Educational games
On the Inthinking Biology website there are several biological games which could make for a nice end of term activity. That's not to say that students won't learn anything they have all been designed...
Online tools #2 - Quizlet live
It's the time of the year when students need guidance about exam tecnhique. In particular reminders about the exact meaning of the command terms. I often give out a list of Explanations of tricky command...
Online tools #1- Kahoot
Kahoot is a great free online tool for formative assessment or just for a bit of fun at the end of a lesson. Students could make their own quizes (it's that simple) to use in their own revision. It doesn't...
It's easier to talk while holding a model
Students often have trouble explaining biological process, especially when the parts are invisibly small. Why do students get stuck with Osmosis, how can we use home made models to help them? One way...
Coaching students to succeed in answering difficult questions
Do your students ever complain that they hadn't been taught the content of a question in your test? The chances are that the question is testing Aim 4. To develop an ability to analyse, evaluate and...
Internal Assessment - latest guidance
The 2016 examiners' report has just been released on the OCC. Are there changes or new instructions for the Internal Assessment? This blog post sumarises the main points to save you time. Of course there...
Planting an olympic forest in Rio 2016
. During the opening ceremony the Olympic rings turned a lush green. This was to symbolise the fact that 11,000 parading athletes were each given a tree seedling. Organisers have pledged that every tree...
Awe & wonder versus pragmatism in IB Biology
A recent question by a subscriber, Asli, started me thinking about the content of the IB Biology course we teach. I sometimes discuss with colleagues which topics are most important for our younger students...
How to annotate investigations for the moderator
Once students have finished their Individual Investigation that's it! They won't complete another assessed experiment during their IB and this makes me consider the way I annotate the investigations while...
Upload of IA Investigations eCoursework
The IB has recently announced changes to the admin and upload procedures for IA Investigations Group 4 subjects including Biology. In summary these are the changes: One real advantage of uploading the...