Criterion A
This initial step of Criterion A involves identifying and explaining why there is a clear reason or requirement to solve a specific problem.
What is justifying the need for a solution?
In Strand 1 of Criterion B, designers create this set of specific criteria to establish success criteria and guide the development of their solution.
What are design specifications?
In Strand 1, designers create this structured outline detailing the resources, timeline, and step-by-step procedure needed to construct the solution.
What is the construction plan?
In Strand 1, designers test their completed product to collect data using methods defined in this key document created during Criterion B.
What are design specifications?
The overarching purpose of the MYP Design Cycle is to teach students this structured, repeatable, and flexible approach to problem-solving rather than just focusing on the final product.
What is the design process (or inquiry-based problem-solving)?
To ensure the final design directly addresses the intended audience, designers create this detailed profile of the person or group who will use the product.
What is the target audience/user profile?
During Strand 2, designers sketch and brainstorm a wide variety of these to explore different possibilities before selecting a final direction.
What are design ideas (or Range of Ideas)?
While producing their solution, designers must demonstrate these practical technical abilities when using tools, equipment, and materials.
What are technical skills?
In Strand 2, designers critically assess how well their finished product meets each specification and explain the degree of this attribute.
What is success (or effectiveness)?
The primary purpose of Criterion A (Inquiring and Analysing) is to establish this essential foundation before jumping into generating solutions.
What is understanding the problem and user needs (or research and context)?
Designers conduct this activity to collect primary and secondary data, analyze existing products, and gather the necessary background information before generating ideas.
What is research (or constructing a research plan)?
In Strand 3, designers present their chosen design and justify their choice by comparing it directly against this key document created in Strand 1.
What is the design specification?
As designers build their product, they must document their progress, record any changes made, and justify these throughout the production phase.
What are modifications (and Why Justify the Changes)?
In Strand 3 of Criterion D, designers evaluate their completed product's success and suggest these specific enhancements to optimize future iterations.
What are the improvements (or modifications to the final product)?
(Developing Ideas) focuses on the creative phase, where the main goal is to explore multiple possibilities and produce a detailed blueprint for it.
What is a chosen/feasible solution?
In the final strand of Criterion A, designers synthesize their research and findings into this concise, formal statement that clearly outlines the problem to be solved and its context.
What is the design brief?
In Strand 4, designers create accurate, detailed plans or technical drawings so that this can take place in Criterion C.
What is a diagram with dimensions, labels, and material selections?
To demonstrate the end result of Criterion C, designers create a working model, prototype, or final product, which is collectively referred to as this.
What is the solution?
Beyond testing the product itself, designers reflect on their own performance throughout the design cycle to identify personal strengths and areas for growth as designers, which is known as this.
What does evaluating impact/designer performance involve?
The core purpose of Criterion C (Creating the Solution) is for students to combine planning and technical skills to transform an idea into a functional prototype, requiring them to document these along the way.
What are modification/changes to the plan?
Before starting any design work, a designer must craft this concise statement that clearly outlines the problem to be solved and its context.
What is the design brief?
This overall objective of the MYP Design Cycle requires students to generate, evaluate, and detail multiple solution ideas to create a final, production-ready design plan.
What is Criterion B: Developing Ideas?
To achieve the highest achievement level in Criterion C, designers must execute their plan to create a solution that functions completely as intended and performs to a high standard of this quality attribute.
What is craftsmanship (create the finished product)?
In Strand 2, designers analyze testing data to determine whether their product met its goals, resulting in an overall judgment of how well the solution functions.
What is evaluating success (or determining effectiveness)?
Criterion D (Evaluating) gives meaning to the entire design cycle by closing the loop, requiring designers to determine solution success through testing and measure its real-world effect on this.
What is the target audience/user (or real-world impact)?