Extended Essay

Biology Extended Essay

Students have the option of joining the Summer Ecology Research class as a way of completing their extended essay project. As part of a summer school course, we spend 5-7 days at the NatureBridge facility in the Olympic National Park. Students design and collect data related to a field ecology research problem of their choosing. You do NOT need to be an IB Diploma candidate to participate in the field course, however registration priority is given to IB diploma candidates and the class has a registration limit.

"Thank you for organizing the Ecology trip and guiding me on my essay! It was truly an amazing and memorable experience." N.M., class of 2015

Field Course Pictures

"It really felt like we were just at summer camp when we were there. There's plenty of down time to relax or play games and days when, if you're not collecting data, you can help other people or just enjoy the park. We spent an entire day canoeing on Crescent Lake helping collect data for those who were investigating it, but we also took time off to explore some of the land around the lake most people didn't have access to. Our Naturebridge guides were really cool and fun to talk to as well. I never felt like I was working once - the teachers did a really good job of spacing everything out and keeping us on track. It was like science summer camp. I left the experience with my EE done, lots of new friends, and a great adventure to look back on. The food was really great too!" -B.T. (class of 2016)

Registration for the 2018 Summer Ecology Research Course will open during Spring 2018. Final payment will be due May 1, 2018. The cost is determined by the total number of students who register; it is estimated to be around $1500. The cost includes:

Transport to and from the Olympic National Park
Food and lodging while in the Olympic National Park
Summer school registration fee

Once we have a full registration, there will be a meeting with teachers and students to discuss course logistics, extended essay requirements and packing. Date for this meeting is TBD.

Video by Jasmine C., class of 2018

We will depart Skyline High School the afternoon of (date TBD). We will spend six nights in the National Park at the NatureBridge facility at Lake Crescent.

We will have access to multiple watersheds and forests for data collection and exploration! Time will be set aside for students to meet with teachers related to problem question selection, experimental design, analysis and formatting of an extended essay. Students will write the initial reflection pieces for the extended essay while in the national park. It's not all work -- we manage to have a lot of fun, laughter, team building and adventure too!

Our group will return to Skyline on the evening of (date TBD). The rest of the week is spent with students focusing on completing the extended essay.

Grading: Students will earn a letter grade for the class. We primarily rely on non-achievement criteria when assigning a grade for the course; meaning your work habits, initiative, collaboration and citizenship are equally (or more) important than the final essay or product you produce for the class. An "A" will be earned if:

Student is on-time and participating in all group activities
Student submits reflective writing assignments on time
Student works through challenges without getting overly frustrated or complainy
Student engages effectively with peers and teachers
Student collaborates in a productive, inclusive and respectful manner
Student uses and returns materials properly
Student completes process assignments prior to individual meeting with supervisors
Student engages in the experiment and writing process with a positive, eager attitude
Student submits a draft essay for peer scoring by the deadline.
Student submits a draft essay for teacher feedback by the deadline.
Student submits a revised version of the essay by the end of the course.