The IB Chemistry Objectives (1)

Yesterdays post introduced the concept of the command terms. It also briefly mentioned the ‘objectives’. The focus of my next few postings will be on the command terms but I thought it made sense to write a bit more about the objectives first.

So here we go ….

Objective 1 can be found on page 10 of the subject guide.

It is listed here:

” 1.  Demonstrate an understanding of:

a.       scientific facts and concepts

b.       scientific methods and techniques

c.       scientific methodology

d.       methods of presenting scientific data.”¹

My take on this is that objective 1 is all about stating chemistry. There is not much understanding here. It is mainly concerned with the recall of factual information.

All three exam papers will assess objective 1 (but as we will see only paper 2 and 3 assess objective 3) and there is a table on page 13 & 14 of the subject guide that outline the % weighting of the objectives by paper. It is certainly worth looking at and thinking about.

The subject guide makes the identification of these objective very easy – the guide lists the ‘assessment statement’, ‘objective’ and ‘teachers notes’ all next to each other.

For example:

11.3.3 Assessment Statement: Determine best fit lines through data points on graphs

Objective: 1

Teachers notes: These can be curves or straight lines

Tomorrow, we will look at objective 2.

¹  www.chemistry-inthinking.co.uk/essential-facts/objectives-and-command-terms.htm