IBDP updates

The Group 4 Project

This year it was wonderful to be able to run the Group 4 Project again after a two-year hiatus. All of the IB students were actively involved from the moment the project was launched until its completion as they keenly sought a unique perspective from which to address the broad theme of ‘Water’. Each group comprised at least one student from each of the Group 4 subjects who brought expertise from their subject area to the group discussions. Together the members in each group collaboratively devised a focus question and set about developing a potential solution. The broad scope of the final presentations is a testament to the high level of creativity and ingenuity that typified the execution of this project within the prescribed 10-hour time limit.

Natasha Kempers
Acting Head of Science

Student reflection

The Group Four Project was an engaging, thought-provoking experience run by the science department giving the Year 11 IB students the invaluable opportunity to appreciate the ways in which different branches of science complement one another. While the four disciplines offered at Santa – Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Sports Science – are taught separately, this project demonstrated their intrinsic interconnectedness, coupled with the way that science can connect us to our planet, to culture and to each other.

The theme of the program was water – a substance so ubiquitous in our lives that it is easy to take for granted, yet has a variety of properties that make it truly outstanding in the scientific realm. Its unique characteristics have allowed complex forms of life to survive and evolve over billions of years and bodies of water like oceans have been objects of fascination in myths and legends for millennia. We were challenged to design and present our own research question connecting to water and create an experiment or solution in small groups to address this. 

The broad theme enabled us to interpret it in a number of unorthodox ways – from groups finding innovative solutions to gender inequality relating to the prevalence of water-borne disease, to exploring the conditions required for humans to walk on water. The vast range of ideas we envisaged within the short time frame of a day was truly a testament to the hard work of our lovely science department and the dedication and ingenuity of our cohort.

Rory Blue
IB Diploma student of Chemistry