IB Aims and Goals

From the IB History Guide (2017):

History is an exploratory subject that fosters a sense of inquiry. It is also an interpretive discipline, allowing opportunity for engagement with multiple perspectives and a plurality of opinions. Studying history develops an understanding of the past, which leads to a deeper understanding of the nature of humans and of the world today.

The IB Diploma Programme (DP) history course is a world history course based on a comparative and multiperspective approach to history. It involves the study of a variety of types of history, including political, economic, social and cultural, and provides a balance of structure and flexibility. The course emphasizes the importance of encouraging students to think historically and to develop historical skills as well as gaining factual knowledge. It puts a premium on developing the skills of critical thinking, and on developing an understanding of multiple interpretations of history. In this way, the course involves a challenging and demanding critical exploration of the past.

The aims of all subjects in group 3, individuals and societies, are to:

1. encourage the systematic and critical study of: human experience and behaviour; physical, economic and social environments; the history and development of social and cultural institutions
2. develop in the student the capacity to identify, to analyse critically and to evaluate theories, concepts and arguments about the nature and activities of the individual and society
3. enable the student to collect, describe and analyse data used in studies of society, to test hypotheses and interpret complex data and source material
4. promote the appreciation of the way in which learning is relevant to both the culture in which the student lives and the culture of other societies
5. develop an awareness in the student that human attitudes and opinions are widely diverse and that a study of society requires an appreciation of such diversity
6. enable the student to recognize that the content and methodologies of the subjects in group 3 are contestable and that their study requires the toleration of uncertainty.

The aims of the history course at SL and HL are to:

7. develop an understanding of, and continuing interest in, the past

8. encourage students to engage with multiple perspectives and to appreciate the complex nature of historical concepts, issues, events and developments

9. promote international-mindedness through the study of history from more than one region of the world

10. develop an understanding of history as a discipline and to develop historical consciousness including a sense of chronology and context, and an understanding of different historical perspectives

11. develop key historical skills, including engaging effectively with sources

12. increase students’ understanding of themselves and of contemporary society by encouraging reflection on the past.