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Skills

Tools 1–3, the inquiry process, the data booklet, Internal Assessment guidance, the official command terms reference, and the quantitative calculation chain.

The framework: concepts, skills and inquiry

The IB Chemistry guide is built on two organising concepts — Structure and Reactivity — with the unifying statement “Structure determines reactivity, which in turn transforms structure.”

Editorial The guide does not define a larger set of unifying concepts. It has two organising concepts, plus Nature of Science as the overarching theme, plus Tools 1–3 and Inquiry 1–3 as cross-cutting strands. This page implements that structure faithfully.

Nature of Science — 11 aspects

Nature of Science (NOS) is the single overarching theme of the course, elaborated as eleven aspects:

  1. Observations
  2. Patterns and trends
  3. Hypotheses
  4. Experiments
  5. Measurement
  6. Models
  7. Evidence
  8. Theories
  9. Falsification
  10. Science as a shared endeavour
  11. Global impact of science

Cross-cutting skills strands

Rather than being taught as stand-alone topics, these skills are integrated into the teaching of the syllabus when they are relevant to the syllabus topics being covered. They can be assessed through internal and external assessment.

  • Tools 1–3: Experimental techniques, Technology, Mathematics.
  • Inquiry 1–3: Exploring and designing, Collecting and processing data, Concluding and evaluating.

Destinations

Official IB linking questions targeting Nature of Science

Editorial These are the IB’s own linking questions from the syllabus, transcribed verbatim. They connect sub-topic statements to this cross-cutting strand. The wording is the IB’s, not ours. The decision to surface them here is our editorial judgement — the IB does not prescribe where these questions should appear; we have chosen to display them because they connect this strand to the sub-topic content.

  • Structure 2.2.1 — What are some of the limitations of the octet rule?

    → Nature of Science

  • Structure 2.2.4 — How useful is the VSEPR model at predicting molecular geometry?

    → Nature of Science

  • Structure 2.2.8 — How can advances in technology lead to changes in scientific definitions, e.g. the updated IUPAC definition of the hydrogen bond?

    → Nature of Science

  • Structure 3.2.3 — How useful are 3D models (real or virtual) to visualize the invisible?

    → Nature of Science

  • Reactivity 2.2.3 — How can graphs provide evidence of systematic and random error?

    → Nature of Science

  • Reactivity 2.2.10 — Why are reaction mechanisms only considered as "possible mechanisms"?

    → Nature of Science

  • Reactivity 3.1.4 — When are digital sensors (e.g. pH probes) more suitable than analogue methods (e.g. pH paper/solution)?

    → Nature of Science

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