IB MYP Sciences: Global contexts in MYP Sciences – Study Guide

This study guide explains the six global contexts in IB MYP Sciences and how they shape a science unit. It is aligned to the IB MYP Sciences guide (for use from September 2014/January 2015; published May 2014, updated May 2019), and it suits MYP years 4 and 5. MYP Sciences has no SL/HL split.

MYP has no prescribed content list. Schools design their own units, so your teacher chooses the science topics. What the guide does fix is the framework around those topics: key concepts, related concepts, global contexts, statements of inquiry and the four assessment criteria. This page covers the global contexts part of that framework.

Use it with the revision notes and the practice questions. For the wider course, see the MYP Sciences hub and the printable checklist.

What this unit covers

Idea	What you must be able to do
The six global contexts	Name all six and say what each one asks you to think about in science
Explorations	Explain how a narrower “exploration” focuses a broad context on one unit
Statements of inquiry	Recognise the parts of a statement of inquiry and write your own
Inquiry questions	Tell factual, conceptual and debatable questions apart
Link to criterion D	Use a unit’s global context to plan a criterion D response

What a global context is

A global context is the “why it matters” of a unit. The content is what you learn, the concepts are the big ideas you think with, and the global context is where that learning meets the real world.

The guide describes global contexts as steering inquiry towards our shared humanity and our shared care for the planet. In practice, three rules from the guide matter:

1. Every unit needs one. Your teacher must identify a global context for each unit (or develop an additional one) so that you can see the relevance of what you are studying.
2. Science has a natural favourite. The guide notes that many science inquiries sit easily in scientific and technical innovation.
3. But all six must appear over time. Across the course, you should meet every global context, not just that one.

Explorations: narrowing a context

Each global context is broad. An exploration is a narrower angle on it, chosen for one unit. Think of it as a zoom: global context (wide) → exploration (focused) → your unit’s specific issue (sharp).

Statements of inquiry

A statement of inquiry is one sentence that sets the unit’s purpose. It joins three things:

• a key concept (sciences contributes change, relationships and systems, but units may use others, such as creativity)
• one or more related concepts (for sciences these include balance, consequences, energy, environment, evidence, form, function, interaction, models, movement, patterns and transformation, with a few discipline extras)
• a global context, usually with an exploration.

A useful test (a Marlbridge rule of thumb, not wording from the guide): a strong statement of inquiry is transferable. It does not name the specific topic, so it would still be true in another subject or another case. One of the guide’s examples is simply: “Health is a function of interactions between individuals and societies.” It uses the key concept relationships, the related concepts conditions and interaction, and the context identities and relationships.

From the statement of inquiry, you and your teacher build inquiry questions of three types:

• factual – answerable by recall or measurement (“What gases are produced when fuel burns?”)
• conceptual – about big ideas that transfer (“How does a change in one part of a system affect the rest?”)
• debatable – with more than one defensible answer (“Should cities ban petrol cars?”)

Debatable questions are where the global context and criterion D meet most clearly.

The six global contexts, with science units

For each context: what it means in science, how the guide uses it, and one extra example unit written by Marlbridge.

1. Identities and relationships

In science: who we are as living things and as people. Bodies, health, genes, development and how our choices affect our well-being and other people.

Guide example: one example unit links models of DNA and genetics to how structure and function shape human identity, using the exploration identity formation. Another links food science and interactions with the environment to health, using health and well-being, lifestyle choices.

Marlbridge example unit – exercise and the heart (biology):

• Statement of inquiry: Choices we make about activity change how the body’s systems interact, and those changes shape our health.
• Key concept: systems. Related concepts: interaction, balance.
• Factual question: How does heart rate change during and after exercise?
• Debatable question: Should schools be required to give every student daily physical activity?

2. Orientation in space and time

In science: how scientific understanding develops over time, how discoveries change what people believe, and how we describe scales from the atomic to the cosmic, and from microseconds to billions of years.

Guide example: an example unit on the periodic table (trends, groups and periods) uses the exploration discoveries and turning points, with the idea that pioneering discoveries can challenge accepted thinking.

Marlbridge example unit – germ theory of disease (biology):

• Statement of inquiry: New evidence can overturn long-held explanations and change how whole societies behave.
• Key concept: change. Related concepts: evidence, models.
• Factual question: What did experiments with boiled broth in swan-necked flasks show about where microorganisms come from?
• Debatable question: Is a scientific model ever “finished”?

3. Personal and cultural expression

In science: how people create, communicate and practise science, and how science feeds art, music, food and craft. It also covers science as a human creation: the naming systems and conventions scientists agree on.

Guide example: an example unit on organic chemistry, reaction types and chemical nomenclature uses explorations around social constructions of reality and history of ideas, showing that naming rules are agreed conventions. Another, on heat, light, sound and waves, uses entrepreneurship, practice and competency, about devices built to meet human needs and desires.

Marlbridge example unit – the physics of musical instruments (sound and waves):

• Statement of inquiry: People shape vibrating systems to produce sounds that express ideas and culture.
• Key concept: creativity. Related concepts: form, transformation.
• Factual question: How does the length of a vibrating string affect the pitch it produces?
• Debatable question: Is a sound generated digitally as authentic as one played on an acoustic instrument?

4. Scientific and technical innovation

In science: how people apply scientific understanding to make products, processes and solutions, and the consequences that follow.

Guide example: units on biotechnology and nanotechnology use the exploration the biological revolution. Another, on energy transfer, interactions between organisms and bonding, uses exploring the natural world and its laws (products, processes and solutions).

Marlbridge example unit – rechargeable batteries (chemistry):

• Statement of inquiry: Controlling the transfer of energy in chemical reactions lets people store energy and use it where it is needed.
• Key concept: systems. Related concepts: energy, transfer.
• Factual question: What happens to the reactants when a cell supplies a current?
• Debatable question: Do the benefits of portable electronics outweigh the costs of mining battery materials?

5. Globalization and sustainability

In science: how human activity links places worldwide and affects shared resources – air, water, soil, fuels, ecosystems – and how to use them sustainably.

Guide example: a physics unit on fuels and their environmental impact uses the exploration consumption, conservation, natural resources and public goods, with the idea that technology changes people’s relationship with local and global environments.

Marlbridge example unit – polymers and plastic waste (chemistry):

• Statement of inquiry: The properties that make a material useful can also make it persist in the environment long after it is used.
• Key concept: relationships. Related concepts: form, consequences.
• Factual question: Why do most addition polymers break down so slowly in the environment?
• Debatable question: Should a country be allowed to export its plastic waste to another country?

6. Fairness and development

In science: who benefits from science and technology, who bears the costs, and how science can support communities to develop fairly.

Guide example: an example physics unit on generating and transmitting electricity, forces and energy, and atomic physics (uses and dangers) uses the exploration imagining a hopeful future, about societies turning to new technologies to meet growing energy demand.

Marlbridge example unit – keeping vaccines cold (biology and physics):

• Statement of inquiry: Access to the benefits of science depends on the conditions in which it is delivered.
• Key concept: relationships. Related concepts: conditions, energy.
• Factual question: Why does heat damage protein-based medicines?
• Debatable question: Who should pay for the refrigeration needed to deliver vaccines to remote areas?

How the global context links to criterion D

Criterion D is Reflecting on the impacts of science. By the end of year 5 the guide expects you to:

1. explain how science is applied to address a specific problem or issue
2. discuss and evaluate the implications of that application
3. apply scientific language effectively
4. document the work of others and your sources.

For strand 2, you must reflect on the implications while interacting with a factor. The guide lists the factors as moral, ethical, social, economic, political, cultural or environmental. Your chosen factor may connect to others.

A global context is not a factor. The global context frames the whole unit. The factor is the lens you choose inside your criterion D answer. They work together:

Global context of the unit	Factors that often fit
Identities and relationships	social, ethical
Orientation in space and time	cultural, social
Personal and cultural expression	cultural, economic
Scientific and technical innovation	economic, ethical
Globalization and sustainability	environmental, political
Fairness and development	economic, moral

This table is a Marlbridge planning aid, not an IB rule. Any factor can work if you justify it.

On the year 5 descriptors, strand 2 climbs from outline (1–2) to describe (3–4), discuss (5–6) and discuss and evaluate (7–8). Strand 1 climbs from outline to summarize, describe and explain. So the top band needs reasoning and a judgement, not a list.

In the on-screen examination, the third task (applying science) is assessed against criterion D (other criteria can sometimes earn marks too), with extended responses that consider one or more of the factors. See also the criteria in practice guide.

Worked example: from global context to criterion D plan

Unit: polymers and plastic waste. Context: globalization and sustainability. Issue: a city plans to replace single-use plastic cups with plant-based biodegradable cups.

1. Explain the science (strand 1). Conventional plastic cups are made from long-chain polymers that microorganisms break down very slowly. Plant-based polymers can be broken down by microorganisms under the right conditions, such as the warmth and moisture of industrial composting.
2. Choose a factor and discuss (strand 2). Environmental: less long-lasting litter, but only if the cups reach composting rather than landfill or the sea. Economic: the cups may cost more, and composting needs collection systems.
3. Evaluate. Weigh both sides and reach a conditional judgement: the switch helps only if the city also builds collection and composting.
4. Scientific language (strand 3). Use terms such as polymer, monomer, decomposer and biodegradable correctly.
5. Document sources (strand 4). Cite any data you use.

Common errors

• Naming a global context in a criterion D answer instead of a factor. “Globalization and sustainability” is not a factor; “environmental” is.
• Writing a statement of inquiry that names the topic (“Batteries store energy”). It should transfer to other cases.
• Assuming every science unit is about innovation. The guide expects all six over time.
• Giving only benefits, or only harms, then stopping. Top-band criterion D work evaluates and reaches a judgement.

Where to go next

• Next: the revision notes and practice questions
• Course overview: MYP Sciences syllabus guide and course models
• Content units: forces, metabolism, evolution and interactions

Official syllabus

This page follows the IB MYP Sciences guide (for use from September 2014/January 2015; published May 2014, updated May 2019), published by the International Baccalaureate Organization. MYP has no prescribed content list; your school decides the units and your teacher will share the task-specific clarifications for each assessed task.