Extended Essay presentation for parents.

Parents information session 18th and 19th February 2016.

Tom PennyDP Coordinator

Nature of the Programme

•Based on a circular model (similar philosophical basis to PYP and MYP)

•Extended Essay, Theory of Knowledge and Creativity Activity Service are integral to programme.

• 6 required subject areas

What is the Extended Essay?

It is an independent research project to create an academic essay. • Better in a higher level subject• ISS must be able to provide a supervisor so all DP subjects are available plus

“Human Rights” and “Science, Technology and Society” which are cross-curricular

4000 words-maximum!

Process and product

Builds on and links to the Gr10 Personal Project (MYP) and Gr5 Exhibition (PYP) with more emphasis on ACADEMIC research

Completed within the timeframe of January 2016 until November 2016

Timeframe and support

Date Event

26.1.16 Launch of EE and introduction

16.2.16 Subject specific guidance for students

17.2.16-25.2.16

Assistance in library with Research Proposals and Annotated Bibliography

26.2.16 Research Proposals and Annotated Bibliography submitted on Veracross.

13.3.16 Notification of Research Proposals accepted or need further revision. Allocation of research supervisors for those accepted.

20.3.16 Second research proposals submitted for those that needed revision.

14.3.16-24.3.16

Meeting with supervisor to finalise decisions and start the research process.

Responsibility of the student

• Read and understand provided booklet of guidelines, textbook, and all details (such as criteria) relevant to the chosen subject. (See EE site)

• Abide by the dates outlined in the EE handbook (See EE site)

• Lead the meetings with their supervisor - students must ask for guidance and advice in these meetings and prepare for them to maximise the effectiveness of their supervisor’s time

• Commit to at least 40 hours of work on the Extended Essay, starting in January 2016 and finish by November 2016

• Choose a subject, topic and devise a research question that fits with one of the subjects we can supervise at school

• Do independent work collecting data from primary and secondary sources, analysing the data and writing a 4000 word essay that reports on the research process and findings.

• Understand and abide by the school policy about academic honesty.

Responsibility of the supervisor

• Encourage and support each student allocated to him/her.

• Provide advice regarding (a) the research process,(b) writing an extended academic text in appropriate structure, style and format and (c) interpretation of subject-specific criteria.

• Monitor and record progress

• Respond accordingly when responsibilities are not met by student.

• Maintain communication with DP coordinator and parents, including formal reporting.

• Ensure that the research and the essay are the student’s own work. i.e. that academic honesty is maintained.

• Complete IB moderation and accountability processes.

• Spend approximately 3-5 hours assisting each student.

• Provide advice regarding the content of the essay.

• Ensure that subject specific language (terminology) is used appropriately in the essay.

Responsibilities of the DP Coordinator and School

•Ensure that students determine the subject for their extended essay from the approved extended essay subjects before choosing the topic.

•Ensure that each student has an appropriately qualified supervisor, who is a teacher within the school.

•Provide supervisors and students with the general and subject-specific information, and guidelines for the extended essay.

•Provide supervisors with recent extended essay subject reports and ensure that supervisors are familiar with the IBO document Academic Honesty.

•Explain to students the importance of the extended essay in the overall context of the Diploma Programme.

•Set internal deadlines for the stages of producing the extended essay, including provision for a concluding interview (viva voce).

•Provide appropriate support and training for DP teachers for them to formally integrate the EE into the curriculum.

Resources• EE handbook for guidance• EE sitehttps://sites.google.com/a/isswiki.de/extendedessay/• Exemplar essays on the EE site- all were awarded A and B

grades. Look at the style and structure not the content.• Learning Commons team (Mr Lawrence and Mrs Junginger)

for help with research and citation. • Learning commons- has many resources and databases at

http://isslibraries.isswiki.de/ • Supervisor- subject specific questions and research• All students have a landesbibliothek card from earlier this year

so can access http://www.wlb-stuttgart.de/ which has an excellent academic research sites such as JSTOR

The students’ first steps….

Facing the right direction makes a big difference! Consider topics students have been introduced to in lesssons- specialise in that!

Getting the student to think, research, develop and cite!

Parent acknowledgement

A focused and researchable question which is narrow enough to stay under 4000 words AND broad enough to find resources for an effective analysis

Consider a range of methods to showcase research skills

What can parents do?

• Read the EE handbook to better understand the process

• Read exemplar essays to gain an idea of structure and style

• Read the student’s draft and final version of the essay

• Provide GENERAL feedback• “you need to spellcheck”• “Your argument doesn’t follow

logically”• “You need to reword your

paragraphs”• “You need to check your style-is it

formal?”• “Check your formatting”• “Check your citations”

What parents cannot do

• Don’t write it for them!

• Suggest specific changes• you should use these terms…• Your sentence should be like this…• Your paragraphs should be in this order…• You should use these sources for your essay like

this…

What would be the consequences

• Supervisor recognises what is the student’s work and what isn’t

• Supervisor suspects collusion (too much help given) and reports malpractice to DP Coordinator as possible breach of Academic Honesty

• Student isn’t sure of their topic in the Viva Voce

• Potential failing condition for the IB Diploma

How can parents help their children?

• Remember the process and product is that of the student• Read the EE handbook and exemplar essays with the

student• Assist the student to use the deadline to plan ahead

rather than react to it just before!• Encourage the student to meet with the supervisor and

for student to plan the meeting and what they want to get out of it

• Allow student to come to you for help-ask them what they want advice on. Let them drive the process

Further support and guidanceDate EventMarch-May On-going meetings between supervisor and student. These are at

student’s request (advised amount of time is 4 hours)

30th May-3rd

JuneProgress report meeting with supervisor where student provides written evidence of work to date. Identify key areas to focus on before the the summer vacation

6th-10th June Support meetings as needed in Barcelona with teachers on the trip.

End of June Parents notified of progress to date ahead of vacation

25th and 26th

AugustTwo EE work days on return to Grade 12 (check in process to identify those making sufficient progress and those who need intervention to support them)

29th August-9th

SeptemberCompulsory meeting with supervisor

4th October First draft submitted-early submission welcome. Supervisor will return EE with feedback by 14th October

Final submission 14th November 2016.Viva Voce style presentations 23-25th November - please come!