User talk:CinchBug/Archive 1

Welcome

Welcome here, and thanks for bringing the error on triangle inequality to our attention. I hope you enjoy this place. Cheers, Jitse Niesen (talk) 22:40, 12 July 2008 (UTC)

re: Request Advice

You pick your moments! ...but thanks for the nice words ;-) I think Ewen may be offline at the moment, and Truthkeeper88 is as frazzled as I am, so I'll volunteer.

Give me a second or two and I'll look over your recent edits, and get back to you.

Cheers, TFOWR^{This flag once was red} 15:52, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

Ah, got it. That looks fine. I understand the concern about "ibid", but since there's only one source at present I don't think that's a problem just yet. If you want a more robust method, Wikipedia:Citing sources/Further considerations#Filling in ref field of cite-xxx templates shows one possible approach: it has two sections, 1 for footnotes and another bibliography, and cross-references between the two sections (I'm not explaining this well, but basically instead of using "Ibid" to reference the document your footnotes would then be references to the document (in the bibliography)).

Blimey, I must be frazzled - I can't make head nor tail of what I've just written! Take a look at the link instead, and ping me if that isn't clear.

Cheers, TFOWR^{This flag once was red} 16:01, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

IB Diploma Programme

I suspect I know that answer already (and can guess why!), but would you consider dropping by IB Diploma Programme periodically? The article could certainly do with editors who have familiarity with Wikipedia outside the one article, and not just an axe to grind. I'll understand completely if you're reluctant, but if you could it would be great.

Cheers, TFOWR^{This flag once was red} 14:14, 2 July 2009 (UTC)

Sure, no problem! Given the fairly hostile atmosphere at that article recently, I'd elected to steer clear of it for a bit. But since you posted at the admin noticeboard, things seem to have calmed down greatly. The trout-slapping seems to have been effective!

In the interest of full disclosure, I should point out that I am a teacher in the IB Diploma Programme (which may have already been obvious), though I have no reason to believe that this should improperly cloud my judgment with regards to editing the article. I feel like I've kept my edits to the IB_Group_5_subjects as objective as possible. Also, I really have very little editing experience outside of the IB_Group_5_subjects article. But, given that it doesn't seem to get a lot of editing traffic, I have been able to "cut my teeth" a bit on that article, so I think I have a pretty good grasp of most of the basic stuff.

Anyway, I'm certainly willing to drop by and see if I can be useful on IB_Diploma_Programme. Regards, CinchBug | Talk 14:41, 2 July 2009 (UTC)

I figured you might be - I checked your contributions and they all seemed to be to Maths and Science articles! So long as you disclose your involvement - and don't try to push an agenda - I don't see there being a problem. Your Wikipedia-skill and diplomacy are really what's needed - you can clearly ask for advice and produce good work. Cheers, TFOWR^{This flag once was red} 14:43, 2 July 2009 (UTC)

Sure, I think I can do that! And thanks again for the compliments. I'll go introduce myself on Talk:IB_Diploma_Programme. Regards, CinchBug | Talk 14:49, 2 July 2009 (UTC)

Working from the bottom to the top in IB DP

Hi. Just wanted you to know that I'm (slowly!) working my way from the bottom of the article to the top. Have only finished the cost section. So no worries about stepping on my toes. Thanks so much for the help and new voice. Truthkeeper88 (talk) 00:07, 3 July 2009 (UTC)

TK, okay, sounds good. And I'm happy to help! (Hopefully my contributions will end up being worthwhile...) I'm pretty much done for today, but I'll see you tomorrow. I'll stick to stuff at the top when I come back. Regards, CinchBug | Talk 01:42, 3 July 2009 (UTC)

I've had enough for today as well. I got through the entire article and reformatted many of the refs. Some will have to be evaluated and deleted. 02:25, 3 July 2009 (UTC)

The entire article? Dear God, that must have been a chore!! Compared to you, I'm definitely a slacker. I hope it was all fun! See you in the (my) a.m. Best regards, CinchBug | Talk 02:54, 3 July 2009 (UTC)

Actually I've only triaged the article. Left any sources formatted as is in sections that may be rearranged/collapsed such as the separate countries. Somebody had already fixed the sources beginning from the top, and some I've left as is because the validity still needs evaluation. So, not such a big deal. Again, thanks for jumping in. Truthkeeper88 (talk) 15:31, 3 July 2009 (UTC)

Adding to message above: today I'll read and evaluate Uncle G's sources, and will stay away from the article itself. Just so you know & have no worries about toe stepping. Truthkeeper88 (talk) 15:34, 3 July 2009 (UTC)

Oh, I see. And no problem wrt toe-stepping. If you get a chance, let me know what you think of the "Subject groups and coursework" section, since I've finished all the edits I intended to make. Thanks, CinchBug | Talk 15:37, 3 July 2009 (UTC)

Sorry for the delay in replying. As you can tell I'm lost in finding the sources as I don't have an extensive library close. Yes, I like the additions to the section. I did have a question about the maths: isn't there a course called AMT (Advanced Math/s Topics) or is that the HL course (obviously I'm getting confused with information overload!) Truthkeeper88 (talk) 20:33, 3 July 2009 (UTC)

No problem at all. And thanks for the feedback! There isn't an AMT course in IB (though there may be in some other program). You're either thinking of Math HL or Further Math SL (which will be renamed Further Math HL in a couple of years, following the conclusion of the current curriculum review cycle). The combination of Math HL and Further Math SL is the most advanced mathematics course offering in the IB DP. The Further Math SL course is really an introduction to several undergraduate-level mathematics courses that are typically required for math majors and, in some cases, a few other math-heavy science or technical majors.

As far as the research goes, are you by any chance taking any classes, like for a graduate degree or anything? If so, you may have remote access to the university's electronic library of journals and so forth. I'm currently working on a graduate degree, but I didn't realize that I had that access until my little brother (who is a mathematical biologist at a university) showed me how to access that stuff. Their electronic library must contain thousands of journals, totally amazing!

Hope that might help! Regards, CinchBug | Talk 20:45, 3 July 2009 (UTC)

Perhaps differenct schools have different titles, thus my confusion. This school mentions "Advanced Math topics" which I pulled up with a quick search using Advanced Math Topics IB, and I remember reading about it at some point during the past week. Anyway, disregard, as it's not important. Truthkeeper88 (talk) 21:26, 3 July 2009 (UTC)

Ah, I see what you're talking about. In some cases, especially with the math courses, a school might list a course in its catalog using an "in-house" name, which is what these folks have done. What they're trying to do is split up all the material from the courses to provide some flexibility as to how a student can meet the curriculum requirements.

When I went to training a while back, one of the presenters told us about how they did this at her school. It went basically like this: in their junior year, both SL and HL students took something the school called "IB Pre-Calculus," which covered just the pre-calculus material common to both Math SL and HL. Then, in their senior year, both SL and HL students took a course the school called "IB Calculus." This covered only the calculus topics from SL and some additional topics necessary to prepare the students take the AP Calculus AB exam, if they wanted to. The HL students also took a second math course their senior year, which they called "IB Math HL." This fleshed out the rest of the topics from HL that weren't in the other two courses, so that the HL students would be prepared for both the IB Math HL exam and the AP Calculus BC exam.

In my experience, something like this occurs in many schools, since the vagaries of the IB curricula don't necessary always neatly fit with the local/state/national curricula. But the IB curricula are flexible enough so as to be organized into whatever an individual school needs them to be. They just have to be sure to cover all the required material so that the kids are prepared for the exams!

Hopefully that makes sense? Regards, CinchBug | Talk 22:31, 3 July 2009 (UTC)

Feel free to edit as you see fit! I haven't begun any editing on group 2 and probably won't until after July 8th. I just pop in every so often and do some quick proof reading (do they still call it that?!) I won't have big chunks of time to do some creative editing for a few days. La mome (talk) 22:44, 3 July 2009 (UTC)

I don't know if the elusive "they" still call it that, but I sure do! Okay, sounds good. I need to get some dinner and am almost done here for the day, but I'll probably do some small stuff before I check out. Thanks, CinchBug | Talk 22:47, 3 July 2009 (UTC)

IBDP "History" section and recent changes to IB Group 3 Subjects article

Hi Cinchbug,

Just wanted to let you know that I think you are doing a fine job on the Subjects section and I have absolutely no intention of tinkering with the editing in any way shape or form. That SHOULD be the section where IB Teachers provide the most input and where their expertise is most valued.

I would be interested in hearing a weigh-in from you on the History Section. I would like to see a complete re-write, but am just bouncing some ideas around on the talk page and have not composed anew or made any edits to the article as it stands. Please advise as to how to proceed. Thank you. ObserverNY (talk) 17:53, 5 July 2009 (UTC)ObserverNY

Hi, ObserverNY. Thanks for the compliments regarding the Subjects section on the IBDP page! I, too, think that IB teachers can make some good contributions to this section and also to the individual subject pages. Last week, I pretty much completely rearranged and rewrote the Group 5 (Math) subject page, with full citations (which were sorely lacking before). I'm hoping that people will agree with the general format of that page and that we can edit the other subject pages so that they're set up in a similar fashion.

I haven't looked at the IBDP page, its History section, nor the Talk:IBDP since yesterday, so I'll have to check it out and see what's been happening. In the meantime, I would suggest discussing it on the Talk:IBDP page with folks before making any changes.

Regards, CinchBug | Talk 14:56, 6 July 2009 (UTC)

Well, having read everything so far, I'm not sure how to weigh in. This is the trouble with history, in my opinion: it's very easy for a non-neutral POV to be introduced (either pro-topic/person or anti-topic/person), even when the writer doesn't actually intend to do so. Thus it is very hard to get an objective, NPOV account of the history of a given person, topic, organization, etc.

Thus I'm inclined not to contribute to this part of the article right now, though I'll continue to follow its progress.

(Edit: I moved my comments about the Group 3 article to that page, Talk:IB_Group_3_subjects.)

Regards, CinchBug | Talk 16:27, 6 July 2009 (UTC)

History of the Americas & Fordham report

Hi Cinchbug. I'm responding here to keep the discussion in one place. In my view the discussion the subject of History should take place on the relevant talk page. Once that gets going I'll chime in. Cheers. Truthkeeper88 (talk) 16:13, 7 July 2009 (UTC)

Sure, you're right, of course. I'll move the relevant part to the Group 3 Talk page. Thanks, CinchBug | Talk 16:33, 7 July 2009 (UTC)

Islamic History

Please see my comment on the Section 3 page. Thanks ObserverNY (talk) 18:14, 9 July 2009 (UTC)ObserverNY

Thanks for the heads-up. I responded on that page. Regards, CinchBug | Talk 19:48, 9 July 2009 (UTC)

IB Subject pages--group 2

So far so good Cinchbug! Merci beaucoup. I will try to follow the format of "curriculum" and "assessment" sub-headings. Not sure when I will have the time to get to it. Ciao for now! La mome (talk) 18:35, 9 July 2009 (UTC)

Hi CinchBug,

Thanks for checking in. When you get a chance, check out my sandbox. I have a draft of the Group 2-Language B section. I linked the IB Language Guide from the OCC and it actually worked, so I took it down, since that is a no-no. I wrote the page numbers from that guide. Do you have access to the OCC? If you do, or if you have access to the Language B guide, then maybe you can help me with the citations and references?

Thanks La mome (talk) 12:10, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

Hello again,

So now you can check out the Group 2 page and let me know what you think. Please feel free to make corrections, especially where references are concerned, since I am still not compfortable with that.

Merci! La mome (talk) 22:06, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

Bonjour, La mome! I think you're doing a good job on the Group 2 article and that it's coming along nicely! I'm going to make a few very small cosmetic changes and you can let me know what you think. Namely, instead of just indenting and bolding subsection titles (like "Curriculum"), I'll use three equal signs on either side of the word. That automatically puts the word in bold, gives the Table of Contents a subheading for "Curriculum," and also makes it an actual subsection that can be edited independently of the rest of the section.

The reference format generally looks okay, but I'll look up some info in the Help files and see if they need to be modified at all. Your format is a little different than what I've used, but the information is all there, so I suspect that it won't need to be changed.

Regards, CinchBug | Talk 14:08, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

Thanks CinchBug--I forgot about the section headings format--just learned it the other day. Maybe you could stroll over to the IB organisation page for a bit. Things are spiraling out of control again. I won't be back on any of the IB pages until much later today. Ciao for now! La mome (talk) 14:13, 15 July 2009 (UTC)