Three day IB DP History workshop, Category 3, Day 2
Melbourne. 02/05/15 – 04/05/15.
Workshop leaders: Colin Aitken and Jenny McArthur
Group page on Google+ (closed, invitation only)

Notes for Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3

Day 2:
Session 5: Paper 2
What has changed and why for Paper 2?
Session 6: Paper 2 continued
Putting Paper 2 changes into practice
Session 7: Paper 3
What has changed and why for Paper 3?
Putting Paper 3 changes into practice
Session 8: Course Planning
Paper 3 continued if necessary
Course planning

Session 5: Paper 2

These are the only command terms that will be used for Paper 2: Compare and Contrast, discuss, examine, evaluate, to what extent.
There will be no named examples in questions for Paper 2. See page 97

Analyse = will be on Paper 1

Analyse means breaking things down.
Evaluating means to breaking things down and putting it back together.
Evaluating is harder, higher up the scale, they must come to a conclusion and a judgement

Students must be confident in the command terms.
Teachers must also ensure that they have covered cross regional case studies.
As there is no prescribed content with regards to case studies, the markscheme for P2 will only offer guidance on how responses should approach the question and offer only indicative content.

Adopting a thematic approach to case studies is an effective way to do P2, e.g. not chronologically and in isolation, but a comparative thematic approach.
This allows students to more readily identify the similarities and differences between case studies. i.e. You look at how dictators come to power. Then compare and contrast.
Examiner: I start with the concepts and the features and the general features, then use the content as a case study. Students make lots of compare and contrast tables.
Chronological approach is not as effective. You must look at all the content in a comparative manner.

Theme: Emergence of democratic states
Bullet: Conditions that encouraged the demand for democratic reform.
Question: “Compare & Contrast the conditions which encourages the demand for democratic reforms in two states, each chosen from a different region.”
The examiners (In P2 there is no mentioned of detailed and indepth, only accurate and relevant. Detail only comes in for Paper 3) Examiners are also encouraged to reward what is there, not penalise what is NOT there. Examiners are looking for two or three good examples and good C&C.

Do three case studies from two regions, or three case studies from three regions. The latter will give students more scope.

P2 questions will only compare regions, no left or right wing leaders. Total war is out too.
(Note that question setters can set questions only on things that are explicitly in the bullet points. There are 5 command terms, and 10 bullet points, that is what the questions are going to be on. Left/right wing and total war is not in the bullet points (of World History Topic 11: Cause and effects of 20c wars, p35) so that will not be mentioned in a question. The students CAN use it in their writing of course, it is just not specifically mentioned in the question)

There will only be two questions for each topic on the exam? Why? Because the questions are less specific, so students can answer them both.

There is more focus on underlying concepts. For instance and causes, they have to understand different types of causes: economic, political etc. You must teach the bullet points, you must teach it thematically.  It is important to cover examples from different regions, as many exam questions will ask for comparison of 2 examples from 2 different regions.

This now also allows teachers to go earlier that the 20th century. Could do a medieval war!!

Overview of key changes Paper 2

See page 80 -81. There are now 5 mark bands with a range of 3 marks in each.

External markbands—paper 2 (SL and HL). Marks Level descriptor
For example:

13–15 Responses are clearly focused, showing a high degree of awareness of the demands and implications of the question. Responses are well structured and effectively organized.
Knowledge of the world history topic is accurate and relevant. Events are placed in their historical context, and there is a clear understanding of historical concepts.
The examples that the student chooses to discuss are appropriate and relevant, and are used effectively to support the analysis/evaluation. The response makes effective links and/or comparisons (as appropriate to the question).
The response contains clear and coherent critical analysis. There is evaluation of different perspectives, and this evaluation is integrated effectively into the answer. All, or nearly all, of the main points are substantiated, and the response argues to a consistent conclusion.

The new markscheme is designed to stop the ‘squashing’ of all the grades in a narrow band in the middle.

The new mark bands contain more positive terms, rather than negative one in the old guide. Words like: Not all implications are addressed, No XYZ, little XYZ.

Group 3 grade descriptors

These are on the OCC. Below are two examples only. Note, these are for the CURRENT syllabus, not the new one.

Grade 7
Demonstrates conceptual awareness, insight, and knowledge and understanding which are evident in the skills of critical thinking; a high level of ability to provide answers which are fully developed, structured in a logical and coherent manner and illustrated with appropriate examples; a precise use of terminology which is specific to the subject; familiarity with the literature of the subject; the ability to analyse and evaluate evidence and to synthesize knowledge and concepts; awareness of alternative points of view and subjective and ideological biases, and the ability to come to reasonable, albeit tentative, conclusions; consistent evidence of critical reflective thinking; a high level of proficiency in analysing and evaluating data or problem solving.

Grade 6
Demonstrates detailed knowledge and understanding; answers which are coherent, logically structured and well developed; consistent use of appropriate terminology; an ability to analyse, evaluate and synthesize knowledge and concepts; knowledge of relevant research, theories and issues, and awareness of different perspectives and contexts from which these have been developed; consistent evidence of critical thinking; an ability to analyse and evaluate data or to solve problems competently.

Examiners are encouraged to award the full range of grades, including the top mark band.

Two different historians, two perspectives, two regions, two schools of thought will count as “perspectives”

Session 6: Paper 2 continued

Details of changes to Paper 2
Paper 2 Practice marking.

My notes: We were encouraged to apply the best fit approach. An examiner will start at the highest markband and work down. We marked four papers together and were often surprised that the examoniers awarded higher

Session 7: Paper 3

• Teacher should select one region for their HL region.
• Choice of region can be made to meet the national or state requirements
• This component contrasts for P1 and P2 where cross regional comparisons are emphasised. P3 gives the opportunity to study one region in depth.
• There are 18 topics/sections for each region. Teachers should select three. The three sections must be taught in totality.
• Students can answer any three questions.
• The content of each section topic has changed to some degree – so teachers must take care to cover all the new bullets for each section.
• This is an “IN DEPTH” paper, so yes, there are a lot of dot points.
• The paper setters has the requirement to work through all the dot points. Again, don’t try to predict. At some point in seven years, all dot points have to be covered, but some may be done in an unpredictable way.
• Each topic has an introductory paragraph and a series of bullets.
• It is essential for teachers to understand that BOTH the intro paragraphs and the bullet points are prescribed content for this component.
• Exam questions can only refer to the paragraph material and/or the bullet point material.
• ONLY where a bullet point allows for a case study approach – can students select which country they discuss.

Example below:

Introductory paragraph
The intro is very important, questions can come from the introductory paragraph, it represents a thematic overview. You must teach what is in the intro!
12: China and Korea (1910–1950) This section focuses on China and Korea between 1910 and 1950. It examines the rise of nationalism and communism in China after the establishment of the Chinese Republic, as well as the nature of Japanese rule of Korea, which had been formalized with the annexation in 1910, and which became more oppressive during the years of the Sino-Japanese War. The section concludes by examining the reasons for the victory of the communists in the Chinese Civil War and the consequences of this defeat for the nationalists.

• Rise of national identity in China: Yuan Shikai; Sun Yixian; 21 Demands (1915); new culture movement; Treaty of Versailles (1919); May Fourth movement (1919); effects of warlordism
• Nationalist rule of China: Guomintang leadership and ideology; Jiang Jieshi; successes and failures of domestic policy during the Nanjing decade (1927–1937)
• Rise of communism in China: Chinese Communist Party (CCP) ideology; First United Front; Shanghai massacre (1927); Yan’an; Jiangxi Soviet; Long March; Mao Zedong
• Impact of Japanese invasion of China; Manchuria (1931); Second United Front; Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945); Chinese Civil War (1946–1949); nature of conflict; reasons for communist victory
• Impact of Japanese rule of Korea: social, political and economic effects of annexation (1910); impact of the Sino-Japanese War on Korea: Japanese use of forced labour, conscription and comfort women; division of Korea at 38th parallel (1945); Syngman Rhee; Kim Il-Sung
• Taiwan and Republic of China (ROC): nature of Jiang Jieshi’s rule: martial law (1949); White Terror (1950); beginnings of Taiwanese independence movement

Note about the new mark bands in Paper 3, the P3 mark bands contain the word DETAILED, signalling that detail is required.

13–15 Responses are clearly focused, showing a high degree of awareness of the demands and implications of the question. Answers are well structured, balanced and effectively organized. Knowledge is detailed, accurate and relevant. Events are placed in their historical context, and there is a clear understanding of historical concepts. Examples used are appropriate and relevant, and are used effectively to support the analysis/evaluation. Arguments are clear and coherent. There is evaluation of different perspectives, and this evaluation is integrated (NOTE: Sythesis is required) effectively into the answer. The answer contains well-developed critical analysis. All, or nearly all, of the main points are substantiated, and the response argues to a reasoned conclusion.

There will be dot pointed mark schemes as of next year. (Still in the old course)

We had a discussion about what ‘critical analysis’ really is. Hard to define, a bit of a semantic debate. “Challenge assumption” has been taken out and is not part of the new guide mark bands.

Students must tackle the key terms of the question in the introduction.