Sciences for the IB Diploma Programme: FAQS
Find your answers to your questions
Below get the answers to your questions on teaching the IB Diploma Programme Science Subject Guides, planning your courses and how Pearson Sciences for the IB Diploma Programme textbooks can support you.
Student Books
Are there resources accompanying the student book to help with teaching ideas and guidance?
All of the textbooks come with additional digital resources such as lab worksheets and auto-marked quizzes. In addition, we have some sample unit plans that can be used to teach a topic and as examples for writing your own unit plans.
You can sign up to access the unit plans, plus supporting activities and lab skills worksheets here.
Are the textbooks available now?
Yes, all of the textbooks are available. The eBooks are also live, complete with all enhanced digital content eg. lab worksheets and auto-marked quizzes.
Want to find out more? Contact your local representative.
When will the answers be available and how will they be accessed?
The answers are available in the eBooks.
How can the lab resources be accessed?
The lab resources can be found in the Resources area of the eBook.
You can access sample lab worksheets in our free lesson packs, available here.
Unit Planning
How do your carry out your unit planning for Physics? Do you create 5 plans for each of the main themes, or 24 individual plans for each of the topics?
Emma Mitchell, one of the authors of Pearson Physics for the IB Diploma Programme, suggests doing 24 unit plans broken into the topics which gives you the ability to manipulate the order according to how you actually want to teach. Coming back to the HL topics at the end gives you the most amount of flexibility.
Teachers can think about the story they want to map out through the course. Step one would be to decide when you want to do the coursework. Perhaps in the early stages of the second year as that is the point at which students seem to have a good body of knowledge from which to ask research questions and know how to use the apparatus.
Get inspiration for unit planning in our free lesson packs, available here.
How do you incorporate Linking and Guiding Questions in your unit planning?
We are nowhere without the Guiding Questions. Look at these, and the Linking Questions, at the start and when trying to weave a narrative through the topics.
Experienced teachers will already know the links they like to draw between topics but you can also be a little more spontaneous. Emma Mitchell, one of the authors of Pearson Physics for the IB Diploma Programme, recommends building up the links as you go along. The Linking Questions are examples, they are there to help you come up with the connections you think you need.
We have some sample unit plans that can be used to teach a topic and as examples for writing your own unit plans.
You can sign up to access the unit plans, plus supporting activities and lab skills worksheets here.
What happens if a Linking Question refers to a topic not yet covered?
When you start the course it might be a little intimidating because students don't quite know the topics the questions are linking to and the implications of the links. As you go through the course you will use Linking Questions more and more. Don't worry about them too much in the beginning. You can go back as you cover the linked topic. Linking Questions just add richness to the course as it develops. Students will begin to make richer connections between areas of the course.
Is there a particular order that the Subject Guides should be taught in?
Teachers can choose their own order, but there is no reason why the course can't be taught in the order it is in the Guide and the book. Once you have decided the sequence, you can decide what needs to be introduced before starting a topic.
Assessment support
Can we still use past paper questions to prepare students for the new assessments?
Yes, the nature of the questions has not changed radically. So past exam paper questions are still very good teaching tools. Multiple choice questions are great for diagnostics and class discussions.
Our Student Books include formative and summative assessment opportunities, with exercises throughout and exam practice questions at the end of each chapter, in the style of IB exam papers, in addition to real past paper questions. Answers are available in the eBook.
On the inclusion of database questions in Chemistry Paper 1, are these types of questions included in the textbook?
Yes, for example, for enthalpy changes and rates, the questions very much reflect the sort of questions you could see in Paper 1B. The topics that lend themselves to experiments that lead to data analysis will have questions of this type.
Is Chemistry Paper 1B free response?
Yes. You can find an overview of the Chemistry External Assessments here. (PDF)
Practicals
Are there time allocations for practicals for each topic?
There is a time allocation for the total amount of practical work. Some topics are more experimental than other topics. For example, in Chemistry, kinetics and enthalpy are topics that will have quite a lot of practical work, but there is no restriction.
Bear in mind that when students start their Internal Assessment, you want them to have been exposed to a sufficient range of skills.
For practicals, is it better to do a live demo or show a video?
This depends on time and context, but where possible doing a demo live allows you to pace things so that you can address and answer questions, or ask questions of the students. So, where possible, doing a demonstration will allow freedom of pace.