1. develop an idea for a project 2. gather information through research and activities 3. deliver a report, paper, or other creative form showing the of results of the project This project is expected to be developed using the scientific method. If you are not familiar with this, please Google the term. In a nutshell: you must come up with a Geographic Question, how, what, where, why etc and then conduct scientific research using reliable sources of information to answer your questions, and present to me those findings in a project. Water is life The Hydrosphere is a diverse and encompassing part of our planet. I want you to think of what “water” means to you and conduct some research to answer a question you are curious about, or investigate and report on a topic, involving water. It also has to have a geographic focus.. WHERE is this happening and why there?! Here are some questions and topic examples you can use, or to get you started on developing a topic: What does water quality mean to a specific group of citizens? How clean are our rivers and what is being done to maintain cleanliness? Does access to local natural resources involving water impact your way of life? Do you wonder what indigenous people do to collect enough water to survive? Are you interested in the latest technology to deliver drinkable water to remote regions? Do you like to fish? What role does the hydrosphere serve in this sport? What protected species are located in the waterways of central Texas? Where and when have there been outbreaks of vibriosis in Texas, and is there a pattern? What is the Great Pacific garbage patch? Are glaciers melting, why or why not? Think about what you learned in the Hydrosphere module and formulate a physical geography question that interests you… What I do not want, and topics like these will not be accepted: What does water do to your body… that is Biology What is the Ph of various water sources… that is Chemistry Anything to do with bottled water… that is Economics How do aquifers work… that focuses on the Lithosphere (1) Please submit your Project Proposal in an MS Word or other compatible file format like PDF, RTF, TXT on Canvas under Assignments. It must be written out, no bullet points. (2) The whole proposal document should fill one entire page a. minimal header space used, 1 LINE for name/class/date b. SINGLE spaced lines like in the example, no double or half space c. NO squished in margins, 7” of word space required (3) I recommend using a local study area – San Antonio, Austin, San Marcos or New Braunfels. Your proposal needs to include the following sections. Header: Title of your Project, Your Name Paragraph 1) Topic(s): Write down the main research question or topic you would like to explore. The topic should address a hydrosphere issue – a question that involves water in any form. How does this fit into the Hydrosphere and within Physical Geography. Paragraph 2) Background: Write down the background information in this section about your project’s topic. Why is this your chosen topic? Is it important to you and why, or is it a random topic that you want to learn more about through research and reporting? You should also provide some background on the study area. Most importantly, state the objectives of your project. It’s the who what when why where. Paragraph 3) Data Sources: List what types of information (maps, tables, pictures, etc) you’ll gather to address, explain, and discover more about the topic. Also include where you have already gone out and are able to obtain this information for your project. Example: agency and website address, datasets on the University network, or Library. Who are you going to talk to, how are you going to do that, what businesses will you be interacting with, what websites have data relevant to your topic. What preliminary data have you found that is relevant to your project. Paragraph 4) Results: State how you will show your results. What kinds of maps/tables/data will you report? How will you answer your question or convey information about the project topic? What format will you use? A report? A paper? A poster? A science fair project showing distillation process? Where are you going to get this material or what technology are you going to use to develop this project? What is it that you jope to learn or show through this process of developing a project? Brief Examples of Project Proposals: Yours must be 2x as long Polar Ice Cap Changes Over Time, Last name, First name How have the Polar Ice Caps changed in recent times, and what does this mean to global sea levels. The Polar Ice Caps are located at both the North and South poles, above 80 degrees latitude. During Earth’s orbit around the sun, the ice caps grow and shrink due to the direction of our axis relative to the Sun. Due to slight cyclical variations in our orbit, the caps’ average size varies. I hope to explore this variation, compile data related to the change in size and determine if there is a correlation between average size and thickness and average global temperature and sea level. After a quick Google search, it appears NASA has satellite data for Sea Ice cover. I’ll look for historical and current information regarding this topic on their website. I’ll also check NOAA for temperature data and look for sea level data on the Internet. I’ll show planar projects maps of the two polar regions. I’ll include and use satellite imagery from NASA to convey the size and change over time of the polar ice caps. I will include tables of historical data related to coverage, density, and snow pack for the caps. I will also show average global temperature data and sea level data for correlating years and draw preliminary conclusions as to any potential correlation. Example 2: Keeping our waterways clean, Last name, First name Are there any sections of our waterways in central Texas that are used for recreation but lacking in anti-littering advocacy?
