Article by: Gitika B.
Photograph by: Sarah K.
Apart from the many sleepless nights precipitated by the sometimes overwhelming workload, the IB does have a few enjoyable activities to offer – namely the annual “Group 4 Project,” an IB science project unlike any other. Not only does it deepen students’ understanding of the individual sciences, but also, notably, of the connections that can be made across these subjects. This year, ISM juniors were able to enjoy this fulfilling experience early on, with the event taking place last Wednesday, August 26, as opposed to after exams as in previous years. This was done in the hopes that they would enjoy the activity before being overloaded with their coursework.
This year’s theme, exactly like last year’s, was teaching issues of global importance to ISM’s service partner schools. Students were tasked with creating a comprehensive lesson on an issue they believed to be relevant and significant. This included a completed lesson plan outlining the aim and procedure of the class, a five-minute video that would be used to teach the schools, and a hands-on activity or an interactive activity to make the lesson more engaging.
High school physics teacher Mr. Reeh explains that the day “gives [students] an opportunity to see science as a collaborative exercise and helps [them] to see the sciences not just as individual subjects but to see how they all complement each other.” He continues, “Students realize that science is a useful, practical subject that can be applied to solve problems in the real world as they are designing lessons to educate people about things which are directly linked to their lives (eg. health and natural disasters).”
It was apparent that students worked to the best of their ability. Hands-on activities varied from engaging games to complex science experiments. One group even created an efficient yet simple system of water purification and was able to demonstrate it for the class. There was generally a lot of excitement surrounding the events of the day. Junior Albena Labib claimed that she “[did] feel slightly nervous, which may just be due to the fact that this is the first IB assignment [students] would be involved in.” At the same time, however, “[she] thought it was a fun experience as it was so different to the things normally done in class.”
Engaging, educational, and exciting, this project is the perfect way for the hard-working students taking the IB Diploma to not only demonstrate their knowledge on a topic, but show that they are collaborative, organized, and interactive learners.
