The compulsory Group 4 Project is a collaborative interdisciplinary activity which places an emphasis on the processes involved in scientific investigation, rather than the products of such an investigation.

As well as encouraging students to appreciate the environmental, social and ethical implications of science, the project forms one part of the candidates' practical experience, which also incorporates school-based lab work and is validated by the science department in the documentation they send to the IBO in the second year of the course.

In this year's G4 project, biology, chemistry and physics students worked together on a study of marine life and the environment. The goal of this project was to develop an understanding of, and an appreciation for, how the oceans (and the Earth) operate as an integrated system and how biological, geological, and physical processes determine the way it functions.