The goal of your final project is to work collaboratively with your lab group to explore an observation and answer a question related to renewable iconPhysics and Sustainability.
The project will consist of a step-by-step scientific inquiry, based on the scientific method, and will culminate in a 10-minute presentation to share your findings during the last week of class.
Along with your presentation, you will provide a set of questions for your audience to answer. Some of these questions may end up being part of the final exam.
There are various ways to apply the scientific method, but you will follow the steps below as you work on your project throughout the semester.
Observation/Ask a Question: The scientific method starts when you ask a question about something that you observe: How, What, When, Who, Which, Why, or Where?
Question (10 points)
Research: Rather than starting from scratch in putting together a plan for answering your question, you want to be a savvy scientist using library and Internet research to help you find the best way to do things and ensure that you don’t repeat mistakes from the past. We will explore the resources available to you to complete this step and work towards the next step: construct a hypothesis .
Research Report (20 points)
Hypothesis: A hypothesis is an educated guess about how things work. It is an attempt to answer your question with an explanation that can be tested. A good hypothesis allows you to then make a prediction: “If _____[I do this] _____, then _____[this] _____ will happen.” In this step, you will state both your hypothesis and the resulting prediction you will be testing. Predictions must be easy to measure.
Hypothesis (10 points)
Experiment: Your experiment tests whether your prediction is accurate and thus your hypothesis is supported or not. It is important for your experiment to be a fair test. You conduct a fair test by making sure that you change only one factor at a time while keeping all other conditions the same. You should also repeat your experiments several times to make sure that the first results weren’t just an accident.
Procedure Design (20 points)
Experimentation and Data acquisition (20 points)
Conclusion: Once your experiment is complete, you collect your measurements and analyze them to see if they support your hypothesis or not. Scientists often find that their predictions were not accurate and their hypothesis was not supported, and in such cases they will communicate the results of their experiment and then go back and construct a new hypothesis and prediction based on the information they learned during their experiment. This starts much of the process of the scientific method over again. Even if they find that their hypothesis was supported, they may want to test it again in a new way.
Data Analysis and Conclusion (20 points)
Share Results: To complete your project you will communicate your results to the class in a final presentation. Professional scientists do almost exactly the same thing by publishing their findings in a scientific journal or by presenting their results on a poster or during a talk at a scientific meeting.
Presentation (80 points): Your presentation grade breakdown is as follows
Accuracy (20 points): all material you present must be scientifically correct!
Delivery (20 points): Each member of your group must contribute to the presentation. You need to be well organized as a group. Best delivery makes minimal use of notes, and shows preparation. No matter what medium you decide to use for your presentation, it should be easy for your audience to understand and should catch their attention.
Time management (10 points): Your audience should be able to complete viewing or reading your presentation within 10 minutes.
Creativity/originality (10 points): Points will be earned for creativity, visual aids, etc…
Evaluation participation (20 points): You will get credit for filling out evaluation forms on the presentations you will watch.
Questions (20 points): The questions are meant to be a way of testing if your audience understood the material you presented. You provide two multiple-choice questions, with answers.
