SL Math

Sin and Cosine Rule

Hey guys!

     Exciting news!! We have FINALLY reached Chapter 10 in our SL Mathematics book, which means we are almost halfway done with our curriculum. Currently, we are learning about triangular trigonometry. It's not the easiest math in the world, but it's definitely a step up from the circular trigonometry we were doing last month! In this lesson, we learned all about the sin and cosine rules that you could use for finding the side length or angle of a triangle. (P.S.) In the examples below, the lines to show a fraction do not show up on our web page. However, it is fairly obvious to realize where the factions are so it shouldn't be too confusing!

     The following information was found on this website: http://www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/projects/mepres/step-up/sect4/index.htm

Formula for right-angled triangles:

Formula for all triangles:

(Ignore the yellow highlight)

Here's how you would go about finding side "x" in the diagram below:

Step 1:	Start by writing out the Sine Rule formula for finding sides:       a = b sin(A) sin(B)
Step 2:	Fill in the values you know, and the unknown length:       x = 7 sin(80°) sin(60°)
Step 3:	Solve the resulting equation to find the unknown side, giving your answer to 3 significant figures: x = 7      (multiply by sin(80°) on both sides) sin(80°) sin(60°) x = 7 × sin(80°) sin(60°) x = 7.96 (accurate to 3 significant figures)

 Here's how you would go about finding angle "m" in the diagram below:

Step 1:	Start by writing out the Sine Rule formula for finding angles:       sin(A) = sin(B) a b
Step 2:	Fill in the values you know, and the unknown angle:       sin(m°) = sin(75°) 8 10
Step 3:	Solve the resulting equation to find the sine of the unknown angle: sin(m°) = sin(75°)      (multiply by 8 on both sides) 8 10 sin(m°) = sin(75°) × 8 10 sin(m°) = 0.773 (3 significant figures)
Step 4:	Use the inverse-sine function (sin–1) to find the angle: m° = sin–1(0.773) = 50.6° (3sf) - Sophie F.

SL English Language and Literature

The Manslater

Hello Everyone! 

Who needs a manslater?! Just pay attention!!!! 

    I hope you guys are all surviving IB exams or did well on your mocks! For first year DP students like us, our mock exams were last week. It was quite an experience and we can't wait to get our results. Friendly advice: when getting back your mock results don't forget they are just mocks and you're not expected to get 100% on all of them!! 

     After a week of mocks, to get back into the normal school schedule, our SL English teacher showed us a funny commercial that relates to language and gender. For mocks our class shared a Google drive folder with each other that contained our notes on the handouts and different things we've done throughout the class. Our teacher did the same thing and we compared our resources. After going over both lists we realized there were some things that he had that we didn't. Therefore we decided to check them out. 

     One of them related to gender and language. More specifically it related to the language used between women and men during their everyday conversations. This was a video of a commercial promoting a translator for men to help them understand the language of women. Apparently we're hard to understand! I found it quite humorous to see what women actually mean when they speak. While you're watching this try and see which one's are most accurate to you. I know for me there were a couple that I could relate to! Please enjoy the commercial below!

- Melissa S.

SL Geography

   Fieldwork Investigation

Here is an image of the geography book we used to help us on our fieldwork:

Hello everyone! 

      As you guys may know, our field work is about migrant workers in the educational field. Our field work question is "what factors affect the length of time spent by a temporary migrant worker within the educational field in Baton Rouge?". In order to find the answer to our question, we interviewed migrant workers and passed out surveys with questions that would give us the information we needed. 

   This past week we finally completed all of our surveys and interviews. We even converted our data to electronic copies so that it could be of easy access to everyone! I believe it is now time for us to go our separate ways. 

    We should now start analyzing our findings and interpreting our data. It's been great working with my peers and I think we've done a great job at collecting this data. From here on out we're on our own and should be starting to write our first draft. I wish my classmates good luck and everyone else that's in the same position!

Thanks for reading! 

-Melissa S. 

SL Math

SL Math vs SL Math Studies

Hey y'alls,

    How are y’all doing today? Well I am well, thanks for asking. Anyways... about 3 months ago I changed my math course; I went from taking SL Math Studies to SL Math because of the opportunities I wanted to acquire in the future (some colleges will not accept Math Studies). I thought it'd be interesting to share with you the difference between the two courses being that I have had a feel for both of them. For starters, in the IB they offer four different courses of math. There is Math Studies at a Standard Level, SL Math, HL Math, and HL Further Math. 

     I found that in SL Math Studies you focus on important topics that are interconnected, but you only study them briefly. Math Studies focuses on placing more emphasis on student understanding of fundamental concepts than on symbolic manipulation and complex manipulative skills. It gives greater emphasis to developing students’ mathematical reasoning rather than performing routine operations, solving mathematical problems embedded in a wide range context and using the calculator effectively. Personally, I thought the best thing in the entire Math Studies course was the fact that you could use a calculator on both Paper 1 and Paper 2. Moreover, people who select this course are people who will not choose a career path that pertains to math. 

     I also found that the SL Math course is more rigorous than that of SL Math Studies.  The course focuses on introducing important mathematical concepts through the development of mathematical techniques, and developing mathematical concepts in a comprehensible, coherent and rigorous way. Students who take this course are expected to apply their mathematical knowledge to solve problems set in a variety of meaningful concepts. Personally, SL Math can be difficult and stressful, but if you really desire to do well then you will find your way to success. It has been a rough ride for me in my change of math courses, but I'm sure I will make it :)

I hope this helped! More information can be found on the two subjects at ibo.org.

- Felicinda J.

SL French

Connectors

Bonjour!!

     I hope everyone is doing well! This past week in French class, we took a test to see how well we knew our connectors. Connectors are words used to join words or sentences. Knowing a wide range of connectors will help your writing be more coherent, enjoyable to read, and easier to grasp! I would definitely recommend studying up on multiple connectors for whatever language you are learning. Below is a list of the connectors that we had to know for the test, as well as their English translation. Try and test yourself!

En effet: indeed

Au dessous d': underneath

Puisque: since

Car: because

Tout d'abord: first of all

En suite: next

Cette a dire: this is to say

Quelque part: somewhere

Partout: everywhere

D'une part: on one hand

D'autre part: on the other hand

Toutefois: however

Au contraire: on the contrary

Enfin: finally

Apres que: after

Actuellement: currently

Si non: if not

Pour que: so that

Alors que: whereas

Pourvu que: provided that

Bien que: although

Pourtant: however

Malgre: in spite

Comme: such as, like

Autrefois: in the past

De nos jours: nowadays

De plus: moreover

Au tour de: around

Au bout de: at the end of

Etant donne que: given that

Meme si: even if

D'ailleurs: by the way

Grace a: thanks to

Sauf: except

Neanmoins: nevertheless

Donc: so

Selon: according to

Ainsi: so

Au moment ou: the moment when

Depuis: since

Cependant: however

     I've memorized these so well that I didn't even have to look up the English translations whenever I was typing them up . I knew them by heart! I would recommend using flash cards to study these connectors, as that was the method I used to learn them. 

Good Luck!

- Sophie F.

SL Chemistry

Energy Conversions

Hey guys!

     So, in Chemistry, we're on Chapter 5: Energetics! More specifically, we've been learning how to calculate amounts of heat energy (in kJ) produced during different combustion reactions. In other words, we look at the energy of the reactants and the products to calculate the overall energy. A combustion reaction is simply a reaction which produces energy. For example, when methane burns, heat is produced. 

Some of the key terms needed to be able to understand the energy conversions are below:

Enthalpy: Enthalpy is the amount of heat content used or released in a system at constant pressure. (http://chemwiki.ucdavis.edu/Physical_Chemistry/Thermodynamics/State_Functions/Enthalpy)

Average bond enthalpy: The average amount of energy needed to break one mole of bonds in a gaseous state.
(http://chemwiki.ucdavis.edu/Theoretical_Chemistry/Chemical_Bonding/General_Principles/Bond_Energies)

Standard enthalpy of formation: The standard amount of energy needed to create 1 mole of a compound.
(http://chemwiki.ucdavis.edu/Physical_Chemistry/Thermodynamics/Unit_I%3A_Thermochemistry/Fundamentals_of_Thermodynamics/Enthalpy)

The last thing you will need to be able to do these conversions yourself is a practice problem. I've provided some for you down below. Have fun!

A sample practice problem using energy conversions

- Giselle D.

SL Spanish

Como Agua Para Chocolate

Hey y'all

     So in my SL Spanish class I have been reading a book (in Spanish of course) called Como Agua Para Chocolate, by Laura Esquivel. By far the book is great and I could not put it down, so I finished it sooner than I should. The story follows a young girl named Tita who grew up in Mexico (by the way the novel takes place during the Mexican Revolution) with two other sisters and her mother. It was a very traditional time (and I'm not saying it is not traditional now, it is just a crazy traditional time that the novel is set in). One day, a guy named Pedro came along to ask Mama Elena (Tita's mother) for Tita's hand in marriage, but Mama Elena refused (need I say that Mama Elena was also crazy-psycho strict and nothing could slip pass her. Not even a bug). It was tradition, according to Mama Elena, that the youngest daughter must take care of the mother until the day the mother is dead. So to speak, it was Tita's luck to have the job (ahaha, I'm just kidding - Tita disliked every moment of what she had to do). Furthermore, Mama Elena offered Pedro her other daughter, Rosaura, to marry. Out of his eternal love for Tita, Pedro married Rosaura just so he could stay close to Tita. Of course this broke Tita's heart but soon enough Pedro informed her of his plan to stay close to his beloved lady. The novel goes on a roller coaster, from start to finish, and I refuse to tell you more detail because I think you should read it and if you do not read it then I am very upset with you little human. Moreover, I will say that at the end Tita and Pedro finally got the opportunity to share their love with and for each other, with not problem or interference from anyone. But that is not all - so you have to read the book to find out. Como Agua Para Chocolate has become one of my all time favorites and I highly recommend you read the book. *By the way, you do not have to read the book in Spanish, you can certainly get or find a copy in English or in the language of your choice.

Pic of what the book:

Enjoy!

- Felicinda J. 

SL Math

Chapter 8 Test

     We've finally finished learning about "Circular Measure and Trigonometric Functions". The "Paper 1" test for this chapter was particularly stressful due to the fact that the IB website from which our math teacher collects past problems was inundated with trig from future lessons! In other words, we were trying to solve problems without the proper equations to do so.

    Anyway, not counting that slight mishap, this chapter turned out to be rather fascinating. Using the unit circle, we learned how to graph trig functions. Overall, there are three main functions we used: sine, cosine, and tangent. The basic graphs are shown below:

The graph of Sine

The graph of Cosine

The graph of Tangent

     Unfortunately, not all sine, cosine, and tangent functions look like this. As it turns out, the basic structures of the graphs vary, being subjected to different transformations. However, we all wish it were that simple!

- Giselle D.

SL Geography

Geography Fieldwork Update

Hi everyone!

     As you may have read in any previous posts about Geography, we have begun our fieldwork! Our fieldwork question is: What factors affect the length of time spent by migrant workers in City X? We have written up a questionnaire to hand out to people that match the scope of our fieldwork, which is adults who live in the United States on a work visa. There are several teachers at our school who fit this criteria, but we chose to broaden our "sampling" by finding migrant workers at other locations (such as hotels, restaurants, etc). To get started, we called up several restaurants that we thought might employ migrant workers. Over the phone, we talked to all of them about the same thing:

1. What our names were
2. What school we went to, as well as our grade
3. Why we were phoning
4. What the nature of our fieldwork was

We then asked them the following questions:

1. Whether they employed migrant workers at their restaurant
2. If we could visit them one day to hand out our questionnaires
3. Which day would be best to come in

     Out of the 12 restaurants we called, only 2 of them said that they had migrant workers. At first, we wanted to go ahead and interview the migrant workers at the restaurants that allowed us to. After giving it some thought, we decided to stick to interviewing teachers of our school and people that they were acquainted with. If we were to interview someone who wasn't here legally, we would start an intense immigration issue that could even lead to the restaurant being fined. Our next step is to publish our questionnaire online so it is available for virtually anyone!

We will keep you updated :)

- Sophie F.

SL Math

Unit Circle 

Hello everyone! 

     Welcome back from Mardi gras break! Recently in SL Math class we have been introduced to the unit circle! 

     We completed the first part of the book, which are chapters 1 to 7. We wish to complete the second part of the book before the end of the year. I think we're working on track according to Ms. Crystal's calendar and will complete the entire book by next year. There are only 4 sections in the book. So far we've learned a lot of material in little time. 

     Now we're working on the unit circle. Below you will find a picture of the unit circle. According to Wikipedia the unit circle is "a circle with a radius of one that is frequently the circle of radius one centered at the origin (0,0) in the Cartesian coordinate system in the Euclidean plane". The unit circle is something that must be memorized in IB because it will not be provided in the exam, however it will be used. The unit circle can be measured in both radians and degrees. Specific equations are needed for converting a number from radius into degrees. 

     According to Wikipedia the definition of radian is "the plane angle subtended by a circular arc as the length of the arc divided by the radius of the arc. One radian is the angle subtended at the center of a circle by an arc that is equal in length to the radius of the circle." According to mathopenref.com the definition of degrees is "a unit of angle measure. A full circle is divided into 360 degrees. For example, a right angle is 90 degrees. A degree has the symbol ° and so ninety degrees would written 90°. In other words, degrees and radians are both units to measure an angle. The equations to convert radian to degrees is to simply multiply the number of degree by 180°/(Π). The formula to convert from degrees to radian is to simply multiply the number of degrees by Π /180°.

Here is the unit circle: 

Thanks for reading!

-Melissa S. 

SL Geography

Geography Fieldwork

Good afternoon people!

     We've recently been analyzing the criteria for our IB Geography Fieldwork and checking out samples of different papers. I wanted to share with y'all some specific requirements that a couple of people forgot when writing their papers!

     The first thing that you have to remember is that the maximum word count is 2500. The examiner doesn't have to read past the 2500th word, so, if you write too much, they won't read your conclusion!

     The second thing to remember is that the sections C and D are combined. These should be under the same section in the paper. At the end of this post, I attached the criteria for both of these sections to help you!

     Lastly, add your questionnaires and raw data into the appendix and not into the body of your paper. Also, only add data into your appendix that you refer to within the paper. In other words, don't overuse it!

     Don't forget that you have 20 hours of class time to work on the fieldwork! During this time, you should form a game plan and to discuss your ideas with your teacher. Use it wisely!

Criteria C (Click on image to enlarge)

Criteria D (Click on image to enlarge)

- Giselle D.

Standard Level Subjects

 SL Math Chapter 6 Test

Hey guys!

     We just finished our SL Math Chapter 6 test today! This chapter taught us about arithmetic and geometric sequences and series. In other words, we discovered the equations defining sequences such as 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 2, 4, 8, 16, 32. As you might be able to tell, the first sequence mentioned is arithmetic since you must add to get the following number. The second sequence is consequently geometric since you must multiply. In the last section of the chapter, we looked at infinitely converging geometric sequences. For example, add together all the numbers in the sequence 2, 1, ½, ¼, ⅛... It gets infinitely closer to 4 but never reaches it.

An example of a sequence!

     The best thing about the tests we're taking is how they're structured! Our math teacher takes previous problems from the exam and arranges them into Papers 1 and 2! We must also follow IB rules by not using a calculator on the first paper. This setup is for our benefit since it helps us to prepare for our actual test in May of 2016!

- Giselle D.

SL Geography

Patterns in Environment Quality and Sustainability

Hey y'all!

     How is your week going so far? Well, in our SL Geography class we have recently started a new unit called the Patterns in Environment Quality and Sustainability. Everything in this unit is geared towards Global Warming; so it talks about how our environment is changing due to various reasons. First, the atmosphere and change is the first subheading in the chapter, and it talks about how the atmosphere system functions in terms of the energy balance between solar system and long-wave radiation. The chapter introduces the causes and effects of the atmosphere and change, such as Global Warming (Definition: The increase in temperatures around the world that have been noticed over that last 50 years or so, and in particular since the 1980s), the Greenhouse Effect (Definition: The process by which certain gases such as water vapor, CO2, methane, and CFCs, allow short-wave radiation from the sun to pass through the atmosphere and heat up the earth, but trap an increasing proportions of long-wave radiation from the earth, which leads to the warming of the atmosphere), and the Enhanced Greenhouse Effect (Definition: The increasing amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere as a result pf human activities, and their impact on atmospheric systems, including global warming). Furthermore, the next subheading is soil and change: degradation. Soil degradation is the decline in quality and quantity of soil due to the loss of soil fertility. An example of this can be the Dust Bowl which took place in the 1930s, in which much of the land in the US lost its liveliness and the agricultural production dropped. The result of this was that people and animals had to migrate out of desperation, or they died due to lack of food and other necessities.

     We will keep you updated as we progress further into the chapter. The information in this chapter makes me feel sad for all the harm that we've done to the environment. Due to such human activity, we are ruining this beautiful place called Earth, that has been created for us. We must realize what we are doing, and stop before it is too late! What is your take on our treatment of the environment?

- Felicinda J.

Useful Links

'What I learnt in Geography this week.....'

     While researching about sampling methods for our Fieldwork, Sophie and I came across a blog created by Vicki The Geography Student. The blog was titled 'What I learnt in Geography this week.....' and talks about everything form population growth to glaciers and tornadoes. She discusses any geographical news that interests her as well as what she learns from her teacher. Nowadays, she has graduated from high school and started a new blog about her experiences at university called 'What I learnt in Physical Geography and Oceanography this week.....'! I found a ton of information that would be useful for our first unit on Populations in Transition and our second, Disparities and Change.

You are formally encouraged to click on the following link:
http://geography-student.blogspot.com

- Giselle D.

SL Chemistry

IA - Internal Assessment 

Hey Everybody!

     In SL Chemistry, we have to complete an IA Internal Assessment. Essentially, this is a lab report that you organize and carry out yourself. This includes forming a question and procedure, gathering data, and presenting your information in the correct format. Make sure that you like what subject you pick! Also, keep in mind that you have to have a personal reason for your choice (you will include why you chose that subject in your introduction). You may want to link your research to your community, travels, experiences, or concerns.

     In every assessment, it is imperative to know what you will be graded on. In this particular internal assessment, we will be assessed on the following criteria:

The criteria for the SL Chemistry IA Internal Assessment

Hope this helps!!

- Giselle D.

SL Math

Formula Booklets

     Hello everyone!

     I hope you all are having a great break and spending it well and surrounded by your friends and family.

     Math has never been simple for me, but the way SL math is organized and taught, it's pretty straightforward. It is what it is. We learn what we learn and then take tests on the skills. Since SL math is a 2 year course, it is highly important that we learn well and remember everything we are taught. Therefore, in order for us to make sure we're understanding everything, we take a daily quiz on the lesson that was previously studied. At the end of each chapter, we take a chapter test. Seeing our mistakes allows us to know what we need to work on. Since math is made up of a lot of memorizing and new skills, we are given a formula booklet. This is also known as your math bible! It's a small little booklet filled with all the formulas your need to know for the final exam. As you can imagine, it is highly important to not lose it and to actually know how to use all the formulas. It's one thing knowing what they are and another knowing how to use them. This booklet will not help you if you don't know how to use the formulas. This is the tricky part. The formulas included in the booklet are the ones you might not remember. Therefore, not all of them are on there. The good news is that we can write whatever formula we need in our bible. You might wonder "what's the catch"?! Well the catch is that even though we are allowed to write in our booklet on the day of the exam we are given a new and clear bible. Yes I know, this is very sad. This teaches us that even though we have a formula booklet we kinda still have to actually know them. I wish everyone the best of luck in math and DP. We can get through this!

- Melissa S.

SL Geography

     Human Geography 

Hey guys!

     Currently we are all on a break for Christmas. Over the break, we were told to read a book that our lovely teacher, Ms. Andrea, gave us for our standard level Geography class. It's called "Qualitative Research Methods in Human Geography". It's an interesting book, although very much to read - so much. To clarify, we really don't have to read to whole book. "Qualitative Research Methods in Human Geography" is the third edition by Iain Hay. This book gives in-depth guidance on how to conduct qualitative research in human geography. As read on the back of the book, it gives the most "up-to-date information from some of the most authoritative voices in the discipline, this thoroughly revised new edition is a practical guide to planning, interpreting, and effectively communicating qualitative research in human geography. Covering an extensive range of established and leading-edge methods, this is an ideal introduction to qualitative research methods for students of human geography."

      To answer any odd questions, Iain Hay is a Professor of Human Geography and ALTC Discipline Scholar for the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities, School of the Environment, Flinders University, Australia. Yes, this book is certainly long. To clarify again, the purpose of us reading this long book, is to learn as to how we need to conduct our field work over the summer and what we need to possibly do for it to be "good". Over the summer, before we become Seniors, we must conduct field work pertaining to what we've learned in the class. We get to choose from a variety of topics because, by that time, we would have gone over many things. For example, a topic pertaining to world inequality. This could include research as to how urban and non-urban schools and kids 'are'. Of course, there is more to add on to that, but I don't want to give anyone any ideas. Although, being that we're a class of five girls, we plan to possibly conduct out summer field work together - just to make it more simple. Think of our summer field work as a Biology lab report, just more extensive; we conduct an experiment and make a lab report at the end for the instructor to grade. Well that's our break: reading a book.

- Felicinda J. 

Useful Links

phet.colorado.edu

Interactive Online Experiments 

Hi guys!

     In SL Chemistry, students have to complete a minimum number of hours for labs. If you are studying about a certain topic and you don't have the materials to complete a certain lab, this can become a problem. Our teacher contacted teachers all around the world, asking them how to solve this problem. She found that it is acceptable to complete labs online via simulations. The website that was suggested was http://phet.colorado.edu. This website is full of possible labs concerning everything from physics to biology to quantum chemistry. Since we just finished a unit about polarity, we completed the online lab called "Molecule Polarity." After this, we still had to write a lab report though!

Just some of the simulations available to students!

- Giselle D.

SL Math

Transformations of Graphs

Hi Everyone!

     I hope December is treating you well so far. In our SL Math course at the moment, we have reached Chapter 5: Transformations of Graphs. So far we have breezed through this chapter. but this does not mean that is was particularly easy. The hardest part about this chapter was identifying all of the different rules in relation to transforming graphs and applying them correctly to each question. The book that we study from has its fair share of good teaching styles and bad ones. Therefore, the 3 of us tend to refer to our teacher, Ms. Crystal, as well as the back of each chapter for some key points that we have to remember. Here is a little snippet of the back of Chapter 5:

   One last rule that we have been told to remember is to follow H.S.R.V. H stands for Horizontal, S stands for Stretch/Shrink, R stands for Reflection, and V stands for Vertical. This is the order in which you should always transform your graph, otherwise it will come out wrong. If you need help making sense of the rules in the picture above, or the H.S.R.V rule, do not hesitate to ask in the comments!

- Sophie F.

Useful Links

     WebMATH.com

     Whilst at home, I was struggling with turning a fraction into a decimal by hand without the use of a calculator. I've done it before; it's just that I forgot how because it's been a while. I'm trying to refresh my memory on how to solve certain things without the use of a calculator because in Math SL, we're not allowed to use a calculator on Paper 1. Therefore, learning how to do things by hand without the use of a calculator is a necessity. So I turned to Google for help on how to turn a faction into a decimal. I come across this website name WebMATH and it showed me the steps on how to turn a fraction into a decimal.

     This website was a closest I could get to a good teacher being that I wasn't at school to ask my math teacher for help. Discovery Education gives opportunities for students to learn digitally. WebMATH is a website that helps you with the math work of your choice and it generates specific mathematical questions, problems entered by the user at any given time and valid answers with step guidance as to how to perceive the problem.

Here's the website:

http://www.webmath.com

- Felicinda J.