Internal Assessment General Information
The Purpose of Internal Assessment
Internal assessment is an integral part of the course and is compulsory for all students. It enables students to demonstrate the application of their skills and knowledge, and to pursue their personal interests, without the time limitations and other constraints that are associated with written examinations. Internal assessment in environmental systems and societies comprises a series of practical and fieldwork activities that are undertaken as part of the practical scheme of work. The performance in internal assessment is judged against four assessment criteria.
Internal assessment is an integral part of the environmental systems and societies course, contributing 20% to the final assessment. This weighting should be reflected in the time that is allocated to teaching the knowledge, skills and understanding required to undertake work as well as the total time allocated to carry out the work. It is recommended that a total of approximately 30 hours should be allocated to practical work (excluding time spent writing up work).
Teacher Guidance
The practical work submitted for internal assessment must be the student’s own work. However, it is not the intention that students should decide upon a title or topic and be left to work on the internal assessment component without any further support from the teacher. The teacher should play an important role during both the planning stage and the period when the student is working on the internally assessed work.
As part of the learning process, teachers can give advice to students on a first draft of the internally assessed work. This advice should be in terms of the way the work could be improved, but this first draft must not be heavily annotated or edited by the teacher. The next version handed to the teacher after the first draft must be the final one.
Assessment
The method of assessment used for internal assessment is criterion-related. That is to say, the method of assessment judges each student in relation to identified assessment criteria and not in relation to the work of other students. Teachers should judge the internal assessment exercise against the descriptors for each criterion. The aim is to find, for each criterion, the descriptor that conveys most adequately the achievement level attained by the student. The assessment criteria should be available to students at all times.
There are four assessment criteria that are used to assess the work of students.
The first three criteria—planning (Pl), data collection and processing (DCP), and discussion, evaluation and
conclusion (DEC)--are each assessed at least twice. Personal skills (PS) is assessed summatively, once only, at the end of the course.
Each of the assessment criteria can be separated into three aspects as shown in the following sections. Descriptions are provided to indicate what is expected in order to meet the requirements of a given aspect completely (c) and partially (p). A description is also given for circumstances in which the requirements are not satisfied, not at all (n).
A “complete” is awarded 2 marks, a “partial” 1 mark and a “not at all” 0 marks. The maximum mark for each criterion is 6 (representing three “completes”).
PI x 2 = 12
DCP x 2 = 12
DEC x 2 = 12
PS x 1 = 6
This makes a total mark out of 42.
The marks for each of the criteria are added together to determine the final mark out of 42 for the internal assessment component. This is then scaled by the IB to give a total out of 20%.
Internal assessment is an integral part of the course and is compulsory for all students. It enables students to demonstrate the application of their skills and knowledge, and to pursue their personal interests, without the time limitations and other constraints that are associated with written examinations. Internal assessment in environmental systems and societies comprises a series of practical and fieldwork activities that are undertaken as part of the practical scheme of work. The performance in internal assessment is judged against four assessment criteria.
Internal assessment is an integral part of the environmental systems and societies course, contributing 20% to the final assessment. This weighting should be reflected in the time that is allocated to teaching the knowledge, skills and understanding required to undertake work as well as the total time allocated to carry out the work. It is recommended that a total of approximately 30 hours should be allocated to practical work (excluding time spent writing up work).
Teacher Guidance
The practical work submitted for internal assessment must be the student’s own work. However, it is not the intention that students should decide upon a title or topic and be left to work on the internal assessment component without any further support from the teacher. The teacher should play an important role during both the planning stage and the period when the student is working on the internally assessed work.
As part of the learning process, teachers can give advice to students on a first draft of the internally assessed work. This advice should be in terms of the way the work could be improved, but this first draft must not be heavily annotated or edited by the teacher. The next version handed to the teacher after the first draft must be the final one.
Assessment
The method of assessment used for internal assessment is criterion-related. That is to say, the method of assessment judges each student in relation to identified assessment criteria and not in relation to the work of other students. Teachers should judge the internal assessment exercise against the descriptors for each criterion. The aim is to find, for each criterion, the descriptor that conveys most adequately the achievement level attained by the student. The assessment criteria should be available to students at all times.
There are four assessment criteria that are used to assess the work of students.
- Planning (Pl)
- Data Collection and Processing (DCP)
- Discussion, Evaluation and Conclusion (DEC)
- Personal Skills (PS)
The first three criteria—planning (Pl), data collection and processing (DCP), and discussion, evaluation and
conclusion (DEC)--are each assessed at least twice. Personal skills (PS) is assessed summatively, once only, at the end of the course.
Each of the assessment criteria can be separated into three aspects as shown in the following sections. Descriptions are provided to indicate what is expected in order to meet the requirements of a given aspect completely (c) and partially (p). A description is also given for circumstances in which the requirements are not satisfied, not at all (n).
A “complete” is awarded 2 marks, a “partial” 1 mark and a “not at all” 0 marks. The maximum mark for each criterion is 6 (representing three “completes”).
PI x 2 = 12
DCP x 2 = 12
DEC x 2 = 12
PS x 1 = 6
This makes a total mark out of 42.
The marks for each of the criteria are added together to determine the final mark out of 42 for the internal assessment component. This is then scaled by the IB to give a total out of 20%.