World Studies EE

The WSEE is organized across six global themes. You choose one of these under which to register your essay.  The themes are:

• Conflict, peace, and security

• Culture, language, and identity

• Environment and/or economic sustainability

• Equality and inequality

• Health and development

• Science, technology and society

The chosen topic must address both an issue of global significance, and invite an interdisciplinary approach. The most successful topics reveal connections between specific and/or local places, people, phenomena or experiences, and the larger global framework in which they take place (IBO 2010).  

Interdisciplinary in this context means research that draws on the methods, concepts and theories of two IB Diploma Programme subjects. Students are required to 

• identify an issue of global importance

• identify a local manifestation (Case study/ies) of the issue of global importance

• develop a clear rationale for taking an interdisciplinary approach and

• use the conceptual framework and vocabulary of two Diploma

Notes: 

Local is defined in its widest sense to mean specific examples or case studies and does not necessarily imply that the focus must be geographically local to you. 

Occasionally, students may choose to compare two local manifestations or examples from different contexts. 

World Studies Themes Explained with Examples: