Environmental Systems and Societies 2017-2019

Overview

ESS is a complex course, requiring a diverse set of skills from its students. It is firmly grounded in both a scientific exploration of environmental systems in their structure and function and in the exploration of cultural, economic, ethical, political, and social interactions of societies with the environment. As a result of studying this course, students will become equipped with the ability to recognize and evaluate the impact of our complex system of societies on the natural world. The interdisciplinary nature of the course requires a broad skill set from students and includes the ability to perform research and investigations and to participate in philosophical discussion. The course requires a systems approach to environmental understanding and problem-solving, and promotes holistic thinking about environmental issues. It is recognized that to understand the environmental issues of the 21st century and suggest suitable management solutions, both the human and environmental aspects must be understood. Students should be encouraged to develop solutions from a personal to a community and to a global scale.

Aims

The aims of the ESS course are to enable students to:

1. acquire the knowledge and understandings of environmental systems at a variety of scales
2. apply the knowledge, methodologies and skills to analyse environmental systems and issues at a variety of scales
3. appreciate the dynamic interconnectedness between environmental systems and societies
4. value the combination of personal, local and global perspectives in making informed decisions and taking responsible actions on environmental issues
5. be critically aware that resources are finite, and that these could be inequitably distributed and exploited, and that management of these inequities is the key to sustainability
6. develop awareness of the diversity of environmental value systems
7. develop critical awareness that environmental problems are caused and solved by decisions made by individuals and societies that are based on different areas of knowledge
8. engage with the controversies that surround a variety of environmental issues
9. create innovative solutions to environmental issues by engaging actively in local and global contexts.

The Big Questions

When studying the ESS course we should use the big questions to guide us:

1. Which strengths and weaknesses of the systems approach and of the use of models have been revealed through this topic?
2. To what extent have the solutions emerging from this topic been directed at preventing environmental impacts, limiting the extent of the environmental impacts or restoring systems in which environmental impacts have already occurred?
3. What value systems are at play in the causes and approaches to resolving the issues addressed in this topic?
4. How does your personal value system compare with the others you have encountered in the context of issues raised in this topic?
5. How are the issues addressed in this topic relevant to sustainability or sustainable development?
6. In which ways might the solutions explored in this topic alter your predictions for the state of human societies and the biosphere decades from now?

Below is the syllabus outline, the full syllabus content can be found here.

External Assessment

Paper 1

Duration: 1 hour

Weighting: 25%

Marks: 35

Students will be provided with a range of data in a variety of forms relating to a specific, previously unseen case study. Questions will be based on the analysis and evaluation of the data in the case study. All of the questions are compulsory.

The questions test assessment objectives 1, 2 and 3.

Internal Assessment

Internal Assessment

Duration: 10 hours

Weighting: 25%

Individual investigation on a topic of your choice. More information and the grade descriptors can be found on the internal investigation page.

There are a number of key resources that can support you through the course. These include:

• IB subject website for ESS
• Oxford Textbook for IBDP ESS (paper copy only)
• Kognity digital textbook for ESS