About the author

The DP Biology course is a university entrance, introductory biology course. In this sense a primary aim is to ensure that students develop sufficient biological knowledge to pass their exam. Teaching therefore must aim to develop students knowledge of the subject and their ability to articulate their knowledge in a written form.

A secondary aim of all IB courses is to develop independent learners who have the skills to inquire and pursue their own learning. However, as teachers we cannot flick a switch and have our students become fully independent. The process of developing autonomy as a learner takes time and actually requires a certain level of expertise. The IB ATLs provide a focal point for teachers to reflect on the types of skills students will need to be autonomous. IB teachers need to develop these approaches to learning within our students.

As a workshop leader I have noted the difference between how the colleagues I interact with learn and how my students in class do. The former are already subject, if not pedagogical experts, and are far more skilled in directing their own learning and thinking. The latter do not yet have these skills, neither in relation to the subject-specific content, nor in the process of learning and studying.

My course structure, focusses on developing student's knowledge through fairly traditional didactic approaches, which also strive to teach students skills that they can employ in their own autonomous learning.

With this aim, content is delivered through text-books, lectures, podcast clips and videos. Initially students are taught explicitly how to actively engage with, or think about, the material that is being presented using thinking routines. As students gain mastery of these tools during the natural progression of the course they are allowed more autonomy in how they approach their work.

Students complete exercises and write their notes onto a personal google doc that is shared with me. I can then review these docs for formative assessment of the students progress.

Summative assessment takes the form of structured, cumulative tests where all previously learned material is available to be placed into the test. Summative tasks must be completed by hand just as it is in their final exams.