Internal Assessment

In IB Biology,  students are tasked with the research, design, performance, and write up their own investigation. This project is known as an internal assessment (IA).  Students will spend 10 hours doing this investigation which will provide 20% of the overall assessment for the IB biology score (the IB score, not the class grade).  The internal assessment is assessed by the teacher and then externally moderated by the IB at the end of the course. 
​
There is a large variety and range of possible investigations; each student must complete an investigation that is unique and adequately different from those of other students in the course.  Students can choose from:

• Hands-on practical laboratory work
• Fieldwork
• Use of a spreadsheet for analysis and modelling
• Extraction and analysis of data from a database 
• Use of a computer simulation

The Internal Assessment is assessed (that means ‘graded’) using very strict IB criteria.  All IB science teachers world-wide must use the same criteria and apply them in the same way—quite a challenge!!  To ensure that everyone is following the rules and applying the criteria correctly, schools must send samples of graded student lab reports to IB for monitoring.  If a teacher is being too hard or too soft, that teacher’s marks which were awarded to students will be adjusted accordingly. 

The IB Biology Internal Assessment has a maximum score of 24 points possible (the points for the I.A. criteria are IB marks, not class grade book points).  Each assessment criterion has level descriptors describing specific achievement levels, together with an appropriate range of marks. The IB advises teachers to use a "best-fit" approach in deciding the appropriate mark for the following criteria:  

HL Class of 2024:
You can view the SHS scoring rubric to read the levels of performance and indicators per level. 

• Personal Engagement (up to 2 points)
• Exploration (up to 6 points)
• Analysis (up to 6 points)
• Evaluation (up to 6 points)
• Communication (up to 4 points)

SL Class of 2024 and HL Class of 2025:
You can view the SHS scoring rubric to read the levels of performance and indicators per level. 

• Research design (up to 6 points)
• Analysis (up to 6 points)
• Conclusion (up to 6 points)
• Evaluation (up to 6 points)

---

At SHS, the students complete the Internal Assessment during the first semester of the second year of IB Biology. The IA project is is broken into discrete "chunks" so that students are not overwhelmed by the magnitude of the project and so that there is ample time for asking questions, getting feedback and completing the experiments.  Under no circumstances should a student be procrastinating on this project or surprised by an upcoming deadline.  Here's the timeline for the 2023-2024 school year with links to the documents used in our class to help development of the final paper.  ​

Date	Task
September 11, 2023	​Intro to the Internal Assessment and problem question proposal
September 22, 2023	Proposed problem question due  first come, first serve – since students can’t have the same problem question as others
October 02, 2023	Teacher approval for problem question Intro to background research task
October 13, 2023	Background research due Intro to methodology proposal
October 25, 2023	Methodology proposals due
​Week of ​November 06, 2023	Teacher approval of methodology Intro to data collection expectations Data collection plan due
December 15, 2023	Review common feedback related to data collection Formatted raw data and data collection photos due Review requirements for 50% draft
January 08, 2024	Review common feedback related to introduction and methods 50% draft due Intro to descriptive data analysis
January 17, 2024	Review common feedback related to data analysis Descriptive data analysis due Intro to data presentation
January 25, 2024	Review common feedback related to data presentation Data presentation draft due Intro to inferential data analysis
February 02, 2024	Review common feedback related to inferential analysis Inferential analysis due ​Intro to conclusion and evaluation
February 07, 2024	Conclusion and evaluation part 1 due
February 12, 2022	Conclusion and evaluation part 2 due ​Review common feedback related to the conclusion and evaluation
Week of February 12, 2024	​Compiling the final paper Review IA scoring rubric
February 16, 2024	Final paper submission ​Declaration of Integrity and Authenticity

A note to teachers and students about the IA:
Everything above is scored for completion, roughly 5-10 class lab points per task.  Something small like writing a problem question is worth 5 points, something bigger like the draft of the introduction would be worth 10 points.  I will read and approve every problem question; approval is dependent on safety and ability to collect enough relevant data within the time frame.  Once the problem question has been approved it is added to the list (which everyone can see) and if it's not approved (because it's too simple, too complex, not ethical, or lame...) then the student will be asked to try again.  A student cannot move on to the next step in the process until they complete the previous step.  Once a problem question has been approved, a student can't change it without discussion with the teacher.  

Common feedback is shared with all students but I, as the teacher, actually only spot check the details of a few of the students work.  For example, if I get 120 draft introductions turned in, I will randomly read 10 in detail - and anonymously share the feedback from those 10 with all 120 students.  Then, for the next section I will repeat with another (different) random 10 students.  I do this because there is absolutely NO WAY to read 120 students "in process" IA work.  Additionally, the IA is an ASSESSMENT and so per IB guidelines I can't be providing specific feedback to individual students.  Students can absolutely talk to me, ask questions, get help.... but it has to be on their initiative not mine. ​​

If you are a teacher, please email me if you'd like to see annotated samples. ​