1. INTRODUCTION Miss Werba / Mr Hyde
IB BIOLOGY 2018/2019
INTRODUCTION
Miss Werba / Mr Hyde

2. Why study Biology?
Biology is the scientific exploration of the diverse world of living organisms.
It is an ever-expanding field, revealing a wealth of knowledge about ourselves and about the millions of other organisms with whom we share our planet.

3. Why study Biology? It is immediately relevant to your daily lives.
It is important for you to develop a sense of how we fit into the ecology of our planet without rendering horrible destruction.

4. Standard or Higher? Common elements to both levels: CORE CURRICULUM
6 topics
INTERNAL ASSESSMENT
1 prac report
NATURE OF
SCIENCE
OPTIONAL UNIT
1 option
GROUP 4
PROJECT

5. The distinction between SL and HL is one of breadth and depth.
Standard or Higher?
Differences between the levels:
AHL
CURRICULUM
= extra 5 topics
INTERNAL ASSESSMENT
Essentially the same
But 20hrs extra for HL
The distinction between SL and HL is one of breadth and depth.
OPTIONAL UNIT
= extra AHL content

6. WHAT’S IN THE CORE CURRICULUM?
Cell Biology
Molecular Biology
Genetics
Ecology
Evolution
& Biodiversity
Human Physiology

7. WHAT’S IN THE AHL CURRICULUM?
Nucleic acids
Metabolism,
Respiration
& Photosynthesis
Genetics
& Evolution
Plant
Biology
Animal
Physiology

8. WHAT ARE THE OPTIONAL UNITS?
We will do one of the following:
Option A
Neurobiology
& Behaviour
Option B
Biotechnology
& Bioinformatics
Option C
Ecology
& Conservation
Option D
Human
Physiology

9. EXPERIMENTS & INTERNAL ASSESSMENT
7 set experiments and activities will be completed over the 2 years
will help you develop your lab skills
are also assessable in the exam
2-3 practice Internal Assessments (IAs) to be completed over the 2 years
1 final IA to be completed in term 2 of Year 12
SL = 40hrs of prac work; HL = 60hrs (inc. 10hrs for Group 4 Project)
All pracs are marked out of 24 using the same criteria:
Personal engagement (2)
Exploration (6)
Analysis (6)
Evaluation (6)
Communication (4)

10. EXPERIMENTS & INTERNAL ASSESSMENT
What does this mean for you?
All of prac reports that you are asked to complete along the way count – they may not contribute to your final IB grade but the skills you develop will.
Work hard – check the criteria as you complete the report & review and apply feedback when you complete the next report. I can give you lots of help on your pracs but very little on the final IA.
Learn how to use your device – Facebook, snapchat and Spotify will not help you complete an awesome report. MS Excel, Numbers and Google Sheets will. Everything you need to calculate can be calculated for you by your device, so learn how to use it quickly in order to save you time in the long run. Watch YouTube tutorials to help guide you through it. OneNote can be great for organizing electronic notes.

11. YEAr 11 vs YEAr 12
All students will complete most of the SL syllabus in year 11
This will allow all of you to choose your level at the end of year, thus keeping your options open.
In Yr12, we will still have a fair bit to do:
Complete the SL topics
Begin and complete the HL topics
Begin and complete one Option (SL and HL)
Begin and complete the IA
While HLs are learning their content, SLs will be guided through some revision and given a specific topic to revise for a Revision Test.

12. How to study FOR IB BIOLOGY
Keep up - don’t let yourself fall a topic (or more) behind!
Keep ahead of your cocurricular commitments – you are all amazing and incredibly talented people who will end up being over- committed at various times of the year. Work ahead of these times, using the holidays prior to these periods to get ahead.
Find your groove – work out how you study best and keep trying new techniques until you find the one that works best. This may include written/electronic flashcards, summaries, online quizzes, practice questions, etc.
Be active in your revision – the more you need to do to revise, the better it will stick. Just reading our notes or textbook is not always the best option.

13. How to study FOR IB BIOLOGY
Remember to exercise your learning muscles – training is important for all of your muscles. Actively focus on the learning skills that you need and you will strengthen your ability to learn in a variety of circumstances.
The nature of Science and the IB itself mean that you are naturally working on the cognitive, strategic and social aspects of learning. What it doesn’t train you for, something you will need to cover independently, are the emotional aspects of learning or your resilience.

14. How to BUILD RESILIENCE
Absorption – Focus in class! Lose yourself in your learning and what you are doing.
Manage distractions– Recognise and reduce your distractions. Create your own best environment for learning, even if it means sitting away from friends.
Noticing– Try to take in the subtle cues around you – actively look for patterns, details and connections between topics.
Perseverance– Just keep swimming! Keep going in the face of difficulties, channeling the energy of frustration productively. Know that learning is often a slow and uncertain process. Never ever leave questions unanswered!!!!

15. ADVICE FROM YR
“Take your pracs seriously, and take advantage of every opportunity you have to write them properly and get useful feedback. If you rush a prac, your feedback is going to be useless because you will have made silly mistakes that you already knew weren’t right. It’s a waste of your time and your teachers (this also goes for every other subject). You NEED these practices.”
“Don’t be disheartened if you aren’t getting the grades you usually got, especially with the prac. I think I usually got A’s on all my pracs in Middle School and then I started off with a 10/24. This also goes with tests and things. You need to figure out your study habits (preferably quickly) that work for bio because it is one of the harder subjects to study for because the scale of the content.”
“If you’re stuck, get help. I know this sounds stupid but your teachers will sit down with you anytime that you want and are willing to help. If you’re struggling with your prac, go see your teacher and ask for help on specific sections. A prac is so overwhelming at the beginning, and getting some help tackling a section that is your weakest is going to help you enormously. Similarly, sit down with your teacher if you need to go through a section of the content like the cell cycle. If you aren’t understanding something, pick up on it straight away instead of waiting until you get a 3 on a test to take initiative.”