Today, BartyED’s expert IB Biology tutors examine how students can complete an IA that hits all the necessary marks. 

The Internal Assessment, or IA, is a mandatory assignment of all IB students. It consists of a piece of written coursework that is assessed internally by a teacher, as well as externally moderated by the IB themselves. The IA accounts for 20% of a student’s final assessment, and should involve roughly 10 hours of teaching time, in addition to time spent in researching and writing. The work itself involves each student designing a scientific investigation, carrying out an experiment, and producing a lab report of between 6 and 12 pages. 

The purpose of the IA is to allow students to demonstrate the application of the skills and knowledge they have gained since beginning their IB studies. Second to this, it presents students with the opportunity to explore areas of personal interest. 

Every student’s IA is graded under five distinct criteria: personal engagement, exploration, analysis, evaluation, and communication. 

Without a well developed Research Question, or RQ, students will find it difficult to produce a high quality IA. The RQ is the starting point for the Internal Assessment, for both the student in their writing and the teacher who is assessing the work. 

There are a selection of criteria that any good RQ must meet. The IB are looking for a Research Question that  represents a diploma-level investigation that is suitably demanding. It must also be relevant to the IB Biology syllabus, as well as touching on an area of personal interest for the student, and have a real world application. While this may seem daunting, with some careful consideration it is possible to produce a Research Question that touches on each one of these points successfully. 

Weak Research Question: Are dairy products safe for human and or animal consumption after their use-by date elapse?

The weakness inherent in this RQ is fairly obvious. It reads less like an IB-level Biology investigation and more like a consumer report. Consequently,  it is vital that reference is made to terminology and/or processes covered in the Biology syllabus. Furthermore, this RQ lacks any variables. Without these, no truly significant data can be collected. 

Strong Research Question: Exploring how varying temperatures and sunlight speed up the spoilage of milk.

In contrast to the previous example, this RQ is stronger. Unlike its weaker counterpart, this RQ uses language that is in line with a scientific investigation expected from IB Biology students. Additionally, this Research Question introduces variables, these being temperature and sunlight exposure, that may produce a variety of data points to be examined.  

Weak Research Question: Does global warming have any effect on the human body?

Here, we have another example of a Research Question that lacks any reference to topics covered in IB Biology and contains no variables whatsoever. On top of this, it is far too broad. The effects of global warming on the human body could be multifarious. In this case, it would be expected that the student includes an enormous amount of data to represent such variety. 

Strong Research Question: Investigating the effects of temperature and humidity on the transmission rate of influenza virus.

This RQ presents a significantly more focused investigation. Not only does it introduce the variables of temperature and humidity, it focuses specifically on the transmission rates of influenza. Transmission rates, unlike the broad ‘effects on the human body’, can be quantified. Finally, the language is commensurate with what is expected from a scientific investigation at IB level. 

Having established personal engagement and exploration through a well developed RQ, students must analyse and evaluate the data collected during their investigation in the main body of their Biology IA. 

The markband for analysis looks to assess students on the extent to which their IA provides evidence that they have selected, recorded, processed, and interpreted data in ways that are relevant to the RQ and can support a conclusion. In other words, students will be graded on the relevancy of the raw data they collected; how this data was processed; how students accounted for the impact of uncertainty; and whether the data process was correctly interpreted to deduce a conclusion to the RQ. 

When grading for evaluation, teachers and IB external moderators are examining the extent to which a student’s IA provides evidence of an assessment of the investigation and the results, in relation to the RQ as well as the accepted scientific context. To achieve full marks in this criteria, students must identify the strengths and weaknesses of their investigation, and discuss both realistic and relevant ways to improve and build upon their work. 

The importance of clear and concise communication through an IA cannot be overstated. Although this is nothing like an English essay, it is extremely important that IB Biology students take care in communicating their findings. Presentation must be clear; the investigation must be well structured; the report must have a sustained focus; and relevant specific terminology must be used throughout. While all of this may seem terribly obvious, to be marked down as a result of a poorly structured IA that lacks a consistent writing style, or one littered with spelling mistakes and graphs that break across pages, would be a sorry outcome. 

Hopefully you found these tips useful when approaching your Biology IA. Although it is challenging, requiring sustained focus and well developed research and writing skills, it is not insurmountable. In fact, our IB Biology tutors have found that the reason why students most often struggle with the Internal Assessment is because they lack the right guidance.  This is where an experienced tutor can make all the difference. 

If you feel that you could benefit from extra support, check out our website here for more information on our IB Biology teaching programmes, or reach out today at (852) 2882 1017 or enquiries@bartyed.com. 

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