Guiding student ideas towards biological extended essays
At this time of year many students begin to think about their Extended essay topic. I often have a student who comes to me and asks about an interesting idea which is more psychological than biological....
A new year reshuffle !
Now that the last exams from the "old IB Biology guide" are behind us it's time to change the top menu but don't panic. If you have been using a favorite resource from the old guide materials they are...
Student access - a nice upgrade
Those who are eagle eyed may have noticed a subtle change to the Inthinking Biology site homepage recently. It is now possible to edit your profile using 'Account details' or bookmark pages as 'Favourite...
How simple could an IA research question be?
In a recent discussion about IA investigations I found myself defending the idea that we should encourage students to do an investigation which is suitably complex for IB Biology. The key question is,...
Project pages on a whiteboard
Inthinking website content is often surrounded by the navigation menu and the title banner. Very useful when searching for a page but not great in a lesson. If you want to project Inthinking Biology content...
Extended essay first drafts
September is the time when I begin reviewing first drafts of my student's extended essays. Over the summer holidays we encourage students to try to get ahead and use this quiet period to break the back...
A very hungry caterpillar
Last week a student of mine began experimenting with some lettuce plants as part of an extended essay to evaluate their suitability for a space mission to Mars. We were astonished to see that students...
Final revision of SL topics
There are many ways to revise for IB Biology exams and each student needs to find a system which works for them individually. However IB Biology has a lot of content, requires an understanding of many...
A new way to role play!
Role plays normally fill me with dread, but there is an easy way for everyone to enjoy them. Next time you want student to debate an issue in a Biology lesson make masks of famous biologists and put carefully...
How to do better DNA experiments
In the new IB guide there are many references to methods in biotechnology which appear to be impossible to do practically in the lab. DNA profiling, gel electrophoresis, genetic modification of plasmids,...