Group 4 Project
What is the Group 4 Project?
• Group 4 subjects (the sciences) base
understanding on experiment –
emphasis of this project is on the
process of a scientific investigation
• Emphasis is on interdisciplinary
cooperation and collaboration – each
discipline brings a special perspective
and expertise to the group
IB Group 4 Requirements
(the “why” you are doing this)
• Demonstrate ICT (Information and
Communication and Technology) skills
• Address moral, ethical, social, economic,
and environmental implications of using
science and technology
• Show how the different disciplines all
relate to a single scientific issue
• Show you can use the processes of the
scientific method
Time Line – 10 hour project
•Planning Stage – 2 hrs
After selecting a focused topic, the activities
to be carried out must be clearly defined
before moving to action phase
•Action Stage – 6 hrs
•Evaluation Stage – 2 hr
POWERPOINT PRESENTATION TURNED IN
Planning Stage
Planning Stage
• Teachers divide students into groups
• Students choose focused topic (define the
problem) and develop action plan
– Background
• Data base research (ICT)
• Contact People & Organizations (ICT)
– Experiment or scale model (ICT)
Planning Stage – Action Plan
Second Meeting
Choose meeting leader and recorder
• Brainstorm on possible factors and
approaches
• What are the issues for biology,
chemistry, physics?
• Narrow this down to specific issue(s)
to be investigated
• Who will do what? By when? With
what help?
Example
Main Topic: A Greener HS?
Subtopics:
• Growing plants on HS roof tops
• Cooling by waterfalls down the sides
of buildings
• Composting at HS (leaves/grounds
waste/food)
• Solar cells on HS roof tops
Example
Main Topic: Food Supply?
Subtopics:
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Organic vs Inorganic
GMO vs nonGMO
Farm Raised/Free Range
Fast Food Properties
Nutrient Density
Teams
Teams of 5-6students
With a Physics student
consultant
Your group MUST address a
biological, chemical and
physical aspect of the topic
you choose
Action Stage
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Carry out action plan
Make contacts
Collect Data
Build model
Consider costs and impacts
Evaluation
• Put together power-point presentation
• Include digital pictures, videos
• Load power-point
Story Board for
Presentation
We thought it would be helpful to give you
a “story board” template to help you
organize your project and presentation.
This way, you will know what is expected
of you and as you fill in the “blanks”.
Define the Project
• What are you doing?
Why are you doing it?
• See slide on IB requirements.
• What interests you about your choice
of project
• (Anyone who says they are doing this
just because it is an assignment will
lose credit)
Why should people care about
your project?
• What is the significance of your
investigation?
What did you do?
• Outline or diagram the process in 1-6 slides
• Show how your investigative process fit into
the scientific method:
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identify problem
brainstorm ideas
focus problem
research background info
gather data (either by contacts or designing and
conducting a scale model expt.)
– present data
– make conclusions
– make recommendations
Who was on the team and what
did each person do?
• 1-2 slides
How did your team specifically
address issues from biology,
chemistry, and physics
• Describe in 1-3 slides
What experts or outside data
sources did you access?
• 1-3 slides
What model or experiment did
you conduct?
• 1-3 slides with pictures
How did you specifically use
ICT (information,
communication, technology)?
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Data bases
Communication with experts
Data logging
Spreadsheets
Graphs and graphing software
Digital images or video
Presentation software
What did you discover?
• 3-5 slides
• Facts are friendly
• Show graphs, charts, data or quotes
to support the outcome of your
investigation.
Conclusions
• Bullet point summary of results
Why is this important?
• Bullet point explanation
Recommendatons
• Bullet points
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Feasibility for HS
Costs
Environmental impacts
Safety issues
Social implications
Moral and ethical concerns (?)
Personal Skills
Personal Skills
• Approach a project with selfmotivation and follow it through to
completion
• Ability to work with others in a group
situation and integrate the views of
others
• Show awareness of your own
strengths and weaknesses and learn
about yourself from this experience
Self-motivation and followthrough to completion
• You are expected to get your assigned
tasks done “yesterday”
• Non-completion reflects poorly on the
entire group
• One person or a subset of the group
doing most, if not all, of the work
reflects poorly on the entire group
Work with others in a group
situation and integrate the
views of others
• You MUST demonstrate that you can
work in a team situation
• Collaboration with input from all
disciplines is a key success factor
• You MUST show consideration from all
disciplines
Self-reflection of your own
strengths and weaknesses and
how you put yourself outside
your comfort zone
• This project is designed to be a
learning experience
• You are expected to tackle some
personal weakness
Personal Skills - Documentation
• Each participant is required to hand in
a confidential paper with
documentation of specific examples on
how you personally met or did not
meet these personal skills goals