Z02 ESS SB IBGLB 0420 Z02 IA - WikispacesInternal+Assessment.pdf · the marking points that the IB...

The purpose of the Internal Asse ssment (IA) is to enable you to demonstrate skills and knowledge you have gained during the course, and to pursue a topic that is of personal interest to you. The IA focuses on a particular aspect of an ESS issue and applies the results to a broader environmental and/or social context.

The IA involves the completion of an individual investigation of an ESS research question that you have designed and implemented. The investigation is submitted as a written report. The IA needs to address specifi c assessment criteria (see below). If you are undertaking an ESS extended essay, it must not be based on the research question of the ESS Internal Assessment.

You are allowed a total of 10 hours to complete the IA. The 10 hours include:

● time for initial explanation of the IA requirements by your teacher ● time to ask questions ● time for consultation with your teacher to discuss the research question before the investigation is carried out, and throughout the execution of the IA

● time to develop the method and collect data ● time to review and monitor progress ● time for fi nal report writing.

Successful IAs have research questions that are based on a topic within the syllabus that is of particular interest to you. Each person in your class needs to have a di� erent research question. You need to make sure you carefully follow the IA criteria and hit the marking points that the IB are looking for. You should be aiming for the highest marks possible in your IA as good marks will give you confi dence as you approach the exams, and will help support your overall mark. The IA is worth 25% of you fi nal ESS mark, and a good performance can raise you to the next grade if you are borderline between two grades.

The main problems students encounter with IAs revolve around design (especially suitable sample sizes and sampling techniques), proper treatment of data (this is closely linked to lack of data stemming from poor design), vigorous discussions of the data in a broader context and an analysis of strengths and weaknesses of design. Specifi c issues concerning each criterion are discussed below.

The report should be 1500 to 2250 words long. External moderators (who check the marks given by your teacher) will not read beyond 2250 words.

The Internal Assessment investigation consists of:

● identifying an ESS issue and focusing on one of its specifi c aspects ● developing methodologies to generate data that are analysed 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.

The focused research question should arise from a broader area of environmental interest (the context), so that in conjunction with evaluating the research process and fi ndings of your study, you can discuss the extent to which your study applies to the environmental issue that interests you at a local, regional or global level (the application). The discussion should lead you to develop creative thinking and novel solutions, or to inform current political and management decisions relating to the issue. For example, if you carry out a study on the impact of wind turbines that had

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Internal assessment

You are allowed 10 hours to carry out the IA. This includes time for initial discussions, planning, gathering data, and writing the report.

The IA report should be 1500 to 2250 words long.

Successful IAs have research questions that are based on a topic within the syllabus that is of particular interest to you.

Z02_ESS_SB_IBGLB_0420_Z02_IA.indd 463 30/07/2015 12:00

been erected in the vicinity of your school, you may suggest solutions for the erection of wind turbines in other areas based on your fi ndings.

The following methodologies may be applied:

● values and attitude surveys or questionnaires ● interviews ● issues-based inquiries to inform decision-making ● observational fi eldwork (natural experiments) ● fi eld manipulation experiments ● ecosystem modelling (including mesocosms or bottle experiments) ● laboratory work ● models of sustainability ● use of systems diagrams or other valid holistic modelling approaches ● elements of environmental impact assessments ● secondary demographic, development and environmental data ● collection of both qualitative and quantitative data.

The following analytical techniques may be applied to data:

● estimations of NPP/GPP or NSP/GSP (Chapter 2, pages 93–94) ● application of descriptive statistics (measures of spread and average) and inferential statistics (testing of null hypotheses) (Appendix)

● other complex calculations ● cartographic analysis ● use of spreadsheets or databases ● detailed calculations of footprints (including ecological, carbon, water footprints).

Investigations may consist of appropriate qualitative work or quantitative work. In some cases, these are descriptive approaches and may involve the collection of considerable qualitative data. In others, establishing cause and e� ect through inferential statistical analysis (a scientifi c approach) may be used.

Internal Assessment criteriaFor Internal Assessment, the following assessment criteria will be used. The number of marks allocated to each criterion is indicated in the table.

There are 6 di� erent assessment criteria for the IA: ● identifying the context ● planning ● results, analysis and conclusion ● discussion and evaluation ● applications ● communication.

The maximum number of marks for the IA is 30. It makes up 25% of your fi nal total mark in ESS.

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Internal assessment

Identifying the context

Planning Results, analysis, and

conclusion

Discussion and

evaluation

Applications Communication Total

6 (20%) 6 (20%) 6 (20%) 6 (20%) 3 (10%) 3 (10%) 30 (100%)

Internal Assessment criteria


Identifying the context (6 marks)This criterion assesses the extent to which you establish and explore an environmental issue (either local or global) for an investigation and develop this to state a relevant and focused research question.

Achievement level Descriptor

0 The student’s report does not reach a standard described by any of the descriptors given below.

1–2 The student’s report: ● states a research question, but there is a lack of focus ● outlines an environmental issue (either local or global) that is linked to the research question

● lists connections between the environmental issue (either local or global) and the research question but there are signifi cant omissions.

3–4 The student’s report: ● states a relevant research question ● outlines an environmental issue (either local or global) that provides the context to the research question

● describes connections between the environmental issue (either local or global) and the research question, but there are omissions.

5–6 The student’s report: ● states a relevant, coherent and focused research question ● discusses a relevant environmental issue (either local or global) that provides the context for the research question

● explains the connections between the environmental issue (either local or global) and the research question.

Planning (6 marks)This criterion assesses the extent to which you have developed appropriate methods to gather data relevant to the research question. This data could be primary or secondary, qualitative or quantitative, and may use techniques associated with both experimental or social science methods of inquiry. There is an assessment of safety, environmental and ethical considerations where applicable.



1–2 The student’s report: ● designs a method that is inappropriate because it will not allow for the collection of relevant data

● outlines the choice of sampling strategy but with some errors and omissions

● lists some risks and ethical considerations where applicable.

3–4 The student’s report: ● designs a repeatable* method appropriate to the research question but the method does not allow for the collection of suffi cient relevant data

● describes the choice of sampling strategy ● outlines the risk assessment and ethical considerations where applicable.

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Achievement levels for identifying the context

Achievement levels for planning



5–6 The student’s report: ● designs a repeatable* method appropriate to the research question that allows for the collection of suffi cient relevant data

● justifi es the choice of sampling strategy used ● describes the risk assessment and ethical considerations where applicable.

*Repeatable, in this context, means that suffi cient detail is provided for the reader to be able to replicate the data collection for another environment or society. It does not necessarily mean repeatable in the sense of replicating it under laboratory conditions to obtain a number of runs or repeats in which all the control variables are exactly the same.

Results, analysis and conclusion (6 marks)This criterion assesses the extent to which you have collected, recorded, processed and interpreted the data in ways that are relevant to the research question. The patterns in the data must be correctly interpreted to reach a valid conclusion.



1–2 The student’s report: ● constructs some diagrams, charts or graphs of quantitative and/or qualitative data, but there are signifi cant errors or omissions

● analyses some of the data but there are signifi cant errors and/or omissions

● states a conclusion that is not supported by the data.

3–4 The student’s report: ● constructs diagrams, charts or graphs of quantitative and/or qualitative data which are appropriate but there are some omissions

● analyses the data correctly but the analysis is incomplete ● interprets some trends, patterns or relationships in the data so that a conclusion with some validity is deduced.

5–6 The student’s report: ● constructs diagrams, charts or graphs of all relevant quantitative and/or qualitative data appropriately

● analyses the data correctly and completely so that all relevant patterns are displayed

● interprets trends, patterns or relationships in the data, so that a valid conclusion to the research question is deduced.

Discussion and evaluation (6 marks)This criterion assesses the extent to which you discuss the conclusion in the context of the environmental issue, and carry out an evaluation of the investigation.

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Internal assessment

Achievement levels for results, analysis and conclusion




1–2 The student’s report: ● describes how some aspects of the conclusion are related to the environmental issue

● identifi es some strengths, weaknesses and limitations of the method

● suggests superfi cial modifi cations and/or further areas of research.

3–4 The student’s report: ● evaluates the conclusion in the context of the environmental issue but there are omissions

● describes some strengths, weaknesses and limitations within the method used

● suggests modifi cations and further areas of research.

5–6 The student’s report: ● evaluates the conclusion in the context of the environmental issue

● discusses strengths, weaknesses and limitations within the method used

● suggests modifi cations addressing one or more signifi cant weaknesses with large effect and further areas of research.

Applications (3 marks)This criterion assesses the extent to which you identify and evaluate one way to apply the outcomes of the investigation in relation to the broader environmental issue that was identifi ed at the start of the project.



1 The student’s report: ● states one potential application and/or solution to the environmental issue that has been discussed in the context

● describes some strengths, weaknesses and limitations of this solution.

2 The student’s report: ● describes one potential application and/or solution to the environmental issue that has been discussed in the context, based on the fi ndings of the study, but the justifi cation is weak or missing

● evaluates some relevant strengths, weaknesses and limitations of this solution.

3 The student’s report: ● justifi es one potential application and/or solution to the environmental issue that has been discussed in the context, based on the fi ndings of the study

● evaluates relevant strengths, weaknesses and limitations of this solution.

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Achievement levels for discussion and evaluation

Achievement levels for applications


Communication (3 marks)This criterion assesses whether the report has been presented in a way that supports e� ective communication in terms of structure, coherence and clarity. The focus, process and outcomes of the report are all well presented.



1 The investigation has limited structure and organization: ● the report makes limited use of appropriate terminology and it is not concise

● the presentation of the report limits the reader’s understanding.

2 The report has structure and organization but this is not sustained throughout the report:

● the report either makes use of appropriate terminology or is concise

● the report is mainly logical and coherent, but is diffi cult to follow in parts.

3 The report is well-structured and well-organized: ● the report makes consistent use of appropriate terminology and is concise

● the report is logical and coherent.

Advice for your IA

Identifying the contextYou need to state explicitly why you have selected the research question chosen, and your personal interest in the topic.

Planning ● Many students lose marks for not knowing the di� erence between independent, dependent and controlled variables. You need to clearly identify these variables in your report: the terminology is not compulsory, and some students refer to the variable that they will manipulate and that which will respond, and those that will be held constant. The concepts of ‘control’ and ‘control variables’ are often confused: control variables are required for a fair test, where only one variable is changed (the independent variable) and the rest kept the same (the control variables). The dependent variable is the one you are measuring. A ‘control’ refers to an experiment where the independent variable is removed, so that the scientist can see what happens when the factor that they think is having the e� ect is taken away – this proves that the independent variable is the one having the e� ect rather than other factors. In ecological IAs, it may not be possible to control other variables as you will be working out-of-doors where conditions vary: in these investigations, you need to say that you will monitor other variables that may a� ect your dependent variable.

● When explaining your sampling method, you must outline how those samples are to be selected, ensuring that there is no signifi cant bias. You need to be able to develop a method that results in a ‘fair’ test or one in which reasonable attempts have been made to remove bias. For example, a practical that includes sampling of quadrats (pages 135–136) should include some description of how these are to be selected. It is

468

Internal assessment

Achievement levels for communication

Read these pages carefully – they provide advice for carrying out the IA successfully and obtaining good marks.


not su� cient simply to indicate that quadrats were selected randomly – the method to ensure randomness should be outlined. If you are comparing germination of plants under di� erent salinity conditions, for example, the method should indicate how temperature, moisture, and other variables are being controlled in order to ensure that the results are comparable.

● Most students succeed in obtaining data that are relevant to the question or topic that is being studied, but lose marks by collecting data insu� cient in quantity. Normally, fi ve is the minimum number of samples required per site, treatment, repetition, and so on. For example, if you are measuring changes in rate of oxygen release with respect to light intensity in Elodea, it would be expected that you would take at least fi ve readings for each light intensity. Lack of su� cient data can have knock-on e� ects for other marking criteria; for example, if only a single measurement is collected per treatment, the data does not lend itself for processing and by extension is not suitable for the presentation of processed data. When carrying out ecological fi eldwork, time constraints can be problematic, and it is appreciated that in these cases you may need to collect fewer than fi ve samples or transects. In such cases, three may be acceptable, but you need to explain in your report about the time constraints you encountered.

Results, analysis and conclusion Students often lose marks for the following errors.

● Tables and graphs are not labelled correctly. Tables should have an adequate title and appropriate headings are needed. Axes of graphs should be labelled and units included.

● Putting units in the cells of a table and not in the column or row headings where they should be.

● Reporting data to a varying number of decimal places within the same column or row. In a table, for example, the temperature data and dissolved oxygen data may have di� erent numbers of decimal places, but all the temperature readings must have the same number of decimals.

● It is not possible to carry out a good analysis when there is insu� cient data. If the design calls for one pH sample from each of fi ve locations in a stream, then there is no signifi cant analysis that can be carried out with these data and therefore you are likely to perform poorly. Five repeats at each site would have been necessary for good data analysis.

● Data are often unprocessed. It is expected that you do something with your data (e.g. calculate indices, averages, standard deviations, and so on). Statistical techniques such as Chi squared, regressions, t-test can also be done: although these are not specifi cally required, they do provide a way to achieve full marks in this aspect, although to achieve full marks they must be done well (Appendix).

● When processing data, accuracy is sometimes increased through mathematical means. Processed data should be to the same level of accuracy as raw data. If a mean is calculated from numbers with two decimal places, for example, this should not be reported to four decimal places.

Presentation of processed data usually takes the form of a scatter plot, pie chart, histogram, bar chart, or some other method of visually portraying the analysed data. Do not just plot unprocessed/raw data (e.g. if you take temperature readings at 10 di� erent sites on a river, do not just draw a graph of these – plot mean values).

The data you collect must be recorded at the level of accuracy made possible by the precision of the equipment you are using. For example, if plant lengths are measured with a ruler that reports millimetres, the average of these data should not be reported

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to 8 decimal places in the data tables, but rather to the nearest millimetre. Similarly, if a light meter records to two decimal places, then this is the level of accuracy that should be used when calculating means.

In the conclusion, marks are often lost by not being specifi c enough. You should cite your data in your conclusions (e.g. if you conclude that in a study of soil moisture along a slope, there is a trend towards increasing moisture down slope, this should be illustrated with the actual data. There should be a brief explanation as well: for example, ‘The increase in soil moisture down the slope may be due to run-o� and infi ltration.’

Discussion and evaluation ● The best reports cite literature, indicate how close data is to what might be expected, contain discussion about why data did not support theory, and include comments about the relative reliability of the data. Calculation of standard deviations allows discussion about the reliability of the data. Although it is not intended that the discussion should turn into a dissertation of several pages, there does need to be a critical look at the quality of the data and how it relates to what is known.

● A good discussion should identify patterns in the data (or comment on their absence), place the research in a context that relates it to theory and/or research, and assess the quality of the data generated. This is much easier to do if the planning and results sections have been done well. If the research question is tightly focused, and there is su� cient data to address the question, then a discussion is more likely to produce interesting insight. For example, if you have carried out a study of the relationship between temperature and dissolved oxygen at sites above and below a pollution source, you should address the quality of the data. Is it reliable? Why, or why not? This is where having means and standard deviations can be useful. Standard deviation (which can easily be worked out on a scientifi c calculator) shows the variation in the data: if there is a very large standard deviation, you would be expected to comment on this fact and interpret it (i.e. large variation means that the data are less reliable).

● The discussion should be thought provoking and will almost certainly be the most challenging (and perhaps lengthiest) part of the report. Are there important di� erences among the data? Are there trends? Do these trends support/refute accepted theory? Are the standard deviations in the data so huge as to make di� erences meaningless? Are there anomalies in the data? These should be discussed, and if they are to be ignored or excluded from the analysis, a case for this decision should be made. Were the samples collected without signifi cant bias? Are there literature values that can be used for comparison? If there are, these should be mentioned. If these are non-existent or unavailable, a note to this e� ect should be included.

● You need to look at your method critically and o� er improvements. Many students, however, miss the most obvious improvement (i.e. collection of more data, repeating the experiment, and calculation of averages). Potential marks are generally lost by making suggestions that are either too simple or unrealistic. In the evaluation, data quality issues that may have been noted in the discussion should be addressed. Was the standard deviation very high? How can it be reduced? Is the data representative? If not, how can that be addressed? What improvements will address the issues that have been identifi ed? All these questions should be answered in this section of the report.

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Internal assessment


ApplicationsMake sure you identify and evaluate one way to apply the outcomes of the investigation in relation to the broader environmental issue. You need to justify one potential application and/or solution to the environmental issue based on the fi ndings of the study, and evaluate the relevant strengths, weaknesses and limitations of this application/solution.

CommunicationMake sure that your report is well structured and well organized. The report should make consistent use of appropriate terminology and be concise, follow a logical order, and be clearly written.

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