IB Biology - Scientific Investigation (first assessment 2025): Home

This document provides guidance for the planning, teaching and assessment of the IB Biology course (First assessment 2025).

Excerpt from the IB Biology guide (First assessment 2025), pp. 114-123, related to the Scientific investigation. Includes an introduction to and details of the task, guidance on developing the research question and methodology, and the internal assessment criteria.

This document covers safe and ethical behavior in science experiments in IB schools. Topics covered include: animal behavior experiments, animal dissection, fieldwork, handling of equipment, chemicals and waste disposal, human physiology experiments, and microbiological studies.

This document outlines the actions and responsibilities of both teachers and students during the scientific investigation. The teacher is the mentor who provides guidance and support to students during the process. For students, it is essential that the work submitted be their own. Individually, each student must: formulate a research question, establish a research methodology, identify variables, collect and analyze the data, and draw conclusions. Excerpt from Teacher Support Material for the IB Biology course.

IB’s educational goal to award reliable, fair and recognized outcomes to their students through valid assessments. This policy has been created to ensure a common understanding of the IB’s academic integrity principle. Results cannot be fair if some students have had an unreasonable advantage over others. The goal is to ensure confidence is maintained among students, parents, schools and other stakeholders in the value and credibility of IB grades.

The effective citing and referencing of sources and influences used in academic writing is at the heart of good scholarship and fundamental to academic integrity. This guide is for the whole International Baccalaureate (IB) community and sets out the why, what, when and how of this important skill. It also contains useful examples and definitions, as well as frequently asked questions and a documentation checklist.

This flow chart can help students in selecting a statistical tool for presentation of their data. The chart deals with the usefulness of the chi-squared test, the t-test and the presentation of standard deviation as error bars in graphing with a spreadsheet. IB Biology (First examination 2025) Teacher Support Material

Students can use this worksheet to help overcome the initial challenges for creating an investigative report using a database. Includes guidance for: choosing a topic, finding a database, assessing the key points of the database, analyzing the database, and synthesizing the analysis into a conclusion.

Students can use this worksheet to help overcome the initial challenges of creating an investigative report using a simulation. Includes guidance for: understanding the components of a simulation, assessing the quality of a simulation, analyzing the simulation, and synthesizing the analysis into a conclusion.