It is a requirement that students experience all of the following aspects of ICT at some point during the Biology course: Datalogging, Spreadsheets, Graphing, Modeling & Simulations and Accessing Databases. They do not have to be part of the assessed work submitted for moderation, but must appear on the completed 4PSOW.

Teachers can also visit the Lab Bank Wiki for ideas, and the right-hand column of this blog has many links to the various aspects of ICT use in the course.

ICT is not something to be feared, and does not need to be expensive. Here’s a useful and reassuring quote from the IB Biology Guide:

“Apart from sensors for data logging, all the other components involve software that is free and readily available on the Internet. As students only need to use data-logging software and sensors once in the course, class sets are not required.”

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Pages for the ICT Requirements:

• Datalogging
• Spreadsheets and Graphing (IBDP Bio Excel StatBook here)
• Modeling and Simulations
• Databases

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Some Free Software for Biology:

• Chemsketch – draw and render 3D organic molecules
• Virtual Electron Microscope – amazing free simulator
• DrosophiLab – genetics simulations
• Foldit – super-addictive protein-folding game
• BioEdit, ClustalX and Treeview for gene-sequence alignment and cladograms
• PopSize – Lincoln Index simulator
• Becoming Human – interactive evolution documentary

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