An extended essay café was organized for DP2 students on 26 October, 2020. The program offered an opportunity for students to present snapshots of their extended essay to a panel made up of supervisors, teachers, and students. Students were divided into groups based on the subject in which they are writing their extended essay. The panel provided feedback to students after each presentation. The program indeed was successful as indicated by reflections shared by some of the students.
STUDENTS’ REFLECTIONS
Though the preparation was quite cumbersome, the EE cafe was something that was much needed. This full-day long workshop gave us the platform to share my ideas with our peers and also to teachers who are experienced in the field that my EE was on: biology. I was posed with a lot of questions that made me think about how I was going to execute certain aspects of my EE like background information, literature review, methodology, as well as the analysis of data. It also gave me the chance to build the significance of my research and its benefits to science on a larger scale. I do not regret taking part in this workshop. I successfully made tweaks to my research question and got some tips on how to get more marks in the assessment criteria.
In addition, I also got the opportunity to work on my RPPF, which is very essential to Criterion E: Engagement. ~ Salma Roland
On Monday, 26 October, I had the opportunity to present my ITGS Extended Essay to my peers and a panel made of teachers in the subject area. This whole EE café has benefitted me because the panel which I presented to consisted of teachers who are knowledgeable and have immense experience in my area of research. They gave me excellent feedback on the snapshots of the essay I presented.
Without the feedback, I would have made major mistakes in the writing of my extended essay. The EE café, therefore, became a great learning experience for me. ~ Fawzaan Saani
This EE cafe has been a productive and helpful experience for me, as it has helped me to truly understand and build my EE topic better. By watching my peers present, and by listening to the feedback we all received from the panel, I now know which areas of my EE I have to work on to improve my score. ~Cheryl Kuma
The EE café has been an eye-opener for me. This sort of peer review presentation combined with reviews from a panel of teachers made it possible to get so much in terms of feedback in real-time. Aspects of my work that could be tweaked easily were altered and this has relieved me of some stress. I now know exactly what to do and not to do and I feel very confident in moving on to the next step of my exploration. ~Stacey Abbeo
Initially, I felt uneasy about my extended essay as well as the presentation, however, the EE café allowed me to describe my essay with its background to my peers and the panel of instructors. I received constructive criticism which will help me improve my existing work.
The feedback will also allow me to follow through on my action plans for my extended essay. I feel I am now a better inquirer and communicator because of this experience. ~ Ethan Pobee
I did a presentation on my extended essay during the EE café on Monday, 26 October 2020. Even though my research question was addressed, the feedback I received from the panel highlighted the fact that my research question was too general and not narrowed enough to reflect the specific issue. From this feedback, I am now able to formulate a clear and focused research question and develop it to direct the essay. ~Hamdia Ibrahim
For me, the extended essay cafe was very beneficial, simply because I was able to realise my weaknesses and the flaws in my essay. I was also given feedback on my presentation and was advised on how to improve my points and research question. ~ Alberta Addo
