Internal Assessments (IA)

ESS IA general information

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 1,500 to 2,250 words long. Students should be made aware that external moderators will not read beyond 2,250 words and teachers should 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 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.

IA general information for Biology, Chemistry, and Physics (For SL and HL students)

Worth 20% of the final assessment.

Student work is internally assessed by the teacher and externally moderated by the IB. The performance in internal assessment at both SL and HL is marked against common assessment criteria, with a total mark out of 24.

The internal assessment task will be one scientific investigation taking about 10 hours and the write-up should be about 6 to 12 pages long. Investigations exceeding this length will be penalized in the communication criterion as lacking in conciseness.

Some of the possible tasks include:

• a hands-on laboratory investigation

• using a spreadsheet for analysis and modelling

• extracting data from a database and analysing it graphically

• producing a hybrid of spreadsheet/database work with a traditional hands-on investigation

• using a simulation provided it is interactive and open-ended.