IBSL/HL
Physics
Standards
and
Benchmarks
by
Standard
Scientific Inquiry: Standards 1-5
Standard 1. Students will demonstrate their understanding of the importance of curiosity, honesty, openmindedness, and skepticism in their own efforts to understand how and why universal phenomena exist and
occur.
By the end of IBSL/HL
Physics
1. Offer different explanations for the same scientific evidence, and explain why it is not always possible to tell
which explanation is best supported.
2. Know that scientists do not have models that explain all phenomena, and that current models range from the
proven - the Earth is round - to the speculative - cancers are viral.
3. Critically analyze and evaluate experimental designs for accuracy, including variables, controls, adequate data
sampling, and logical conclusions and suggest design improvements when appropriate.
Standard 2. Students will communicate scientific ideas and activities clearly.
By the end of IBSL/HL
Physics
1. Choose appropriate summary statistics to describe group differences, always indicating the spread of the data as
well as the scientific data's central tendencies.
2. Make and use tables, charts, graphs, and scale drawings to make scientific arguments and claims in oral and
written presentations.
3. Participate in group discussions on scientific topics by restating or summarizing accurately what others have said,
asking for clarification or elaboration, and expressing alternative positions.
Standard 3. Students will be familiar with the character of scientific knowledge and inquiry and how it is
achieved.
By the end of IBSL/HL
Physics
1. Exhibit understanding that a change in the scientific view of how the world works is occasionally major, but is
more often a small modification of prior knowledge, and that these new ideas often encounter vigorous criticism.
2. Use hypotheses to guide choices of what data to pay attention to, what additional data to seek, and how to
interpret both new and previously available data.
3. Understand that progress in scientific under-standing often manifests itself in more reliable explanations and more
accurate predictions, and is achieved by testing, revising, and sometimes rejecting, old and new theories.
4. Explain why scientists often control conditions in experiments, and what they do when controlled conditions are
not possible.
5. Explain how and why scientific teams seek out the possible sources of bias in their investigations' hypotheses,
observations, data analyses, and interpretations, and follow this model in the student's own work.
6. Describe how and why new ideas in science can be limited and influenced, including cultural and historical
context, and how history in turn has been shaped by science.
Standard 4. Students will be able to select and use tools and instruments to conduct scientific activities.
By the end of IBSL/HL
Physics
1. Develop and use systematic procedures for recording and organizing information.
2. Understand the applications and basic functioning of complex pieces of scientific equipment (for example, PCR,
cathode ray tube) and be capable of basic troubleshooting.
3. Select the most appropriate tool for a specific, direct measurement and choose appropriate units for reporting
various magnitudes.
Standard 5. Students will understand and demonstrate the ideas of system, model, change, and scale in
exploring scientific and technological matters.
By the end of IBSL/HL
Physics
1. Apply the concept of a system to the analysis of how things work and the design of solutions to problems,
specifying the system's boundaries and subsystems, its relation to other systems, and its input and output.
2. Explain how systems in equilibrium may return to the same state of equilibrium when the disturbances are small
and how large disturbances may destroy a system's equilibrium and eventually result in a different state of
equilibrium.
3. Understand how large changes in scale typically change the way things work in physical, biological, or social
systems (that is, microcosm versus macrocosm) because the changes in scale affect various properties of those
systems in different degrees.
4. Demonstrate an understanding of physical and temporal scale, based on both mathematics and experience.
5. Describe and explain ways that systems' properties that depend on volume, such as capacity and weight, change
out of proportion to properties that depend on area, such as strength or surface processes.
Physical Setting: Standards 6-14
Standard 6. Students will be familiar with current scientific theories about the universe and how those theories
evolved.
By the end of IBSL/HL
Physics
1. Describe the ancient, Earth-centered understanding of the universe and how Ptolemy's model changed this
understanding.
2. Describe the scientific accomplishments of astronomers and the historical and cultural context and influence of
their work.
3. Explain current scientific theory about the age, origin, and on-going evolution of the universe.
4. Compare and contrast the composition, behavior, size, temperature, and age of stars and planets.
5. Explain the factors that affect the appearance of stars.
6. Describe characteristics of worm holes and black holes, including their genesis and their effect on space and time.
7. Describe the array of sophisticated technology available to observe the universe and how this has expanded our
knowledge of the universe.
Standard 7. Students will understand how key features of the earth influence climate, weather, and the water
cycle.
By the end of IBSL/HL
Physics
1. Describe how human activity can affect weather and climate.
Standard 8. Students will understand scientific theories of how the earth's surface is formed and how those
theories developed.
By the end of IBSL/HL
Physics
None
Standard 9. Students will know and understand scientific theories of the nature of matter and how those
theories developed.
By the end of IBSL/HL
Physics
1. Describe the work of early scientists in the evolving model of the atom.
2
2. Describe the particles and forces that make up electrons, neutrons, and protons.
3. Understand that ions are formed by the gain or loss of electrons.
Standard 10. Students will be familiar with the forms and transformations of energy and the significance of
energy in understanding the structure of matter and the universe.
By the end of IBSL/HL
Physics
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Explain the law of conservation of matter and energy.
Describe the concept of entropy and the principles related to it.
Understand that transformations of energy usually produce some energy in the form of heat.
Compare chemical and nuclear reactions in terms of process and energy production.
Understand and assess the uses of nuclear fission and fusion, including the implications for society.
Recount the essential ideas of Einstein's special and general theories of relativity and use the equation E=mc2 for
transformations of mass and energy.
Standard 11. Students will understand how society uses and conserves various sources of energy.
By the end of IBSL/HL
Physics
1. Explain how electric motors and generators operate by using the interplay of electric and magnetic fields.
2. Assess the advantages and disadvantages of using nuclear energy.
3. Evaluate the impact of industry on our society and environment in terms of energy use.
Standard 12. Students will understand the relationship between force, mass, and the motion of objects.
By the end of IBSL/HL
Physics
1. Understand the concept of Galileo's principle of inertia and how this laid the groundwork for Newton's laws of
motion.
Standard 13. Students will recognize gravitational, electrical, and magnetic forces as major kinds of forces
acting in nature.
By the end of IBSL/HL
Physics
1. Explain the law of universal gravitation, as well as Newton's laws of motion, and account for their acceptance
even after Einstein's theories of relativity.
2. Identify and interrelate the variables affecting the flow of electricity.
Standard 14. Students will be familiar with the wave nature of sound and electromagnetic radiation.
By the end of IBSL/HL
Physics
1. Explain different wave phenomena such as reflection, refraction, interference, diffraction, and Doppler effect.
2. Describe the electromagnetic spectrum and the characteristics and interrelationships of particular frequencies.
The Living Environment: Standards 15-20
Standard 15. Students will be aware of the diversity of living organisms and how they can be compared
scientifically.
By the end of IBSL/HL
Physics
3
None
Standard 16. Students will understand the structure, functions, and reproduction of living cells and organisms.
By the end of IBSL/HL
Physics
None
Standard 17. Students will understand how and why organisms are dependent on one another and their
environments.
By the end of IBSL/HL
Physics
None
Standard 18. Students will understand the cycling of matter and the flow and transformation of energy through
systems of living things.
By the end of IBSL/HL
Physics
None
Standard 19. Students will understand how biological traits are passed on to successive generations.
By the end of IBSL/HL
Physics
None
Standard 20. Students will understand the arguments for natural selection as scientific explanation of biological
evolution.
By the end of IBSL/HL
Physics
None
Human Organisms and Society: Standards 21-24
Standard 21. Students will know and understand the biological, cultural, and social explanations for why
human beings have important traits in common yet differ from one another.
By the end of IBSL/HL
Physics
None
Standard 22. Students will be familiar with important aspects of human development from fertilization to
death.
By the end of IBSL/HL
Physics
None
4
Standard 23. Students will understand the basic processes of the human body.
By the end of IBSL/HL
Physics
None
Standard 24. Students will understand that a variety of factors influence learning in human beings.
By the end of IBSL/HL
Physics
None
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