BIOLOGY - HIGHER LEVEL

BIOLOGY - HIGHER LEVEL

Aims:

Biology is the study of life and the huge biodiversity we find on earth. It overlaps with all the other sciences and involves an appreciation of the challenges that species on earth face including ourselves. A sound understanding of the fundamental concepts of Biology allows you to appreciate, explain and predict the world around you. The Biology course, places emphasis on the following fundamental issues regarding the nature of science itself.

• What science ’is’ and the nature of scientific endeavour. • The understanding of science. • The objectivity of science. • The human face of science. • Scientific literacy and the public understanding of science. • Science and the international dimension. • Science and its connection to Theory of Knowledge.

Hence, a student in an IB Biology class, as well as gaining a thorough understanding of, for example cell division, might also address questions such as: How important is collaboration to the building of a body of knowledge? How a scientific discovery might be accidental or serendipitous. To what extent might some of these discoveries be the result of intuition rather than luck. How scientists around the world collaborate and work together to tackle issues such as cancer.

Course Description:

Biological disciplines exist within a broader scientific context. It is important to recognize that all sciences share a common approach and attitude to the acquisition of knowledge and apply a similar standard of rigor and analysis to their findings. Biology has, however, developed some distinctive approaches which are used to answer the sorts of questions that biologists ask about the living world. The relevance and concepts of Biology will be taught so as to emphasize its practical use in the laboratory by its nature the subject lends itself to an experimental approach and this will be reflected throughout the course.

Global issues and the collaborative nature of this science mean that internationalism is an integral and crucial part of biology and this is reflected in the course. In the course an attempt is made to understand the living world at different levels, at one end of the scale is the cell and at the other end is the ecosystem. You will be challenged and tested through practical investigations, written exercise and projects. These will encourage you to combine real world data, experimentation and theoretical concepts to make sense of the biological world and solve practical problems.

Requirements

To follow Biology at Higher Level, students should have the POP in HL Biology plus a good track record in (I)GCSE Mathematics. It helps if you are analytical and logical, and you should want to know what makes the world around you work. Students are required to use statistical tools such as standard deviation and chi - squared. For existing Tanglin students the POP is a

requirement. Students applying from outside Tanglin are likely to be asked to sit an entrance examination.

Career Path:

Universities and employers value the skills that Biology students develop, including those in communication (both written and verbal), critical thinking, data analysis, experimental work, information technology, team working and time management. The study of Biology leads into careers such as medicine, the pharmaceutical or chemical industry or in laboratories involved in environmental research. Students interested in conservation and the environment often work for governmental conservation agencies, private consulting firms, or even computer companies.

Biology – Higher Level

Core Content:

Internal Assessment:

External Assessment:

20% of Practical Work.

This consists of a total of 40 hours work: 20 hours on the practical programme – a series of experiments illustrating the key concepts of the course. 10 hours on the Group 4 Project: an interdisciplinary project carried out in teams. 10 hours on the Internal Assessment investigation – an individual research project on a topic chosen by the student. 80% Examination • Paper 1: multiple choice questions • Paper 2: Data-based and extended response/essay questions on core topics, and key practicals

Comparison between this course and A-Level

The IB HL Biology course covers approximately the same ground as A-Level Biology. Overall the emphasis in the IB course is on establishing a thorough understanding of some very complex Biological processes, and students are expected to demonstrate mastery by applying their knowledge to unusual situations. IB students are also expected to be very familiar with ethical considerations (e.g. Human Genomics) and TOK issues such as, why do existing beliefs carry a certain amount of inertia e.g. chromosome number.

The practical programme at A-Level is more prescriptive and there is a series of recommended practicals that have to be completed. In IB the practical scheme of work is partly designed by the teacher, and the Internal Assessment investigation is completely devised by the student. There are also a number of set practicals in IB.

IB students are required to complete a ‘Group 4’ project during which they must work with other scientists on a collaborative task. Throughout the practical programme their personal

skills, working alone, working with others, and their awareness of environmental impact are developed. The level of sophistication required to solve calculation problems at IB HL demands that the students have a good grasp of statistics. The IB question papers tend to be more difficult and less structured than A-Level questions on similar topics.

Contact for further information:

Pierre Dawson: pierre.dawson@tts.edu.sg