It has been a busy month since my last contribution to the newsletter: first the D2 students tackled their final exams for 3 weeks, before celebrating the end of an era during their Graduation ceremony. All the best to the Class of 2022!
This was then followed by a week of internal exams for the D1 students, before working for 2 days off timetable on the “dreaded” Extended Essay (EE)!
Some really interesting research questions have materialized, such as:
How effective was the Nazi indoctrination through the creation of a “national community” to achieve conformity among the German youth from 1933 to 1943? (History),
How did cultural assimilation as a British colonial policy in the 1850s extinguish Indigenous languages and cultural identity in British Columbia, Canada? (Social and cultural anthropology),
To what extent does the informal dollarization in Venezuela impact the well-being of two families whose income is earned in bolívares (national currency) or American dollars in Caracas? (Economics),
To what extent do the characterization in the 2008 production of RENT help the portrait of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in 1980s New York? (Theatre),
What complexities does the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) add to the coming of age experience in Fiona Apple’s Tidal and J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye? (English A),
To what extent has the character usage of stereotypical male/female speech in Disney Pixar movies changed over the years? (English B),
What scientific experiments were used to prove the forgery of the portrait of Alexander Mornauer and how do these experiments work on a chemical level? (Chemistry),
How does Mickelene Thomas give women’s bodies a new meaning and reclaim feminine power through the female gaze? (Visual Arts),
To what extent different plant-based foods with high concentration of proteins are good for the body through digestion with pepsin used in comparison with meat protein? (Biology)
…and many more!
Having made a good start with their extended essay, the aim is for the students to come back in August with a full draft of their EE. The EE (as well as the TOK essay) is externally assessed by the IB. The D1 students will then be able to focus on the TOK essay (September) and on their internal assessments, marked by teachers and then moderated by the IB.
The IB Diploma Internal Assessment (IA)
The IA in the Diploma usually accounts for 20%-25% of the final grade in each subject. However if a student does not submit an IA in a subject, the student will automatically fail the subject, therefore the Diploma.
Internal Assessments include:
oral work in languages
fieldwork in geography
laboratory work/fieldwork in the sciences
investigations in mathematics
artistic performances
TOK exhibition
Hence why the D1 students have been collecting data for the investigation part of their ESS and Biology IA a few weeks ago. Each investigation is an individual piece of work based on different data collected or measurements generated. Ideally, students should work on their own when collecting data. In some cases, data collected or measurements made can be from a group experiment provided each student collected his or her own data or made his or her own measurements. In biology, in some cases, group data or measurements may be combined to provide enough for individual analysis. Even in this case, each student should have collected and recorded their own data and they should clearly indicate which data are theirs.
Finally the D1 students will be completing their TOK exhibition on Friday this week (10th June). This will be taking place above the canteen starting at 13.45. The community is invited to come and watch students present the 3 objects of their choice and their real life context, based on one of the prescribed prompts.
Nathalie
IBDP Co-ordinator
