Subject Entries  (Week ending 13.09.19)

Group 1

Language & Literature This week in Language and Literature we learnt to analyze two text types – advertisements and blogs. As a starter activity we reflected on the nature of beauty – particularly physical beauty concluding that beauty is a social construct. (There is no single objective definition of beauty. Rather what is perceived as beautiful varies from culture to culture and is dictated by society.)  We discussed how mainstream media can often force a single definition of beauty on people- hurting self esteem. We proceeded to deconstruct Dove’s 2019 advertising campaign that aims to present a version of female beauty that is inclusive of all women through the use of the Big 5 – speaker, audience, purpose, tone and mood.    We identified the structural and stylistic conventions the Dove campaign had in common with other campaigns conducted through social media. Additionally, we talked how corporations almost always have a hidden profit motive driving their campaign. Upon finishing the analysis of the campaign. We studied the structural and stylistic conventions commonly found in blogs and discussed how blog writers conform to or deviate from them.   Aranyani Swami DP 1A

Group 2

French SL:   In French, we began with a discussion on relationship and generation gap between parents and children. We understood the existence of conflicts in Francophone families by reading multiple passages. In extension to the perspectives we also discussed the types of families, such as recomposed, divorced and families with same-sex parents. To understand the concepts better, we discussed the various pointers together as a group. Now, we are moving on to the next subtopic which deals with professions and jobs.   Ishaan Mohan Gupta DP 1B

French Ab Initio:   In French, we have begun with the theme ‘Identities’. In this we have learnt about French speaking people and countries (Francophone) through the help of interactive videos. We then learnt basic salutations and greetings. Towards the end of the week, we learnt how to present ourselves to different people, as well as different questions that can be asked in a simple conversation. Lastly we also learnt the different definite and indefinite articles that are used in French. Abhinav Gupta DP 1B

Spanish SL:    In the past week, we mainly focused on preparing for Spanish FAs on the topic of ‘identidades’. As a culmination of the content that was learned, the FAs test listening and reading skills, both of which are critical elements of the final assessments. Additionally, we practiced vocabulary related to the unit from parts of the human body to expressions of personal opinion.   Rashed DP 1B

Spanish Ab Initio:   We learnt more about families, especially the royal family of Spain This allowed us greater insight into the Spanish culture. We also learnt how to express our likes and dislikes. The most interesting learning experience we had was the listening exercise. It allowed us to understand the pronunciation of the Spanish words as well as test our comprehension skills. It trained our ears to understand certain sounds not present in our other languages.   Anish Jayesh Bhave DP 1A

German Ab Initio:   In German we had a formative on adjective endings. Following which we discussed ‘Our House’ and the vocabulary for various rooms. We then had a card sorting activity where we learned the names of furniture in each room. We had a formative on all the topics we had done till then. We also did the dative case.   Kushaagra Kapoor DP 1B

Hindi:   The past week in we continued our discussion on social organization. We brainstormed further reasons for these social issues and improved our collaborative skills. We began with a discussion on social issues and how have they impacted us. We then started reading our assigned book and completed worksheets. The articles we read in the book also talked about social relations and how they have changed as time has passed by.   Rishav Haldar DP 1A and Kunal Rathi DP 1A

Group 3

History: Students moved further in the Unit – Road to War and studied the Marco Polo Bridge incident that triggered the Second Sino Japanese War. The students researched the atrocities committed by Japanese troops in China, in particular the Rape of Nanjing.   Aryan Shrivastava and Aranyani Swami   DP 1A

Business Management:   In the past week we wrapped up the first sub-unit by taking a formative. We were then given a task where we had to understand and differentiate between the types of organizations. We were also introduced to the section C of the paper 2 where our teacher asked us to choose any three organizations/companies of our choice and to continue the research throughout the entire course of two years of DP; we must include how the 6 concepts that underpin the course of business management would have an effect on these organizations in different situations and analyze them.    Aditi Singh DP 1A

Economics:   In Economics we took our fundamental knowledge and applied it to real-life scenarios and concepts through essay-style questions. We combined knowledge of the law of diminishing marginal utility, income effect and the non-price determinants of demand, to explain why the demand curve slopes downwards. It was very satisfying to apply the different concepts and understand how producers and consumers behave in a certain situation. Using different scenarios, we understood that the non-price determinants caused a shift in the demand curve and not a movement, which is seen when the price varies.   Samarth Chopra DP 1B

Psychology:   This week in Psychology, we covered a significant amount of content from the biological approach to behavior. While working in continuance to last week’s lessons, we studied in conjunction from the textbook and were introduced to neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine and their associated links to behavior. We also understood biological specificities, such as agonists/antagonists and excitatory/inhibitory neurotransmitters. We discussed and analyzed research studies linking biological markers to behavior. We also understood the rubrics and criteria for writing long answers in Paper 1.   Aryamoy Mitra DP 1A

Global Politics:    Last week in global politics, we recently finished the topic of Power and we took an FA in which we wrote an essay on multilateral and unilateral dimensions of power while evaluating it in terms of international relations. We also learnt about how to measure power and what are the ways in which we do it. We discussed the role of the state and how came into being, we regulated our views on this topic, we also discussed about nation and nation state; its meaning and how the term is used in global politics.   Tanmya Prasad DP 1A

Group 4

Chemistry:   In Chemistry, we recently started a new sub-topic which dealt with gas laws as well as ideal and real gas behavior. We learned about the different gas laws that define how a real gas behaves ideally in certain fixed conditions. We further understood the topic by doing various questions about the same. The formative assessment conducted last week was discussed and we were given an extensive sheet of IB style questions which includes MCQ’s and long answer questions as homework assessment which also helped us to prepare for our summative assessment. We have started exploring various concentration terms used for solutions and look forward for honing our analytical skills through a practical activity on the concept planned for next week   Tashvi Anand DP 1A and Abhinav Gupta DP 1B

Biology:   We explored the subunit 2.7 and learned the working of Polymerase Chain Reaction through virtual lab. This included a simulation of the process and an in-depth explanation of the process with interactive elements. It allowed us to better understand PCR as well as introduced us to the virtual lab tool. We revised the content taught till now with the help of a worksheet which was designed on the actual style of the exams. It included various types of questions such as MCQs, data response question and long answer questions. This helped us prepare for our upcoming assessments. It refreshed our knowledge and helped us realise our strengths and weaknesses. We also began working on our FA-2 where we have to present the various subunits such as Replication of DNA, carbohydrates and lipids thus demonstrating our understanding, innovation and creativity.   Anish Jayesh Bhave DP 1A

Physics:   We were given multiple practice sheets to prepare for our summative assessment. During the length of the week before the summative, we moved on to our second unit, Mechanics. Topics such as projectile motion and freefall have been covered in class. We also conducted an investigation to calculate gravitational acceleration which took the previous unit’s learning such as uncertainties and measurements into account.   Mann Aswal  DP 1B

Computer Science:   We started Unit 1: System Fundamentals, where we explored the problems faced by organizations when they shift from manual to automated systems or from one automated system to another, following which we explored the different problems faced by end users when using the new system. Furthermore, we started planning for a cyber etiquette and cyber safety session for MYP 2 where we will sensitise them about digital footprint, school IT usage policy and cyber bullying.   Aryan Anand DP 1B

ESS:   We had our first formative in ESS this week. We were given a case study to analyse and answer related questions. We viewed video and researched about the Chernobyl case, Minamata case and Bhopal Gas Tragedy during class and analysed the case study by researching about the country, causative agent, result, outcome and solutions. We were also given some research questions as a home assignment.   Aaditya Taneja  DP 1A

Group 5

Mathematics AI (HL):    In our class, we started off practicing powers of complex numbers. Thereafter, we solved various types of questions involving the same. This was followed by a thorough worksheet on the weekend which put light on all aspects of complex numbers that we had covered till now. We concluded the study of complex numbers with a formative assessment and began the study of functions. We started off with the basics; what is a function, types of functions and how to identify different types of functions.    Dhruv Garg DP 1A

Mathematics AI (SL):   Previously in our class, we started the new topic of Functions: identification and types. We practiced questions regarding linear functions which are one of the types of functions, We also learnt how to solve questions of these linear equations using various methods manually as well as on the graphics calculator.   Tanmaya Prasad DP 1A

Mathematics AA (SL/HL):   We started this week with exponential equations and learnt the laws of exponents to solve different types of exponential equations. Furthermore, after understanding the laws of exponents, we learnt the binomial theorem including Pascal’s Triangle, expansion, binomial coefficient and the general term. We practiced applications of binomial expansion using Pascal’s Triangle. We also learnt to find the binomial coefficient of any expansion. We understood the rules of logarithms, and learnt to simplify expressions including exponents and logarithms.   In HL Math, we understood the meaning of complex numbers and learnt to write the same in standard form. We solved quadratic equations with complex numbers as roots of the equation.   Aryan Choudhary DP 1B

Group 6

Theatre:   The past two weeks we have been studying exemplars of play text works and samples of Director’s Notebooks available online. This has further helped us understand the magnitude of work we need to put in and also gave us clarity on the format in which we need to collate our work. We are watching the plays online, along with reading them from their respective books, which shows us how the director has converted a text into a motion picture and what elements have they used to give justice to the original story.   Ananya Pandalai DP 1B

Visual Art:   We have begun our unit with creative composition drawing and illustration painting. We have tried to understand the different types of drawing and illustration techniques used in different paintings to create visual language. We have been studying formal analysis by the several elements of art and design such as line, colour, texture, form, value, space and shape. We used this study and chose artists we were inspired by, and then identified how they manipulated these elements to create a strong narrative. Based on our research, we have started making the layout for our practical work. We are also working out on the mediums that we will use for our practical work along with making mind maps based on the research.   Keerat Singh Shah DP 1B

Core

CAS:   Last week we had a special session by a representative from the water conversation organization, and she opened our eyes by stating facts and details about how we are wasting and polluting our own water and how we are polluting the only source of water in Delhi which is the Yamuna river. Cleaning Yamuna will be the first school-led project for us that will we plan further on.   Ishaan Mohan Gupta DP 1B and Tanmay Sehgal DP 1A

TOK    In TOK, we started learning the main constituents of Theory of Knowledge. The first one was skepticism. To understand the concept, we watched two videos. After understanding the concept, we completed the task in which we wrote about the certainty of 2 knowledge claims. The next concept we learnt was RLS or real-life situations. To learn about RLS we wrote out a few examples of RLS from the subjects we learn. The last topic for this fortnight is knowledge questions, which we are currently exploring.    Ishaan Mohan Gupta DP 1B