Teacher only page

Group 4 Project

Background

The IB Group 4 Project is probably unique in forming part of any Chemistry programme for 16-19 education. It came into being after the major revision of the syllabus in 1996 (first examinations 1998). Chemistry teachers seem to either love it or hate it. In the consultation paper circulated to teachers before the 2001 review (for first examination in 2003) 50% of the teachers wanted to keep it and 50% wanted to scrap it. In the event the time which should be spent on it was changed so that teachers could maintain the ten hours or increase it to fifteen hours if they wished. There was a further revision for the 2007 programme (first examined in 2009). The time then reverted back to just ten hours and students taking two sciences only had to do the Group 4 Project once (previously they had to do two investigations one for each of their two subjects). Following the last review of the programme for first examinations in 2016 the Group 4 Project was retained. It still takes up ten hours of teaching time and is only done once by students doing two sciences but the major change is that it no longer forms part of the internal assessment.

What is the Group 4 Project?


The opening slide of a presentation on their Group 4 Project by students from the TED Ankara School, Turkey (thanks to their teacher, Mustafa Mustunisik, for giving me permission to use the slide)

So what is the Group 4 Project? Full information about it can be found on pages 185 - 189 of the IB Chemistry Guide for first examination in 2016. It was devised to cover Aim 10  which states, “develop an understanding of the relationships between scientific disciplines and their influence on other areas of knowledge”. Apart from the Group 4 Project everything else a student does towards their assessment must be individual. Even if they work in pairs when they do their practical work the collection of data and the write-up must be their own work – if it isn’t they are guilty of collusion or dishonesty with all the consequences that follow. This goes against how science works in reality where teams of scientists from different disciplines often work together to solve a common problem. This is what the Group 4 Project tries to imitate. It is a collaborative activity whereby students studying different science subjects come together to work on a scientific or technological problem. It should also address Aims 7 and 8 which are concerned with global citizenship, ethical issues and 21st century communication skills.The project basically is broken down into three phases. A planning stage, an action phase and evaluation phase. In the early years of the project all the IB students in a school were put together and told to try to come up with a common theme to which the Chemists, Physicists and Biologists (and Design Technologists and those studying Environmental Systems) could all contribute to. Having decided what to do the chemists would then do their chemistry and contribute to the final result along with the other science disciplines.

Not necessarily subject based

Now chemistry students do not have to do chemistry for the Group 4 Project. They may if they wish but it is not compulsory. The choice of topic must be scientific or technological. As well as addressing Aim 10, the Group 4 Project should also address aims 7 and 8, i.e. it should involve ICT and also the ethical and global citizen implications. It should also have an international dimension. This can be achieved in several ways such as working online with students from schools from other regions of the world or choosing a topic with global issues. If you wish to form links with other schools then one way this can be done is through the discussion groups on My IB.

Practical or theoretical?

In the past most students actually carried out practical work in their own subject for the ‘Action phase’. In chemistry this would often involve some sort of water analysis for example. However, in a school laboratory and with limited time available it was difficult to do any real meaningful analysis. Much better was to ring up the water board and get a print out of the last analysis done by them which showed the concentration a huge range of substances dissolved in the water including heavy metal ions, pesticides and insecticides etc. Now this is recognised and the use of spreadsheet etc. is to be encouraged and the data does not have to be generated first hand by the students – although they can still do this if they wish.

Students doing two (or more) science subjects

Students who do any two of the Group 4 science subjects (including Computer science, Design technology and Sports, exercise and health science) only do the Group 4 Project once. This also applies to those few schools where students do three science subjects (in order to gain entrance to medical schools). Note that students doing only Environmental systems and societies as their Group 4 subject do not have to do the Group 4 Project.

Evidence and changes to assessment

Unlike the rest of the Internal Assessment, the emphasis is very much on the process not on the product. Until 2009 the Group 4 Project did not have to be assessed, although teachers could assess it if they wished for any of the then relevant criteria if they wished. What was required was some sort of evidence such as a poster, photograph or a practical report that the project had been accomplished. Between 2009 and 2015 no evidence apart from listing the project on the Form 4/PSOW was required but the project was assessed specifically for what was then called Personal Skills (a total of 3% out of the total of 24% of the Internal Assessment mark).

For the current programme (first examined in May 2016) the Group 4 Project is no longer assessed. The ten hours devoted to the Group 4 Project must be recorded on the Form 4/PSOW and a reflective statement from the student on their involvement is required and needs to be entered on form 4/ICCS (the cover sheet for the IA) but no marks are awarded. No other evidence of any other sort is required.The reason for dropping the assessment is that marks for personal skills could not be properly moderated so are no longer given. It was also strange that in the past students doing two sciences received the same mark twice towards their final IB Diploma for exactly the same piece of work. Until November 2018 schools needed to send the completed form 4/ICCS along with each of their moderated samples to the IB but from May 2019 this is no longer required.
The linked pages look at the practicalities of carrying out the Group 4 Project and how students can be encouraged to write their reflective statement about their involvement.You can download a PowerPoint presentation on  The Group 4 Project which you can use to either present the basic information to other science teachers or to your students when you first present the Group 4 Project to them. 
All materials on this website are for the exclusive use of teachers and students at subscribing schools for the period of their subscription. Any unauthorised copying or posting of materials on other websites is an infringement of our copyright and could result in your account being blocked and legal action being taken against you.