IBChangemakers: Turning classroom learning into real-world skills

The Personal Project (PP) and e-PHE in the IB curriculum push students to work independently and think beyond textbooks. They learn to manage time, solve real problems, and reflect on their choices. This builds confidence, sharpens decision-making, and helps them apply learning in practical, everyday contexts.

Meet Vivaan Khanna, a student of MYP-5 at Apeejay’s IB School, Apeejay School International, Panchsheel Park. In a candid interview, he talks about his PP on chess puzzles, among other things.

Tell us about your personal project.

I always wanted to become a chess grandmaster. But I wasn’t able to devote enough time to practising playing it to become a grandmaster. Every time exams came, my priorities changed. To counter that, I created a Chrome extension that integrates chess puzzles with daily browsing. So you don’t have to set aside a separate time for playing chess.

How does it work?

It’s called Night Vision, and it’s out on the Chrome Web Store. You can set how frequently you want puzzles to appear. And every time you open a new tab, there’s a chance that you will see that a puzzle appears. This game is perfect for boosting brain activity, and it makes you a critical thinker.

What were the challenges that you faced?

Initially, I wanted to make the pieces clickable and draggable for all users, even beginners. Unfortunately, my skill level of coding wasn’t up to par with that. So I had to go with chess notation as a method to enter the moves. Also, it took my more than two months to complete.

Lessons and skills learnt.

I would suggest that one must learn the game from a professional rather than from online videos. For this project, I personally learnt from online videos, and it was tedious. It took me a lot of time. And I had to constantly look at multiple sources to confirm any doubts I had.

What about your e-portfolio?

My client is in the junior grade and plays football. I took an interview, and based on that, I made a client profile. Upon analysis, I found that he wanted to improve his lower body musculature for endurance and agility, which would enhance his long passing accuracy.

Your learning and the challenges you faced.

I learnt that it’s very important to listen to and see what the user needs. As for the challenges, I had to identify exactly where he was going wrong; that took time since I am not a professional player myself.