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Jan 17, 2012
IB Chemistry Website sharing...
Here is the link to an awesome fantastic IB chemistry teachers' website.
Report to Schools on Curriculum Review Meeting
Introduction
The Diploma Programme (DP) requires that all curriculums are reviewed in a seven year cycle. This is to ensure that each curriculum is fit for purpose in a changing world and incorporates the latest educational research as well as lessons learned through evaluation of the existing curriculum. The aim of curriculum development is to produce excellent, internationally minded, globally engaged, research-based curriculums and support material. These documents will enable students to develop attributes of the learner profile and the IB mission statement thereby providing an excellent preparation for life in the 21st Century.
This document is a report on the outcomes of the third curriculum review meeting for chemistry that took place over three days at The Hague, The Netherlands on November 5-7, 2011. Teaching of the new course arising from this review will begin in September 2014 with the first examinations in May 2016. The review is both a challenge and an opportunity with participants preparing courses which have to be relevant up to the year 2022.
Participants
The participants involved in the recent chemistry curriculum review meeting represented a wealth of International Baccalaureate (IB) experience and chemistry expertise. There were five participants, four of whom are current IB teachers. Participants were examiners, internal assessment moderators, examination paper authors, workshop leaders, textbook authors or members of the senior examining team. Participants were selected to provide representation from different IB regions and different school types. There was a good gender balance and a mix of teaching experience. In partial attendance was the Curriculum Manager for the continuum department who gave a presentation on global engagement and the position that chemistry has in the IB continuum.
Goals of the Meeting
This third curriculum review meeting had four main goals, all of which were achieved. These four goals were to:
• define the key skills and ideas for each of the four options;
• finalize the four option names;
• continue revision of the core and the advanced higher level topics; and
• incorporate the common group 4 changes into the chemistry guide (i.e. a focus on the nature of science, global engagement links, theory of knowledge links and approaches to teaching and learning).
Before the Meeting
Prior to this meeting, the Curriculum Manager had prepared a substantial report on chemistry education worldwide which examined chemistry specifications from a wide variety of countries and education systems. Two separate questionnaires, addressing both the common group 4 aspects and the chemistry content of the present course, were made available to IB chemistry teachers via the Online Curriculum Centre (OCC). Unfortunately both questionnaires had very poor returns.
Reports on analysis of both sets of questionnaires are currently available on the OCC. The findings of this research were shared with participants prior to the face-to-face meeting on a web based collaborative environment. All teachers who had expressed interest in being involved in the curriculum process, as per an invite through the Diploma Programme Coordinator’s notes and the OCC, participated in the initial online discussion.
A report on the proposed changes to the chemistry course was presented to the October 2011 meeting of the Diploma Review Committee (DRC) and subsequently approved. The DRC is comprised of the Head of Diploma Programme Development, Head of Diploma Programme Assessment, selected Diploma Programme Coordinators and selected Chief Examiners. Its role is to ensure the coherence and academic integrity of the individual components of the Diploma Programme, including the subjects and activities of the hexagon core.
Draft Curriculum Models
The design of the curriculum models had been discussed at length during the last three curriculum review meetings. It had been decided at the previous meetings that the number of options for both standard level (SL) and higher level (HL) would be reduced from two out of eight to one out of four. This decision resulted in a redistribution of hours in both courses. The proposed curriculum models are
SL Curriculum Model
Total 150 hours
Theory 110 hours
Core material 95 hours
Option material 15 hours
Practical work 40 hours
Investigations 30 hours
Group 4 project 10 hours
HL Curriculum Model
Total 250 hours
Theory 180 hours
Core material 95 hours
Advanced higher level material (AHL) 60 hours
Option material 25 hours
Practical work 60 hours
Investigations 50 hours
Group 4 project 10 hours
It was acknowledged that there was a need for up-to-date and augmented teacher support material (TSM). A wide range of support ideas were collected during this review meeting. It is envisioned that this new TSM would be a collaborative and dynamic resource that is easily accessible by teachers which contains a variety of resources to meet the variety of teachers/schools that deliver the course.
The Diploma Programme (DP) requires that all curriculums are reviewed in a seven year cycle. This is to ensure that each curriculum is fit for purpose in a changing world and incorporates the latest educational research as well as lessons learned through evaluation of the existing curriculum. The aim of curriculum development is to produce excellent, internationally minded, globally engaged, research-based curriculums and support material. These documents will enable students to develop attributes of the learner profile and the IB mission statement thereby providing an excellent preparation for life in the 21st Century.
This document is a report on the outcomes of the third curriculum review meeting for chemistry that took place over three days at The Hague, The Netherlands on November 5-7, 2011. Teaching of the new course arising from this review will begin in September 2014 with the first examinations in May 2016. The review is both a challenge and an opportunity with participants preparing courses which have to be relevant up to the year 2022.
Participants
The participants involved in the recent chemistry curriculum review meeting represented a wealth of International Baccalaureate (IB) experience and chemistry expertise. There were five participants, four of whom are current IB teachers. Participants were examiners, internal assessment moderators, examination paper authors, workshop leaders, textbook authors or members of the senior examining team. Participants were selected to provide representation from different IB regions and different school types. There was a good gender balance and a mix of teaching experience. In partial attendance was the Curriculum Manager for the continuum department who gave a presentation on global engagement and the position that chemistry has in the IB continuum.
Goals of the Meeting
This third curriculum review meeting had four main goals, all of which were achieved. These four goals were to:
• define the key skills and ideas for each of the four options;
• finalize the four option names;
• continue revision of the core and the advanced higher level topics; and
• incorporate the common group 4 changes into the chemistry guide (i.e. a focus on the nature of science, global engagement links, theory of knowledge links and approaches to teaching and learning).
Before the Meeting
Prior to this meeting, the Curriculum Manager had prepared a substantial report on chemistry education worldwide which examined chemistry specifications from a wide variety of countries and education systems. Two separate questionnaires, addressing both the common group 4 aspects and the chemistry content of the present course, were made available to IB chemistry teachers via the Online Curriculum Centre (OCC). Unfortunately both questionnaires had very poor returns.
Reports on analysis of both sets of questionnaires are currently available on the OCC. The findings of this research were shared with participants prior to the face-to-face meeting on a web based collaborative environment. All teachers who had expressed interest in being involved in the curriculum process, as per an invite through the Diploma Programme Coordinator’s notes and the OCC, participated in the initial online discussion.
A report on the proposed changes to the chemistry course was presented to the October 2011 meeting of the Diploma Review Committee (DRC) and subsequently approved. The DRC is comprised of the Head of Diploma Programme Development, Head of Diploma Programme Assessment, selected Diploma Programme Coordinators and selected Chief Examiners. Its role is to ensure the coherence and academic integrity of the individual components of the Diploma Programme, including the subjects and activities of the hexagon core.
Draft Curriculum Models
The design of the curriculum models had been discussed at length during the last three curriculum review meetings. It had been decided at the previous meetings that the number of options for both standard level (SL) and higher level (HL) would be reduced from two out of eight to one out of four. This decision resulted in a redistribution of hours in both courses. The proposed curriculum models are
SL Curriculum Model
Total 150 hours
Theory 110 hours
Core material 95 hours
Option material 15 hours
Practical work 40 hours
Investigations 30 hours
Group 4 project 10 hours
HL Curriculum Model
Total 250 hours
Theory 180 hours
Core material 95 hours
Advanced higher level material (AHL) 60 hours
Option material 25 hours
Practical work 60 hours
Investigations 50 hours
Group 4 project 10 hours
It was acknowledged that there was a need for up-to-date and augmented teacher support material (TSM). A wide range of support ideas were collected during this review meeting. It is envisioned that this new TSM would be a collaborative and dynamic resource that is easily accessible by teachers which contains a variety of resources to meet the variety of teachers/schools that deliver the course.
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