Identify the Context (6pts)

This criterion assesses the extent to which the student establishes and explores an environmental issue (either local or global) for an investigation and develops this to state a relevant and focused research question.

Environmental issue:

  • In this section you are framing the investigation by giving relevant background information on the larger environmental topic and your variables.

  • Begin with the more general information and get more and more specific, pointing out the link between your variables.

  • Be sure to explain the connection between the larger environmental issue and your research question. Include a discussion of the relevancy of the information we will gain from the results, and why we care about this research.

Research question:

  • State your research question. The research question should include both variables. You can start with a general statement, but be sure to follow up with a sentence or two that gives more specific information about the variables.

    • For example: What would be the economic and environmental impacts of an solar farm farm in the Czech Republic? The economic impacts to be considered will be the overall cost of the project in light of grants awarded through the ČEZ and long term cost impacts of energy cost. The environmental impacts will include an analysis of wildlife displacement and greenhouse gas emissions.

    • For example: How does temperature affect the amount of diffusion of carbon dioxide on a body of water? As carbon dioxide, when diffused into water, creates carbonic acid, the diffusion of carbon dioxide will be measured by the change in pH of water when exposed to high levels of carbon dioxide. Greater drops in pH will indicate a greater diffusion of carbon dioxide into the water.

Identifying the Context (20%)

MAY 2021 SUBJECT REPORT (IB's feedback on what students did well, and did not)

"Many reports started with an excellent context section. In the strongest reports the justification for the variables mentioned in the RQ were clearly articulated. The best responses used secondary sources to put their EI (Environmental Impact) into a context by providing data to show why it is an issue (such as percentage of soils impacted by salinisation in the local area, along with the reductions in yield per hectare).

Some students still do not clearly state a RQ or identify their EI. The link between the variables in their RQ and the premise of the investigation with regard to the EI is normally the weaker strand of this section. Most commonly, students state the link but fail to explain it. Some students treat CXT like personal engagement for a biology IA. Many give background information but no connections.

In some cases, the EI was not actually correct, or the RQ, EI and IV did not match. This was common in the case of IAs involving air pollution. Students confused IR with UV; carbon dioxide with sulphur dioxide or CFCs; acid rain and then took measurements with a carbon dioxide probe."