UWC-USA June 2009

Background In 1970s a school-based subject, Marine Biology, was developed at UWC, Atlantic College, Wales which later evolved into the current group 4 course, Environmental Systems (EVS) Lack of contemporary issues in Geography and EVS courses led to development of the pilot course Ecosystems and Societies (Eco.Soc.) late 1990s At a similar time IB was exploring the nature of ‘transdisciplinary’ courses through collaboration with Harvard Project Zero

Eco.Soc. considered a good model for a transdisciplinary subject as it requires both scientific understanding and appreciation of socio-political perspectives EVS left out of group 4 ( ) review while Eco.Soc in pilot Following success of Eco.Soc. pilot it was considered to be a realistic replacement and evolution of EVS under new name Environmental systems and societies (ES&S).

What does transdisciplinary mean for the IB diploma? Offers student greater flexibility Opportunity for innovative curriculum development Represents a more realistic way of seeing the world

What are the differences? General: Guides look different due to rebranding, reordering and restructuring Inclusion of the learner profile Nature of subject includes sections on international dimension, TOK and links with MYP Action verbs replaced by command terms with some amendments to provide commonality across diploma

EVS ES&S Group 4 model Prohibition with Biology Group 4 project mandatory Core and Options 10 aims and 5 objectives characterized by the scientific method Own model as transdisciplinary, group ¾ No prohibition with Biology Group 4 project is NOT mandatory Only core, no options 8 aims and 7 objectives of which scientific method is a small part

EVS ES&S Core 80 hours Option A 15 hours 2 nd Option 15 hours IA 40 hours Total 150 hours Core 120 hours IA 30 hours Total 150 hours

EVS ES &S Paper 1 Multiple choice Paper 2 Section A: data based question, short questions Section B: one structured extended response question from choice of three Paper 3several short question from 2 options Paper 1 Both short answer and data-based questions Paper 2 Section A Case study Section B two structured extended question from choice of four

EVS ES&S Paper 120% Paper 232% Paper 324% IA24% Paper 1 30% Paper 250% IA20%

Online Curriculum Centre (OCC) Useful forum to share ideas and ask questions with other teachers and obtain useful IB publications Need a username and password from IB coordinator

Teacher Support Materials (TSM) A TSM for the new IA criteria was released on the OCC in May Examples from this will be looked at more closely in the IA session. IA Criteria for ESS are different from the EVS and different from the new criteria for the other Group 4 science courses

Examiners WE NEED YOU…….. See for examining opportunitieswww.ibo.org Online script and IA moderation training sessions will run late 2009/early 2010

Practicalities Last exams for EVS in May 2009 First exams for ES&S in May 2010