THIS WILL BE UPDATED AUGUST 2008.
DON'T TRUST ANY DEADLINES ON THIS WEBPAGE
UNTIL THIS DISCLAIMER IS REMOVED
Overview |
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- Grades are based partly on how much you do (the more things you try, the better your grade will be) and partly how well you do them (the better your work is, the better your grade will be). See grades-sd5r.pdf and grades-sd6r.pdf for more information.
- Mandatory events are highlighted in yellow.
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Fall Semester (SD5R) |
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- Getting into a lab
- Assignment 1: Identify 5 branches of science that you are interested in.
- Provide a definition.
- Explain your interest.
- Find a recent events article on this topic from a popular science web site.
- Find a person in the NYC area working in this field.
- Assignment 2: Answer these three interview preparedness questions.
- Tell me about yourself.
- What are your strengths?
- What are your weaknesses?
- Assignment 3: Resumes
- Write your resume.
- Get it perfect.
- Assignment 4: Official documents.
- Signed permission slips are required before you can set foot in a lab.
- Signed release form so that we can publicize your endeavors on the department web site.
- Letter of reference (I will give you one if you think you may need one.)
- MetroCards (requires proof of lab assignment)
- Periodic progress checks
- Keep me up to date on your progress.
- Individual / small group meetings will be required on rare occasions this semester.
- Do not miss your appointments.
- Lab logs (due in the first week of the following month)
- August
- September
- October
- November
- December
- Reading scientific and technical papers
- Apply this summary technique to …
- Assignment 5: Watson and Crick's paper on the structure of DNA. (Go find it.)
- Assignment 6: Hubble's "Cosmic Expansion" paper. (I will give you a copy.)
- Assignment 7: a "classic" paper of your choice. (No duplicates allowed.)
- How to make nice looking, properly formatted documents
- Documents
- Microsoft Word
- margins
- headings
- body paragraphs
- justification
- inline and block quotes
- bullets
- tabs
- inline citations, footnotes and endnotes
- hyphens and dashes
- parentheses, square and angle brackets
- cover pages
- equations and formulae
- subscripts and superscripts
- headers and footers
- tables
- diagrams
- non-breaking spaces
- Adobe Illustrator (time permitting)
- regular shapes
- bezier curves
- layers
- gradients
- graphs
- Library research at Midwood High School and Brooklyn College
- Science Direct?
- J-Stor?
- What else did we do?
- Brooklyn College library cards
- Writing scientific and technical papers:
Assignment 9: DuPont Challenge (more info below)
- Identify a topic of interest
- Start by reading popular sources
- Initial research process
- Identify and record blurbs
- Thesis statement
- One sentence that says what this paper is about, but not "This paper is about …"
- Additional research
- Prepare to write
- Overview (classic term paper structure explained in class)
- Outline (select useful blurbs and assemble in logical order)
- Now start writing
- Change the outline into prose
- Citation of facts (mandatory)
- Direct quotes (use sparingly)
- First, second, third, fourth, etc. drafts
- The final draft
- Technically flawless
- Beautiful form
- Submit
- "Extra Credit"
- Participate in competitions or attend special events (more info below)
- Tell me what you intend to do.
- Provide evidence of progress or participation.
- Manage your time effectively (anticipate deadlines).
- Complete for full credit (meet deadlines).
- Attend a scientific lecture
- Clear the lecture with your supervising teacher
- Attend, listen, and take notes
- Retain your admission ticket (or other proof of attendance)
- Complete this assignment while the lecture is still fresh in your mind
- Bring the completed assignment to your supervising teacher with proof of attendance to your next one-on-one meeting. (Be prepared to answer additional questions.)
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Spring Semester (SD6R) |
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- Periodic progress checks
- Keep me up to date on your progress.
- Individual / small group meetings are the norm for this semester.
- February (minimum of 2)
- March (minimum of 3)
- April (minimum of 2)
- May (1 before your PowerPoint presentation)
- June (1 exit meeting, probably as a group)
- Do not miss your appointments.
- Lab logs (due in the first week of the following month)
- January
- February
- March
- April
- May
- Everybody visits NYCSEF on 3 February 2008
- Apply the 8 questions from the classic paper assignment to 5 boards at NYCSEF.
- No two students will review the same board.
- Spring Term Project I: Formal Research Paper
(practice for Siemens, Intel, NYCSEF, etc.)
- Phase 1: Introduction
- Begin by doing a literature review.
- textbooks recommended by your mentor
- journal articles recommended by you mentor
- journal article written by your mentor and others working in the same lab
- Present your findings in a logical sequence
- Start general. Define the important terms in your field.
- Get more specific. Eventually direct your writing towards your area of specialization.
- Include a bibliography
- Phase 2: Materials and Methods
- Describe the work that you are doing or the work that you hope to begin doing. Discuss data collection. Do not discuss analysis.
- Tell me all kinds of things about this work. It is better to write too much now and then trim it back later.
- Phase 3: Analysis
- Explain how to extract meaning from the observations you have made.
- You do not need to actually perform any analysis at this point.
- Phase 4: Conclusion and Discussion
- Make a conclusion based on the work you have done or state a possible conclusion if you are not done.
- What use is this knowledge you are generating?
- What further work could be done in this field?
- Speculate. For example …
- If we find A, then this means B has happened.
- If we find C, then this means we should have done D
- If we find E, then F is the reason
- Phase 5:
- Put all 4 parts together. Revise as necessary.
- Add a cover sheet with an abstract on top. The abstract should state the problem being examined, explain why this problem is of interest, and then end with a conclusion or a projected conclusion.
- Do not exceed 20 pages including the cover page and bibliography.
- Do a good job. Write well.
- Submit on or before Friday, 2 May 2008.
- Spring Term Project II: Formal Scientific Presentation
(practice for Siemens, Intel, NYCSEF, etc.)
[Temporary. The pdf should be incorporated into this outline.]
- Tell us in a PowerPoint presentation what you do in lab and what you hope to accomplish (see this pdf).
- Schedule yourself before I schedule you.
- Attend class when other students are presenting.
- Ask good questions.
- Midwood High School Science Symposium (more info below)
- Everybody judges the sophomores.
- "Extra Credit"
- Participate in competitions or attend special events (more info below)
- Tell me what you intend to do.
- Provide evidence of progress or participation.
- Manage your time effectively (anticipate deadlines).
- Complete for full credit (meet deadlines).
- Attend a scientific lecture
- Clear the lecture with your supervising teacher
- Attend, listen, and take notes
- Retain your admission ticket (or other proof of attendance)
- Complete this assignment while the lecture is still fresh in your mind
- Bring the completed assignment to your supervising teacher with proof of attendance to your next one-on-one meeting. (Be prepared to answer additional questions.)
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Summer Semester (Given the budget, all I can probably
do for you is get MetroCards) |
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- Periodic progress checks
- Meet with the summer school teacher supervising this class …
- Lab logs (due in the first week of the following month)
- June
- July
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Competitions and Events for the Entire Academic Year |
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Wednesday, January 28, 2008
DuPont Challenge |
- This competition is mandatory for juniors and optional for seniors
- Download and complete a copy of the application.
- Your essay must be an original manuscript exclusively for the DuPont Challenge
Science Essay Competition. Previously published articles are not acceptable. NOTE: Must be a research paper — not based on your experimental results but only on the research you have
completed. (Seniors could use parts of their intro and discussion.)
- Your essay must be between 700 and 1000 words, inclusive. Your essay must have a title that appears on the first page. At the end of the essay you must include a word count.
- Attribute all quotes, statistics, and ideas that are not your own in the body copy of your essay. NO footnotes or endnotes.
- Include a bibliography of your sources (reference list) on a separate page at the end of your essay.
- Your essay must be typed, double-spaced, 12 pt standard font, on 8½ × 11 inch paper. DO NOT include illustrations or diagrams. DO NOT include your name, the name of your school, or research institution in the paper.
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Saturday, February 2, 2008
New York City Science and Engineering Fair |
- Students in this class must attend this competition as spectators.
- Everyone will attend the first day of NYCSEF in the hours when it is open to the public on Sunday, February 3, 2008 at City College.
- Review 3 presentations.
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Sometime in May or June,
2008
Midwood High School Science Fair |
- Students in this class must participate in this event.
- Serve as judges for the sophomore projects.
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Great big pile of competitions
Pay Attention to Deadlines!
Sign a contract to receive extra credit. |
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mr. elert's office: room 436
