
- Statement of Inquiry
- Evaluating a connected system requires testing not just the hardware but the data, the interface, and the human use.
- Inquiry Questions
- Factual: What are valid testing methods for IoT? Conceptual: How do you test something that is always-on and distributed? Debatable: Can a system be "done"?
- Skills / Tools
- Same tech stack as Unit 1 — now building the prototype. Debugging distributed systems. Documentation (README standard). Peer review.
- AI Integration
- AI as full pair-programming partner. Students use DeepSeek for code generation at function level, debugging distributed-system issues, and test case generation. Required: students identify and document three instances where AI advice was wrong or suboptimal, and explain how they determined this. README includes an "AI Contributions" section listing what AI helped with and what was fully human work — this mirrors professional open-source project documentation standards.
- Summative Assessment
- Built and tested IoT prototype continuing from Unit 1 + full design folder sections C (plan, build log, technical skill evidence, justified changes) and D (formal testing methods, evaluation against specification, impact analysis, improvement roadmap). Combined Unit 1 + Unit 2 produces one full MYP Year 5 design folder of e-portfolio quality.
- Budget Note
- Reserves from Unit 1. \~200 RMB held for breakage, new jumpers, batteries.
Unit 3 · Feb–Apr "Who I Am" Capstone — Published Portfolio Site
ABCD - Key Concept
- Communication
- Related Concepts
- Identity, Aesthetics
- Global Context
- Personal and Cultural Expression
- Statement of Inquiry
- A professional portfolio is a curated argument — it selects, frames, and justifies the designer's work.
- Inquiry Questions
- Factual: What is a case study? What are static site generators? Conceptual: How does curation construct identity? Debatable: Should a portfolio show only finished work, or show process?
- Skills / Tools
- Revisits HTML/CSS/JS from Grade 8 — now at production quality. Static site generators (Eleventy, Astro, or Jekyll — whichever is accessible). Writing case studies. Git / GitHub publishing. Custom domain (optional).
- AI Integration
- AI as editorial and technical partner. Students use DeepSeek to: (1) structure case study narratives (problem → approach → result format), (2) tighten prose ("this paragraph feels vague — what's missing?"), (3) debug build-tool configuration issues. Strong constraint: the portfolio itself must reflect the student's voice, not AI's. Required exercise: write one case study without any AI help, then compare it to one written with AI help and reflect on which is actually better — often the unassisted one is more specific and truer. Discussion point: university admissions and employers increasingly watch for AI-flavored writing; distinctive human voice is a competitive advantage.
- Summative Assessment
- Published portfolio site with 5+ case studies drawn from prior grades' projects, rewritten as professional narratives + design folder emphasis on A (research into professional designers' portfolios, audience analysis for tertiary-education admissions, design brief) and B (full specification, 3 design directions, justified chosen design) + AI Use Log.
- Budget Note
- 0 RMB.
Unit 4 · Apr–Jun Open Design Challenge — Student-Led Project
ABCD - Key Concept
- Student-selected from: Communication, Communities, Development, Systems
- Related Concepts
- Student-selected
- Global Context
- Student-selected
- Statement of Inquiry
- Student-proposed and teacher-approved.
- Inquiry Questions
- Student-generated.
- Skills / Tools
- Whatever each student's chosen domain requires. Teacher functions as consultant. One-on-one design reviews scheduled. Emphasis on demonstrating the full design cycle independently.
- AI Integration
- Student-determined, declared in the project proposal. Each student proposes their AI use strategy up front (which tools, for what, how to verify) and that proposal is part of the criterion-B design specification. This tests whether five years of AI-as-tool training has produced genuine judgment — can the student decide when AI helps and when it gets in the way? Final reflection includes: what I used AI for, what I deliberately did not use AI for, and what I learned about my own AI-use habits.
- Summative Assessment
- Student-chosen project — could be a game, app, physical device, brand system, film, 3D environment, anything that meets a real need — delivered with a complete e-portfolio-format design folder. Functions as a "mini Personal Project" rehearsal for the next year's MYP Personal Project and as a DP program preview. AI Use Log doubles as a meta-reflection on the student's five-year AI-use development.
- Budget Note
- Allocate remaining year budget (\~500 RMB) to cover student requests — typically specialized sensors, a specific module, or materials.
Every strand of every criterion is assessed at least twice per year — summatively in the emphasis units (●) and formatively elsewhere (○).