One of the questions that is commonly being asked is whether we have to teach all of the extensions for all of the contexts. The simple answer is, “No.”

If you have taught IB history, then you know that to prepare students for the documents paper (Paper 1), you do not need to teach all of the content exhaustively.  The key to success on the exam is being able to discuss the documents that are provided on exam day.  The same is true for our new Paper 3.  

For success on paper 3, students need to be able to:

• Interpret graphs and charts
• Explain a set of descriptive and inferential findings
• Discuss the transferability, bias, or credibility of a qualitative study
• Use the documents to support a claim
• Show knowledge relevant to the extension topic.

It is the last point that has people nervous. Remember, you explore any topic with your students with regard to the context.  There are some listed in the guide, and you will see different ones explored in the textbook here on InThinking.  The goal is to ensure that students are familiar with the limited terminology specified in the guide (e.g., Self-Determination Theory) and how we study motivation, culture, and technology.  The focus of our discussions should be on why it is difficult to draw conclusions about the role of these factors through research.

• Responses can be biased due to social desirability, memory inaccuracies, or misinterpretation of questions.
• Technology evolves quickly, so studies can become outdated quickly, making it hard to generalize findings over time.
• People use technology differently. It's hard to capture the nuances of how, why, and when people use technology in relationships.
• The role of technology varies across cultures, age groups, relationship types, and stages.
• Difficult to determine whether technology causes changes in relationships or if existing dynamics influence technology use.
• Inconsistent definitions make comparing studies difficult. (for example, frequency, quality of communication, impact on intimacy, conflict).

The items on the list above would be relevant to almost any study of the role of technology on behaviour. Transferring these understandings to other situations/contexts is the goal of Paper 3.

My strategy will be to teach one HL extension in each context.  Then, for one of the contexts, I will have students each choose one of the three HL extensions to explore through more unguided inquiry and then share their findings with their peers.