Junior Science Research Projects
(SD5R/SD6R)
Overview
- The first goal of this class is to help students find volunteer positions in academic, government, or industrial labs where they will participate in scientific research with a mentor. Projects typically take from 5 to 15 months to complete and end over the summer or during the first few months of senior year.
- The second goal of this class is to help students acquire the skills needed to be successful in the scientific competitions that occur in senior year. Students will be given assignments that align with the requirements of the Intel Science Talent Search (Intel STS), the New York City Science and Engineering Fair (NYCSEF), the Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology, and others.
- Students can receive college credit for the work done in this class. SUNY Albany will award 4 credits for work done during the regular academic year and 2 credits for work done during the summer. The grade you receive in this class will be the grade that appears on your SUNY Albany transcript if you register for this option and pay them the very reasonable fee. For more info, see Mr. Rosenfeld in room A200.
- Students enrolled in this class commit to the entire academic year whether or not they ever find work in a lab or intend to continue working over the summer and on into senior year. The work requirements for this class are identical for all students.
- 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) Every month spent working in a lab is worth one point toward your final grade. Mandatory assignments are highlighted in yellow. Important dates are in red. There are many extra credit opportunities. See grades-sd5r.pdf and grades-sd6r.pdf for more information.
Faculty
| name |
|
office |
|
em |
ail |
(718) 724–8500 |
| Mr. Elert |
|
A214 |
|
elert@ |
midwoodscience.org |
ext. 2141 |
| Mr. McDonnell |
|
A300 |
|
mmcdonn2@ |
schools.nyc.gov |
ext. 3003 |
| Mr. Rosenfeld |
|
A200 |
|
trosenf@ |
schools.nyc.gov |
ext. 2003 |
| Ms. Sullivan |
|
A214 |
|
jsulliv11@ |
schools.nyc.gov |
ext. 2141 |
Fall Semester (SD5R)
Fall Meetings for Juniors
The year starts with biweekly large group meetings.
- Entrance meeting on the first day of the semester. Everyone attends.
- September and October
- Students in SD5R-01 meet on Monday and Wednesday (and the occasional Friday).
- Students in SD5R-02 meet on Tuesday and Thursday (and the occasional Friday).
Keep your supervising teacher up to date on your progress. Individual, team, or small group meetings are the way this business gets done. Do not miss your appointments.
- October: 1 meeting
- November: 2 meetings
- December: 2 meetings
- January: 2 meetings
Preliminaries
Assignment 0: Official documents
- You will give me …
- Your email address (so that I can contact you and so that email from you does not wind up in the spam box).
- Signed parent release (so that you can leave the building and work outside of the school).
- Signed room usage agreement (so that you can use the research room — A214).
- Signed photo release form (so that we can publicize your accomplishments on the school's web site).
- Proof of lab assignment when you find a place to work (so that you can get 1.1 weighting on your grade and a student MetroCard).
- I will give you …
- Letter of reference (for those who think they may need it).
- MetroCards (for students working in a lab).
- Brooklyn College Library Cards (for everybody).
Getting Into a Lab
Reading Scientific and Technical Papers
Assignment 5: Watson and Crick's paper on the structure of DNA
Assignment 6: Hubble's "Cosmic Expansion" paper
Assignment 7: a "classic" paper of your choice
Writing Scientific and Technical Papers
Spring Semester (SD6R)
Spring Meetings for Juniors
Keep your supervising teacher up to date on your progress. Individual or team meetings are the way this business gets done. Do not miss your appointments.
- February
- Term paper details discussed.
- First draft of Intel Essay 1. January lab log.
- March
- Second draft of Intel Essay 1. Outline of introduction or identify 3 papers. February lab log.
- Final draft of Intel Essay 1. First draft of term paper. Discuss NYCSEF report.
- April
- Second draft of term paper. March lab log.
- Third draft of term paper. (Submit your final draft on or before Friday, 30 April 2010.)
- May
- Draft of PowerPoint slides. April lab log (complete). May lab log (partial).
Large group meetings are occasionally necessary.
- February
- Entrance meeting on the first day of the semester. Everyone attends.
- March
- Everyone visits NYCSEF at City College in March.
- JSHS practice on the Monday and Tuesday after NYCSEF. Everyone sits in the audience.
- May
- PowerPoint presentations start the week after AP exams and run up to the last week of classes.
- Everyone judges, feasts, sets up, and cleans up at the Midwood Science Fair in May.
- June
- PowerPoint presentations continue.
- Exit meeting on the last day of the semester. Everyone attends.
Write the first Intel personal essay
Please address the following topic in 500 words or fewer. Provide a word count to confirm that you have not exceeded the limit. Deliver your final draft to your supervising teacher before your second meeting in March.
- Your Promise as a Scientist, Mathematician or engineer
Address through specific and concrete examples what characteristics you have that best demonstrate your affinity and aptitude for being a good scientist. What have you done that illustrates scientific attitude, curiosity, inventiveness, initiative? How does your experience suggest future success as a scientist, mathematician or engineer?
Fri., December 18, 2009 (research paper) — Sunday, March 7, 2010 (posterboard)
Students in this class must participate in this competition. Seniors submit a research paper and compete in the poster competition. Juniors observe the poster competition and interview 5 participants. NYCSEF is sponsored by the New York City Department of Education and the City University of New York.
- Seniors
- Register online after Thanksgiving break.
- Begin filling out the application forms as soon as possible. We recommend that you use the Quick Guide tool to help you identify which forms you will need to submit with your application.
- Make the necessary copies of your application and research paper including one copy for our records. Use one of the high volume photocopiers with a document feeder in room A200, A300, or A317. If you are including color graphs, illustrations, or photographs you will have to make the necessary copies yourself.
- Materials will be collected for shipping on Friday, December 18, 2009. Completed applications and research papers must be received by 5:00 PM at the College Now offices in Manhattan (101 West 31st Street, 14th Floor). This is NOT a postmark deadline.
- This year's Preliminary Round for all students will be held on Sunday, March 7, 2010 at The City College of New York in Hamilton Heights, Manhattan.
- The top 25 percent of student researchers from each subject category will be invited to participate in the Finals Round Tuesday, March 23, 2010 at The American Museum of Natural History.
- Twenty students will be selected to represent New York City at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in San Jose, California from May 9–14, 2010.
- Juniors & Sophomores
- The New York City Science and Engineering Fair will be held 7 March 2010 at City College in Hamilton Heights, Manhattan. Juniors and Sophomores will attend from 2:00–4:00 PM during the public viewing period. Attendance will be taken near the end of the fair. Look for a Midwood science teacher or the officially designated student monitor.
- Find several projects while the public viewing period is underway. Pick projects that you like or are interested in. Read some of the board on your own. Record the project title.
Interview the student(s) responsible.
- Juniors find 5 projects
- Sophomores find 3 projects
- Answer the following 4 questions.
- What events or objects were studied?
- What data about these events or objects were collected?
- What conclusion did the student make?
- Why is this research important?
Do not say, "My teacher made me come here. What's the answer to number 4?" or anything similar.
- Every student in this class is expected to interview a unique set of participants. There will be between 500 and 1000 projects at this event, so there is no reason why there should be any overlap. If you go with a friend, the two of you must analyze different projects.
- Type up the responses to your interview questions and bring them with you to the JSHS Practice the next day (Monday, 8 March 2010). Be prepared to answer any additional questions your supervising teacher may have at your next March meeting.
Friday, January 15 (research paper) — Sunday, March 14 (PowerPoint)
The New York JSHS is sponsored by York College in Jamaica, Queens. The competition has two parts: a research paper and a PowerPoint presentation. Selected seniors may enter this competition for extra credit. All juniors will be in the audience when the seniors practice their presentations in Midwood the week before the competition.
- Seniors
- We are allowed to send six entries to this competition. All entries must be approved by the research teaching staff.
- If you are selected, register and submit your research paper electronically on or before January 15.
- Prepare a PowerPoint presentation for the symposium. Presenters will rehearse in front of the Juniors in March.
- The Symposium will be held at York College.
- The top students at the NYC JSHS move on to compete in the national JSHS April 28 - May 2 in Bethesda, Maryland.
- The top students in the national JSHS move on to compete in the London International Youth Science Forum (LISYF) in August.
- Juniors
- Serve as an audience for the seniors who will be entering the Junior Science and Humanities Symposium in March.
- Clap politely when they are finished and ask good questions.
- This is a two day activity (Monday, March 8 and Tuesday, March 9). Students who are currently working with a mentor must attend one of the two days. Students who are not currently working with a mentor must attend both days.
Term Paper
Do not exceed 20 pages including the cover page and bibliography. (Note: 20 pages is the limit not the requirement. Do not try to write 20 pages. Write as much as it takes to complete the assignment.) Follow standard operating procedures: 12 point business fonts, double spaced, one inch margin on all four sides. Submit your final draft on or before Friday, 30 April 2010.
- Option 1 (for students currently working with a mentor): Formal Research Paper
Write a research paper in a style that would be acceptable for Siemens, Intel, NYCSEF, etc. Write about what you have accomplished so far and what you hope to accomplish over the next 6 months.
- Introduction
- Begin by doing a literature review.
- textbooks recommended by your mentor
- journal articles recommended by your mentor
- journal articles 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
- 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.
- Analysis
- Explain how to extract meaning from the observations you have made.
- You do not need to actually perform any analysis at this point.
- 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
- Option 2 (for students NOT currently working with a mentor): Literature Review
- Introduction
- Paper 1
- Paper 2
- Paper 3
- Conclusion and Discussion
PowerPoint Presentation
Practice for Siemens, Intel, NYCSEF, JSHS, etc.
- Tell us in a PowerPoint presentation what you do in lab and what you hope to accomplish.
- Schedule yourself before I schedule you.
- Attend class when other students are presenting.
- Ask good questions from time to time.
Spring Meetings for Juniors
Keep your supervising teacher up to date on your progress. Individual or team meetings are the way this business gets done. Do not miss your appointments.
- February
- Term paper details discussed.
- First draft of Intel Essay 1. January lab log.
- March
- Second draft of Intel Essay 1. Outline of introduction or identify 3 papers. February lab log.
- Final draft of Intel Essay 1. First draft of term paper. Discuss NYCSEF report.
- April
- Second draft of term paper. March lab log.
- Third draft of term paper. (Submit your final draft on or before Friday, 30 April 2010.)
- May
- Draft of PowerPoint slides. April lab log (complete). May lab log (partial).
Large group meetings are occasionally necessary.
- February
- Entrance meeting on the first day of the semester. Everyone attends.
- March
- Everyone visits NYCSEF at City College in March.
- JSHS practice on the Monday and Tuesday after NYCSEF. Everyone sits in the audience.
- May
- PowerPoint presentations start the week after AP exams and run up to the last week of classes.
- Everyone judges, feasts, sets up, and cleans up at the Midwood Science Fair in May.
- June
- PowerPoint presentations continue.
- Exit meeting on the last day of the semester. Everyone attends.
Lab Logs
Lab logs are due at the first meeting of each month.
- January
- February
- March
- April
- May (due in May)
Extra Credit
Public Lecture
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. (Print the page before you go.)
- 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.)
Competitions and Events
Participate in competitions or attend special events.
- Tell your supervising teacher what you intend to do officially.
- Provide evidence of progress or participation for partial credit.
- Manage your time effectively. Anticipate Deadlines. (Items written in strikethrough are past deadline or possibly discontinued.)
- Provide evidence of completion for full credit.
Last Updated 8 February 2010. New items will be added as they come across my desk. Contact me if you find anything you think I should check out.
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