Following on from her question and answer session for ‘Tips on how to teach Biology for the IB Diploma’ webinar’, Brenda Walpole, author from our new Biology for the IB Diploma series shares her answers to your questions. Brenda has taught IB for around 25 years at a top IB school in England and is also a teacher trainer.
Don’t worry if you missed the webinar with Brenda’s top tips, you can catch up with the recording and download her webinar presentation.
You can also listen to Brenda discussing teaching ideas with fellow author and teacher Andreas Tsokos in our Brighter Thinking Podcast episode ‘Developing essential skills for IB Sciences’. You can read Andreas’s latest post here.
IB Biology – the challenges of a new syllabus
The new syllabus has brought the IB course up to date and several topics are no longer included. There are no Options now so the course content is reduced, with the time allocation for Standard Level 150 hours and for Higher Level 240 hours. These times include 40 hours and 60 hours respectively for the experimental programme, and 10 of the hours are allocated to the Internally Assessed Scientific investigation.
A few topics previously in the Options now feature in the main course. There is more emphasis on biodiversity, conservation and ecosystems, and throughout many more examples of different species from different parts of the world are used.
In the old syllabus certain practical investigations were listed as being compulsory. This requirement has been removed. Questions based on data from experiments which students may or may not have seen or done themselves are likely to be important in the examination papers. Therefore, it’s important that we equip students with the skills they will need and familiarise them with equipment, measurements and ways of presenting data that they will be expected to recognise.
As we teach the course, we should also encourage thinking, communication, social and research skills as well as reflection and self-management in our students. These form the basis of the IB philosophy. Using interesting prompts such as newspaper or social media articles, specimens or photographs to initiate discussion is a good way to get students on side and build their confidence.
FAQs from the webinar
Is the amount of content really less than the last syllabus?
In theory it is but far more links must be made between concepts than previously, so this may take time for students and teachers to adjust to. However, the number of hours allocated to each topic in the specification isn’t an indication of its importance in exams. This is a change from the last syllabus.
And even though ‘linking’ is important, there will only occasionally be linking across themes or concepts in questions set in the examination papers.
How can we support students who are not working in their first language?
Biology has many technical terms and difficult words to remember. It is useful to provide students with vocabulary lists for each topic as they study it. The glossary in their textbook is a useful place to check definitions. Word games and word searches can also help. Highlighting common parts in longer terms such as ‘photo’ in photosynthesis or phototropism, or suffixes such as ‘-ase’ to help identify enzymes is also a useful tool.
What can be found in Science in Context boxes?
Here you can find information which relates aspects of the biology course to the world outside the classroom. For example, there are features on diet, the origin of Botox, high blood pressure and quorum sensing in biofilms that cause problems in hospital equipment.
Have there been significant changes to the Internal Assessment?
The internally assessed component is largely unchanged. It is referred to as the Scientific Investigation in the syllabus. The main differences are that the ‘personal engagement’ marks have been removed so that all the allocated marks relate to the investigation itself, as shown in this table.
| Criterion | Maximum number of marks available | Weighting (%) |
| Research design | 6 | 25 |
| Data analysis | 6 | 25 |
| Conclusion | 6 | 25 |
| Evaluation | 6 | 25 |
| TOTAL | 24 | 100 |
The second key change is that students may work in small teams to collect data. This is to help schools that may have many students or limited equipment and resources. But it is very important that each student formulates their own research question and carries out their own analyses and evaluation, even if they work with others to collect data.
Are there any tips and tricks for exam preparation?
Practice as always! Past papers can assist in showing students the style of question that they will face. The IB website has not yet updated the question bank but will do so soon. Multiple-choice questions require careful reading, and students should be warned to watch out for negative questions such as ‘Which of these is not an enzyme…?’ and questions where several combinations of answers are given. Careful reading is essential here.
The second exam paper will contain longer data analysis questions as in the old course. Make sure students can recognise the command terms and answer appropriately. Encourage them to differentiate between ‘state’, ‘describe’, ‘analyse’ and so on, and check that they write the correct amount in their responses. Also ask them to check how many marks are to be awarded. This is always a good clue to the detail needed.
