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IA guide and resources (2016 - onwards)


Msj Chem

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Hi, so my topic for the chem IA is current "What is the effect of the iodine numbers in different oils and fats on the properties of soap they are made into?". I am finding the iodine numbers of grape seed oil, sunflower oil, lard, butter and olive oil and comparing these values to the state of matter that the soaps made out of these oils are (which I am finding from an online database). In that, with talk about unsaturation I can only find a connect to how soft or hard the soap will be from my previous knowledge in IB bio/ the biochemistry part of the chem textbook, nothing on sensitive skin or effectiveness of soap which is what I really wanted to talk about. Is this good enough for a project? Or any ideas on something to add to my project to make it more chemistry related?

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On 11/24/2015 at 4:33 AM, Msj Chem said:

This thread could be used for the new syllabus IA from 2016 onwards. Please note that I cannot help individual students with their IA.

The choice of topic should be your own work so please do not ask for suggestions for your IA. 

 

The following information is taken from the May 2015 subject report (I'm sure it is copyrighted to the IB, but I see no harm in sharing it with IB students). 

 

Research question:

  • Encourage students to choose a research question that has a degree of challenge, is of interest to them and one where they do not know at the outset what the outcome will be.
  • A good research question will probably try to determine a trend or relationship. Students should avoid simple comparative analysis of supermarket brands or other systems with a non-chemistry relevant independent variable.

General information:

  • Students  should  include  some  background  theory  to  set  the  context  of  their investigation.
  • With a ten hour time allocation to facilitate meaningful enquiry it is expected that students will collect significantly more data than is currently the case in Design assessments.
  • It is sensible for students to always be encouraged to make a statement related to the safety, environmental or ethical impact of their study.
  • Encourage students to reflect on data while carrying out the research so that they can actively make the decision to modify the procedure or collect more data if needed. This is a good indicator of true engagement and candidates can record such decisions being made.

Length of report:

  • Although there is a requirement for more data and more reported detail there is a 12 page length limit. This means that students have to be intelligently concise and the current trend for hugely repetitious use of cut and paste for calculations or procedural details and the inclusion of pages of data-logged data should be avoided.

Uncertainties:

  • When  analysing  their  data  students  should  show  appreciation  of  the  impact  of measurement uncertainties. This could be evidenced through the propagation of error using a sensible protocol through a calculation, the drawing of a graph with appropriate best fit line and quite possibly the inclusion of error bars and always the appropriate use of significant figures. Since the Individual Investigations will take many different forms the teacher will have to decide what constitutes the appropriate treatment of uncertainties applicable to that research.
  • If the research includes the analysis of secondary data students should still show consideration the associated uncertainty.

Writing the report:

  • The Communication criterion will introduce new requirements. The students’ designed procedures should be reported in past tense and include sufficient detail for the reader to be able to reproduce the experiment in principle.
  • Do not encourage the students to write up reports using the criterion titles as report sections. In particular Personal Engagement is a criterion to be assessed across the whole report and is not an introductory section.
  • There will be an increased focus on the proper referencing of sources used for background theory, procedural instructions or literature vales. This is a hugely important consideration that has to be stressed clearly to the students.

Conclusion/ Evaluation:

  • When concluding, students should draw a conclusion and discuss its methodological validity but should also compare it to expect outcomes (if any) based on accepted theory.
  • If the outcome is quantitative then the comparison to a literature value, calculation of percentage error and discussion of the impact of systematic and random errors is still the expectation.
  • In addition to possible modifications students should also reflect on possible extensions to their research.

A Site which has a nice breakdown of the IA criteria, marking and some example IA's is https://tibertutor.com! Really helped me when writing mine over using the stupid IB website.

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