23 Sep ESS internal assessment
An Overview
The most important aspect of the environmental systems and societies course is hands-on work in the laboratory and/or out in the field. The syllabus not only directly requires the use of field techniques, but many components can only be covered effectively through this approach. Practical work in this subject is an opportunity to gain and develop skills and techniques beyond the requirements of the assessment model and should be fully integrated with the teaching of the course.
The purpose of the internal assessment investigation is to focus on a particular aspect of an ESS issue and to apply the results to a broader environmental and/or societal context. The investigation is recorded as a written report. The report should be between 1750 and 2250 words. This does not include titles, annotations on images and graphs, bibliography. Data (qualitative and quantitative) is not included but variable tables or error analysis tables do count.
You should be made aware that external moderators will not read beyond 2,250 words and I will only mark up to this limit.
The internal assessment investigation consists of:
• identifying an ESS issue and focusing on one of its specific aspects
• developing methodologies to generate data that are analyzed to produce knowledge and understanding of this focused aspect
• applying the outcomes of the focused investigation to provide understanding or solutions in the broader ESS context.
Your work is internally assessed by the teacher and externally moderated by the IB. The performance in
internal assessment is marked against common assessment criteria, with a total mark out of 30.
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