The beginning of year is usually used to get adjusted to new classes, but for IB science students, it is time to start working on Group IV. Group IV is a five-week long science project that all IB students are required to participate in.
The idea of this project is to connect all areas of IB science, including Biology, Physics, Environmental Systems, Chemistry and Design Tech. Each group has at least one person from each of the five areas of science, to show students how all sciences are connected and how they work together.
The biggest change from last year, is that there is no in-school field trip. Last year, all of the Group IV students were allowed to participate in an in-school field trip where they did their experiments over the course of the whole day. Instead, this year, in conjunction with the guiding statement, “Sustainable Park Design for the 21st century,” students will take a field trip to Lake Accotink to carry out their research.
Most students are a little daunted by what they hear from previous Group IV participants, but they are ready to start.
“I know it will be a lot of work, but I’m not too worried about it,” junior Kelly Pratt said. But in the end, students feel like the project does pay off.
“In the beginning, I didn’t understand group IV, but afterwards it helped me look at sciences in a global context, and helped me gain an understanding of interdisciplinary science projects are like,” senior Jenny Jessen said.
Group IV is broken into three phases, and from the day the project is assigned, students have a little more than two weeks to complete the first stage of the project, with consists of creating a research question, getting all of the background research finished and evaluating their fellow group members.
After that, the second phase of the project occurs on Oct. 30, when all of the IB science students take a field trip to Lake Accotink to conduct their research, and the third phase is the after school presentation of all of the projects on Nov. 11.
Teachers are looking forward to seeing what their students can come up with. “We gave the students an outline of what needs to be considered in designing sustainable parks. There are always a few groups that really take this and run with it. That’s exciting to see,” science teacher Thomas Chorman said.
Group IV runs from Oct. 1 to Nov. 11, and involves the students creating a better park design.
“Our world is constantly changing, and this is a great way for students to get involved on a local level and be a part of that change.” Chorman said.
