Reply To: FOSIL and the IB Diploma Programme Extended Essay (EE)

[Darryl Toerien Keymaster]

Hello, Susan, and welcome. The requirement to start with the research question was internal, but I seem to recall that the previous EE specification contributed to this expectation, if it didn’t actually create it. Even though we have realigned our EE timetable to more accurately reflect our growing understanding of the inquiry process (see E&L Memo 0 | Developing inquiring minds: a journey from information through knowledge to understanding), we still have some way to go in helping all supervisors to fully understand and effectively support this process, which is, as you suggest, the difference between finding information to answer a question (that may not even be your own) to discovering for yourself  a question is that worth the effort of answering. I’d certainly be curious to hear more about your supervisor training and/or support.