IB Biology (SL & HL) Internal Assessment

IA Timeline: 3rd & 5th Period IA Proposal Due: Thursday, December 10th (IA Proposal document found on my faculty page) Conducting Experiment & Collecting Data: Week of Jan. 11-15, Odd Days Jan. 11th, 13th, & 15th FINAL REPORT DUE: Friday, January 22nd WRITE THESE DOWN. These dates are different for Odd periods and Even periods. Do not depend on a friend in a different class for these dates!

IA Timeline: 2nd, 6th, & 8th period IA Proposal Due: Friday, December 11th (IA Proposal document found on my faculty page) Conducting Experiment & Collecting Data: January 19 – 23, Even days Jan. 19 & 21, 22 (Teacher wor day and Saturday the 23rd as nessassary) FINAL REPORT DUE: Friday, February 5th WRITE THESE DOWN. These dates are different for Odd periods and Even periods. Do not depend on a friend in a different class for these dates!

What is the IA? The Internal Assessment (IA) is an individual investigation on a scientific research question or topic that is related to biology and is at the same level of this course. You choose a topic to investigate. You create a research question. You design an experiment to test your hypothesis. You perform the experiment and collect data. Percent Breakdown Internal Assessment (IA) 20% of final IB score Paper 1 Paper 2 40% of final IB score Paper 3

Use both of these documents as you write your report! IA Format Links to the following documents can be found on my faculty page: 1. IA Format document Strictly 6-12 pages! Beyond 12 pages will be “penalized in the communication criterion as lacking in conciseness”, as per IB. Be concise! Science papers aim to communicate big ideas in the simplest way possible; K.I.S.S. 2. IA Mark Scheme This is the exact Mark Scheme/Rubric all IB teachers and readers will use for all IB sciences. Use both of these documents as you write your report!

Building a Research Question Some ideas to help you choose a research topic and question: -Think about ANYTHING you like or are interested in! Can you investigate something about it? -Look through the Topics in your book and the associated labs in those chapters. -Search online for labs that have already been done that: 1) interest you!, and 2) relate to biology at the level of this course (whether an IB lab or not!). Can you do something different, such as change the procedures, use a different variable, collect different kind of data? Of course, you cannot just copy an existing experiment; therefore, you must see me and discuss how you will SIGNIFICANTLY modify the experiment so that it is YOUR original work.