The World Studies Extended Essay is an interdisciplinary essay that allows students to research a local issue of global significance through the lenses of two or more IB subjects.
Each WS essay is registered under one 6 themes:
Conflict, peace, and security
Culture, language, and identity
Environment and/or economic sustainability
Equality and inequality
Health and development
Science, technology, and society
Conflict, Peace and Security
A focus on the causes, management and resolution of disputes at local to global levels.
Possible subject pairings: History + Global Politics; Economics + Language A (e.g. English)
Culture, Language and Identity
An exploration of how beliefs, languages and self-perceptions form and interact.
Possible subject pairings: Language A + Psychology; History + Visual Arts
Environmental and/or Economic Sustainability
The study of balance between resource use, ecosystem health and economic systems.
Possible subject pairings: Biology + Geography; Economics + Environmental Systems & Societies
Equality and Inequality
Investigation of how rights, wealth and opportunities are distributed and contested.
Possible subject pairings: Economics + Mathematics; Global Politics + Language A
Health and Development
Examines links between physical/mental wellbeing and social or economic progress.
Possible subject pairings: Biology + Geography; Economics + Chemistry
Science, Technology and Society
Analyses how innovations emerge and shape—and are shaped by—social contexts.
Possible subject pairings: Physics + Computer Science; Design Technology + Mathematics