IB MYP Sciences: Global contexts in MYP Sciences – Revision Notes

These revision notes condense the global contexts part of IB MYP Sciences. For full explanations and worked examples, read the global contexts study guide first. The notes are aligned to the IB MYP Sciences guide (for use from September 2014/January 2015; published May 2014, updated May 2019) and suit MYP years 4 and 5 (no SL/HL split).

MYP has no prescribed content list: schools design their own units. The framework (concepts, global contexts, statements of inquiry, criteria) is what stays the same from school to school, so that is what these notes cover.

Links: MYP Sciences hub · printable checklist · practice questions

Definitions

• Global context – the real-world lens that shows why a unit matters. There are six. Every unit has one, chosen by your teacher.
• Exploration – a narrower angle on a global context, chosen to fit one unit.
• Key concept – a broad, cross-subject idea. Sciences contributes change, relationships and systems; units may use other MYP key concepts too.
• Related concept – a discipline-based idea, such as energy, evidence, form, function, models or transformation.
• Statement of inquiry – one transferable sentence joining a key concept, related concept(s) and a global context. It sets the purpose of the unit.
• Inquiry questions – factual, conceptual and debatable questions built from the statement of inquiry.
• Factor (criterion D) – the lens you use when discussing implications: moral, ethical, social, economic, political, cultural or environmental.

Three rules from the guide

1. Teachers must identify a global context for each unit, or develop an additional one, so you can see why the inquiry matters.
2. Many science inquiries fall naturally under scientific and technical innovation.
3. Over the course, you should meet all six contexts, not only that one.

The six contexts at a glance

Global context	What it asks in science	Exploration the guide uses in an example unit	Quick example unit (Marlbridge)
Identities and relationships	How science explains our bodies, health and choices	identity formation; health and well-being, lifestyle choices	Sleep, hormones and teenage body clocks
Orientation in space and time	How ideas change over time; scales of space and time	discoveries and turning points	How the model of the atom changed
Personal and cultural expression	Science in art, craft, food and culture; science as a human construction	social constructions of reality; entrepreneurship, practice and competency	Chemistry of natural dyes and pigments
Scientific and technical innovation	Products, processes and solutions built from science	the biological revolution; exploring the natural world and its laws	Designing a more efficient electric motor
Globalization and sustainability	Shared resources, global links, sustainable use	consumption, conservation, natural resources and public goods	Overfishing and fish population models
Fairness and development	Who gains from science, who pays, fair access	imagining a hopeful future	Clean cooking stoves and indoor air quality

The right-hand column is our own; the guide’s examples are in the study guide.

Method: writing a statement of inquiry

1. Pick the key concept (change, relationships or systems are the usual choices in sciences).
2. Pick one or two related concepts that fit the science (for example energy and transformation for a motor).
3. Pick the global context and an exploration.
4. Write one sentence that links the concepts to the context without naming the topic.
5. Test it: would the sentence still be true for a different topic? If yes, it transfers.

Worked reminder (overfishing unit):

• Key concept: systems. Related concepts: balance, consequences. Context: globalization and sustainability.
• Statement: When people remove resources faster than a system can replace them, the balance of that system changes for everyone who depends on it.
• Check: it also works for groundwater or forests, so it transfers.

Weak vs strong statements of inquiry

Weak (why)	Stronger version
“Fish populations are falling.” (a fact about one topic; no concept or context)	When people remove resources faster than a system can replace them, the balance of that system changes.
“We will learn about dyes.” (a plan, not a statement)	People use their understanding of how matter interacts with light to express identity and tradition through colour.
“Motors are good for the environment.” (an opinion; nothing to inquire into)	Transforming energy more efficiently can change how communities use limited resources.

When two contexts seem to fit

Most science topics could sit under more than one context. That is normal. Choose by asking which issue the unit actually investigates:

• If the unit asks how a device or process works and is improved, it is scientific and technical innovation.
• If it asks who can afford or access it, it is fairness and development.
• If it asks what it does to shared resources across borders, it is globalization and sustainability.
• If it asks how ideas about it changed over time, it is orientation in space and time.
• If it asks how it affects our bodies, health or choices, it is identities and relationships.
• If it asks how people create, express or agree conventions with it, it is personal and cultural expression.

In an answer, name the context, then justify it in one sentence that mentions the issue. A justified alternative is usually accepted; an unjustified label is not.

Method: from global context to criterion D answer

1. Identify the problem or issue the unit’s context points to (for example, overfishing of a shared sea).
2. Explain the science that addresses it (breeding rates, population models, catch quotas based on data). This is strand i.
3. Choose a factor and discuss implications that interact with it (economic: fishing jobs; environmental: food webs). This is strand ii.
4. Evaluate: weigh benefits against limitations and reach a justified judgement.
5. Use precise scientific language (population, sustainable yield, food web). Strand iii.
6. Document sources for any data or claims. Strand iv.

Criterion D: command-term ladder (year 5)

Level band	Strand i (how science is applied)	Strand ii (implications, with a factor)
1–2	outline	outline
3–4	summarize	describe
5–6	describe	discuss
7–8	explain	discuss and evaluate

Reaching 7–8 needs an explanation of the science plus a two-sided discussion that ends in a judgement.

Inquiry question types

Type	Purpose	Example (sleep unit)
Factual	recall or measure	Which hormone rises in the evening to bring on sleep?
Conceptual	big idea that transfers	How do internal clocks keep body systems in step with the environment?
Debatable	more than one defensible answer	Should secondary schools start later in the morning?

Must-know distinctions

• Global context vs factor. The context frames the whole unit; the factor is the lens inside your criterion D answer. “Fairness and development” is a context; “economic” is a factor.
• Key concept vs related concept. Key concepts are broad and shared across subjects (change, systems). Related concepts belong to the discipline (energy, models).
• Statement of inquiry vs inquiry question. A statement is one sentence that declares; questions are what you investigate.
• Global context vs topic. “Electromagnetism” is a topic. “Fairness and development” is a context that could frame it.
• Debatable vs factual. If the question has one correct answer you can look up, it is not debatable.

Quick self-test

1. List the six MYP global contexts.
2. Which global context does the guide say many science inquiries naturally fall under?
3. Which three key concepts does sciences contribute?
4. Name the seven factors you can use in criterion D.
5. What is wrong with this statement of inquiry: “Batteries store chemical energy”?
6. Classify: “What is the half-life of carbon-14?” – factual, conceptual or debatable?
7. Classify: “Should genetic testing of embryos be allowed?”
8. A unit on how the model of the atom changed is best framed by which global context?
9. In year 5 criterion D strand ii, which command term marks the 5–6 band?
10. A student writes “the global context is environmental”. What has gone wrong?
11. Suggest a global context other than scientific and technical innovation for a unit on electric motors, and say why.

Answers

1. Identities and relationships; orientation in space and time; personal and cultural expression; scientific and technical innovation; globalization and sustainability; fairness and development.
2. Scientific and technical innovation.
3. Change, relationships, systems.
4. Moral, ethical, social, economic, political, cultural, environmental.
5. It names the topic and states a fact, so it does not transfer and has no global context.
6. Factual.
7. Debatable.
8. Orientation in space and time (discoveries and turning points).
9. Discuss.
10. “Environmental” is a criterion D factor, not a global context; the context would be something like globalization and sustainability.
11. For example, globalization and sustainability: motors in electric vehicles depend on metals mined and traded worldwide, raising questions about resource use. (Fairness and development is also defensible: access to electric transport.)

Where marks are usually lost

• Naming a global context where a factor is needed in a criterion D answer, or the reverse.
• Writing about implications without ever linking them to a named factor.
• Listing benefits and drawbacks with no final, justified judgement, which caps strand ii below 7–8.
• Explaining the problem but not the science that addresses it (strand i).
• Statements of inquiry that name the topic, so they do not transfer.
• “Debatable” questions that actually have one factual answer.
• Using everyday words (“stuff breaks down”) instead of scientific language (decomposers, biodegradable polymer).
• Using data or claims in a criterion D response without documenting the source.

Official syllabus

These notes follow the IB MYP Sciences guide (for use from September 2014/January 2015; published May 2014, updated May 2019), published by the International Baccalaureate Organization. Your teacher will share the task-specific clarifications for each assessed task.