IB - External Assessment 1 - Comparative Study Info

IB External Assessment Task #1
Part 1: Comparative study
Weighting: 20%
EXAMPLES FROM IB: 1, 2, 3

Students are required to analyse and compare artworks, objects or artifacts by different artists. This independent critical and contextual investigation should explore artworks, objects and artifacts from differing cultural contexts.

Throughout the course, students will have investigated a range of artists, styles, images and objects from a range of cultural contexts, through an integrated approach to exploring the three syllabus areas: visual arts in context, visual arts methods and communicating visual arts. Students select artworks, objects and artifacts for comparison from differing cultural contexts that may have been produced across any of the art-making forms, and that hold individual resonance for the student and have relevance to their own art-making practice. This is of particular importance to HL students.

Students at both SL and HL must examine and compare at least three pieces, at least two of which should be by different artists. It is valuable for students to have experienced at least one of the works in real time and space, such as a painting at a gallery, a sculpture in a park or an artifact from the local community that is brought into the school, although this is not essential. Good quality reproductions can be referred to when a student’s location limits their access to such works first hand. The works selected for comparison and analysis should come from contrasting cultural contexts.

Students use research and inquiry skills to investigate and interpret the selected pieces, applying aspects of critical theory and methodologies to the works examined and presenting their findings as a personal and critically reflective analysis, using both visual and written forms of notation. Students must support their interpretation with references to sound and reliable sources. A recognized system of academic referencing must be used in line with the school’s academic honesty policy. A candidate’s failure to acknowledge a source will be investigated by the IB as a potential breach of regulations that may result in a penalty imposed by the IB final award committee.

Students then undertake the process outlined below for assessment.

Task details

Students at both SL and HL must select at least three artworks, objects or artifacts, at least two of which should be by different artists. For each of the selected pieces, students should:

1. carry out research from a range of different sources
2. analyse the cultural contexts in which the selected pieces were created
3. identify the formal qualities of the selected pieces
4. interpret the function and purpose of the selected pieces
5. evaluate the material, conceptual and cultural significance of the selected pieces to the cultural contexts within which they were created.

Students at both SL and HL should then:

1. compare the selected pieces, identifying links in cultural context, formal qualities, function, purpose, material, conceptual and cultural significance
2. present a list of sources used during the study.

Students at HL should also reflect on the investigation outcomes and the extent to which their own art-making practices and pieces have subsequently been influenced by artworks, objects or artifacts examined in the comparative study.
The role of the teacher
 

Teachers must ensure that their students are appropriately prepared for the demands of this task through the careful planning and delivery of the core syllabus activities outlined above. This assessment task must not be teacher led and students should be made fully aware of the assessment criteria against which their work will be judged.

The teacher should discuss the choice of selected artworks, objects and artifacts with each student. It is important that the selected pieces are the student’s own choice. Teachers should also ensure that the students are acknowledging all sources used and referencing them appropriately.

Teachers should read and give advice to students on one draft of the comparative study. The teacher should provide oral or written advice on how the comparative study could be improved, but should not edit the draft. The next version handed to the teacher must be the final version for submission.

 Structuring the comparative study
 

Students should articulate their understanding through both visual and written forms, depending on the most appropriate means of presenting and communicating their findings. While the comparative study may include text-based analysis, it may also include diagrammatic and graphic elements such as annotated sketches and diagrams, annotations on copies of artworks as well as other visual organizing techniques (such as flowcharts, relative importance graphs, concept webs and Mind Maps®). An introduction to the study should summarize the scope of the investigation from which the focus artworks, objects and artifacts have been selected. Students should aim for a balance of visual and written content, and use an appropriate means of acknowledging sources. Students must ensure that their work makes effective use of subject-specific language where appropriate.

For each of the selected artworks, objects or artifacts, students at both SL and HL are encouraged to focus their analysis and interpretation of works through consideration of the role of the artist, the artwork, the audience and the cultural context. The scope and scale of the comparative study task will depend largely on the materials selected for investigation. Students may wish, however, to adapt the following structure to suit their needs. This structure is for guidance only and is neither prescriptive nor restrictive.

 Formal requirements of the task—HL
 

1. HL students submit 10–15 screens which examine and compare at least three artworks, objects or artifacts, at least two of which need to be by different artists. The works selected for comparison and analysis should come from differing cultural contexts.
2. HL students submit 3–5 screens which analyse the extent to which their work and practices have been influenced by the art and artists examined.
3. HL students submit a list of sources used.

Submitting assessment work
 

The size and format of screens submitted for assessment is not prescribed. Submitted materials are assessed on screen and students must ensure that their work is clear and legible when presented in a digital, on-screen format. Students should not scan multiple pages of work from their journals and submit them as a single screen, for example, as overcrowded or illegible materials may result in examiners being unable to interpret and understand the intentions of the work.

 The procedure for submitting work for assessment can be found in the Handbook of procedures for the Diploma Programme. Students are required to indicate the number of screens included when the materials are submitted. Where submitted materials exceed the prescribed screen limits examiners are instructed to base their assessment solely on the materials that appear within the limits.