Day 10 - Online School

Friday 27 March 2020

Week 2 - wrapped up!

Well done to all of you out there who have just done another week of virtual school and all that comes with it. I am inspired by some of the amazing things that are going on in different schools. This assembly from Lausanne caught my eye this morning. This is all about so much more than maths and and all that. It is great to see people makig such an effort to look after each other.

What happened today?

Statement from the IB about grades - If you haven't seen it yet, here is the latest update from this morning. I am conscious that that we are all of us in new teritory at the moment and that there are some really tough decisions being made. As a result, I think the only thing to do is to work with the IB and our schools and coordinators to make the best of this that we can. I'll grant you that wasn't my intial reaction and I have had a few conversations with colleagues to day that have helped me get to this point.

Another thing I want to avoid doing is casting doubt or criticising. There is surely more detail to come and until we get it we can't be too quick to judge outcomes. I have lots of questions that need answering as we all do, but I am happy to wait for answers. The way I see it for now is that they have asked schools to treat the IA as they would normally do and there is not yet any confirmation that its weighting will be changed. The key difference is that ALL work will be submitted for External Assessment. As soon as details are confirmed I am sure we will all be told and I will post of course.

As far as the statistical techniques that will be used to calculate final grades go - there has never been a clearer reason to be well educated in the finer points of statistics, both as an organisation who will use them and as consumers who want to understand how decisions are being made! I can see a case study in the future.

I am not trying to make light of it, but all we have been told today is that a) they will want data from schools and b) they will externally assess all work formerly known as internal assessment. Everything else is speculation. Hoping for clarity soon!

My Last ever Maths Studies lesson - It was bound to happen eventually. It is not really such a big deal. I am really excited about the new AI course and its future and many/most of the key principles behind the studies course are still very much a part of what we do. I am marking it personally though since Maths Studies has been such a big part of my professional life for the last 16 years. I was sorry that I had to finish it virtually, but pleased that we finished on this note - I have written the following page so that it can be followed by students working independently (or virtually as the case may be) with ideas about how they can collaborate along the way. Farewell Maths Studies.

Max Box

This activity is all about an introduction to the idea of mathematical optimisation using calculus. It is an excellent link between the abstract and the concrete and helps us to follow the path from a...