IA ideas · for IB ESS students
Maths IA ideas for environmental systems and societies students
ESS is about systems: populations that grow and level off, pollutants that build up and flush out, carbon that accumulates in the atmosphere, habitats that shrink. Those systems are described by exponential, logistic and differential-equation models, by matrices and by statistics, and many have excellent public data.
The ideas below suit an ESS student who wants a Maths IA with real environmental data. Ask a mathematical question, not an opinion question, and be honest about the uncertainty of any prediction.
Accessible (4)
Solid (9)
- Modelling the Keeling curve: trend plus seasonsAA SLAA HLAI SLAI HLSolid
- When might the Arctic be nearly ice-free in September?AA SLAA HLAI SLAI HLSolid
- Is solar power growing logistically?AA SLAA HLAI SLAI HLSolid
- How long would a lake take to flush out a pollutant?AA HLAI HLSolid
- Exponential or logistic? Modelling my country's populationAA SLAA HLAI SLAI HLSolid
- Counting a hidden population: capture–recapture at schoolAI SLAA SLAI HLAA HLSolid
- Does rain today predict rain tomorrow? A Markov chain for the weatherAI HLAA HLSolid
- What is the best tilt for a solar panel at my home?AA SLAI SLAA HLAI HLSolid
- How fractal is a fern? Box-counting dimension from photographsAI SLAA SLAI HLAA HLSolid
Ambitious (3)
More in this area: all environment & climate IA ideas · matrices, transformations & markov chains · survey-based investigations · fractals & chaos. Thinking of using the same topic or data as another IA? Check your school's policy and ask both teachers first.
Frequently asked questions
What maths IA topics suit ESS?
Population models (logistic, Leslie matrices, predator–prey), pollution and carbon models (exponential decay, differential equations), climate trends (regression, sinusoidal seasonal models) and sampling methods such as capture–recapture.
Can my Maths IA and ESS IA be on the same topic?
Check your school's policy and ask both teachers. Even where it is allowed, they must be separate pieces of work with different questions and analysis.
Where can I find environmental data?
NOAA, NASA, NSIDC, Global Forest Watch, Ember and Our World in Data all publish free downloadable data; each idea page links the sources it uses.
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