How to Integrate the Key Concepts into IB Business

When the new syllabus was released, I wasn’t sure how I was going to integrate the key concepts into the course so that students understood them and were also able to use them for analysis in the IA. In the old syllabus, they were asked in the CUEGIS/GECCIS, but this time it requires more thought to infuse the course with the concepts and relate them to businesses.

This has led me to put a slide in each chapter with the key concept, definition, relation to the topic and a question to have students have to research. This is what one of them looks like.

Example from 2.2 Organizational Structure

I require students to do a few things with their research to help prepare them for their IA:

1.     The story/event has to have been in the last 3 years (to follow the requirements for the IA)

2.     They need to save the web page or pages that they come from

3.     They need to write a small summary about how the business is applying the concept and the theory from the course together. It should be 3-4 sentences

As a teacher, you can approach this in many ways, but I ask students to keep a running log of the businesses they have researched. This exposes them to multiple businesses and recent news. In addition, it has them using different sources to find these connections from business websites, news media organizations, and even social media.

Example from 1.4 Stakeholders

Once students have done the research, I have them present the information in different ways. One way is to ask a selection of students share their example with the class and discuss it. Sometimes I ask students to share it with a partner and talk about the implications and relation to the business. One final way I have students work with this slide is to have them do a Key Concept Walk. Students prepare a slide or a summary in Word and students move from computer to computer reading about different businesses that relate to this concept. This gets students up and moving around while also seeing a variety of perspectives.

These slides have really helped my students prepare for the IA and stay current on what’s happening in the business world. What do you think of this idea? How do you integrate the concepts? Let me know in the comments below.