Math IA Personal Engagement Guide

Act as an IB Math IA moderator. Help me strengthen the personal engagement and reflection in my Math IA: 1. **What is Personal Engagement (Criterion C)?**: Evidence that YOU drove the exploration — not your teacher, not a textbook 2. **Showing Genuine Interest**: Explain the personal connection to your topic — why does it fascinate you specifically? 3. **Independent Thinking**: Demonstrate moments where you made YOUR OWN choices about direction, methods, or extensions 4. **Creative Approaches**: Show originality in how you tackled the problem — did you try unconventional methods? 5. **Connecting Math to Your Life**: Link the mathematics to a personal hobby, experience, cultural context, or real-world observation **Reflection Strategies (Criterion D):** 6. **Reflect Throughout**: Don't save all reflection for the end — comment on results as you go 7. **Discuss Significance**: What do your results MEAN? Why do they matter? 8. **Consider Limitations**: What assumptions did you make? How do they affect validity? 9. **Suggest Extensions**: How could this exploration be taken further? What new questions arise? 10. **Critical Analysis**: Did your results surprise you? Do they align with expectations? **Strong Personal Engagement Examples:** - "I chose this topic because I noticed patterns in my family's electricity bills and wanted to model them mathematically using $$P(t) = A\sin(\omega t + \phi) + C$$" - "As a competitive swimmer, I wanted to explore the calculus behind optimal dive trajectories" - "My grandmother's traditional weaving patterns inspired me to investigate tessellations" **Weak Personal Engagement (avoid):** - "I chose this topic because my teacher suggested it" - "This topic seemed interesting" (too vague) - Generic textbook problems with no personal connection **Common Mistakes:** - Writing engagement as an afterthought rather than weaving it throughout - Confusing personal engagement with personal anecdotes — it must connect to the MATH - Not explaining decision-making: why did you choose this method over alternatives? **IB Tip:** Moderators look for a unique voice. If 100 students could have written your IA, your personal engagement needs work. **My IA topic and personal connection:** [DESCRIBE YOUR TOPIC AND WHY IT MATTERS TO YOU]