When writing a ESS IA, it is important that your work fits into IB requirements and rules. One of these rules is ESS IA word count. Many students ask me what is/isn’t included in the word count and that is why I decided to share...
When writing the ESS IA, some of the favourites students’ choices are surveys. They are not that difficult to perform as maybe some of the other ESS IA topics. Some of the IB ESS IA survey topics have to do with: • Ecological footprint, • Environmental philosophies, • Carbon...
When it comes to the ESS topic: “Soil” there are many interesting investigations that students can undertake. ESS IA soil topics include: • Measuring soil’s buffer capacity • Pollution in soil • Measuring soil’s pH • Soil’s salinity • Fertility of the soil • Measuring diversity of soil organisms • Soil erosion • Soil...
The Discussion, evaluation and conclusion of the ESS IA is composed of several aspects. ...
The data collection and processing of the ESS IA is composed of several aspects. ...
The planning part of the ESS IA is composed of several aspects. ...
Local and global material The course requires the study of environmental systems and societies at a range of scales from local to global, but the teaching of the course should be rooted in the local environment. There are many references in the syllabus to the local...
Systems approach The system approach is central to the course and has been employed for a number of reasons. The very nature of environmental issues demands a holistic treatment. An environmental system functions as a whole and the traditional approach of science tends to overlook this...
Sometimes students have a problem when it comes to addressing their ESS IA topics. Too general All these are far too broad and global and cannot be addressed within the ESS IA to meet the criteria. Avoid such general titles. • Tourism in Costa Rica • Global dimming • Oceans...
The ESS IA model is flexible enough to allow a wide variety of investigations to be carried out. These could include: • Short laboratory practicals over one or two lessons and long-term practicals or projects extending over several weeks • Computer simulations • Data-gathering exercises such as questionnaires and...