page sciresearch teacher guide teacher... · these will serve as the basis for a reflective...

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SciResearch Teacher Guide Table of Contents Welcome ................................................................................................................................... 2

Using SciResearch ...................................................................................................................... 2

Copyright ................................................................................................................................... 2

Disclaimer .................................................................................................................................. 3

Assessment Using SciResearch ................................................................................................... 3

Timeline ..................................................................................................................................... 3

Keeping Track of Student Work ................................................................................................. 4

The Science Fair ......................................................................................................................... 4

1: Benefits of Doing a Science Project ........................................................................................ 5

2: Types of Science Projects ....................................................................................................... 5

Types of Projects Reflection Answer Key ............................................................................... 5

3: Select a Topic of Research ...................................................................................................... 5

4: Conduct a Literature Review .................................................................................................. 6

Evaluating Sources for a Literature Review Answer Key ......................................................... 6

Literature Review Submission Rubric ..................................................................................... 7

5: Develop the Question or Problem .......................................................................................... 8

Developing an Experimental Question Rubric ........................................................................ 8

Developing an Engineering Problem Rubric ........................................................................... 9

6: Developing a Procedure ....................................................................................................... 10

Writing Detailed Procedures Answer Key ............................................................................. 10

7: Get Approval to Start ........................................................................................................... 10

8: Analyze Data and Draw Conclusions .................................................................................... 11

Data Analysis and Conclusion Rubric .................................................................................... 11

9: Communicate Results .......................................................................................................... 12

Final Report Rubric .............................................................................................................. 12

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Welcome Thanks for using SciResearch! This wiki was created by Jennifer Leffel as part of her graduate studies in the Learning Design and Technology program at Purdue University. The bulk of the wiki was created during the summer of 2017, but it is an ongoing project with regular updates and improvements. This document was created to communicate with teachers the goals and philosophies of SciResearch, while providing practical guidelines to inform its use. It includes notes and grading practices for each of the numbered content pages.

Using SciResearch SciResearch is designed to organize all the steps of student science research into a simple to understand, parent and student friendly website. Each of the numbered content pages provide students with directions, instruction, and documents to complete. The instruction for each page is presented as an engaging PowToon, which was created to give students everything they need to complete the associated assignment. Documents are posted as both fillable PDFs and as Word Documents to ease student access. SciResearch is organized into a series of pages. As the teacher, you assign each page to students, which includes reading the directions, watching the video, exploring the additional resources, and completing and handing in the required documents. The directions are set up to work with Edmodo, but you can use any other online drop box, or collect paper copies. There are two types of assignments on SciResearch. Individual assignments are completed by each student. Group assignments are completed as a group, meaning all group members will submit the same assignment. If a student is working by themselves, they still have to complete the group assignment – they are a group of one.

Copyright The resources found on SciResearch are subject to Creative Commons Attribution - Non Commercial - Share Alike 3.0 International license (CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0). This means that you may copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format and that you may adapt, remix, transform, and build upon the material, so long as you give appropriate credit to SciResearch and indicate if any changes were made. You may not use the material for commercial purposes. You must also apply the same license (CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0) to any works that you have modified or redistributed based on those provided here. You can read more about this license here (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/). If you feel that this website contains your improperly cited or used materials, please contact [email protected].

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/

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Disclaimer The author SciResearch takes no responsibility for the accuracy or consequences for use of this wiki. If you use anything from SciResearch, you do so at your own risk.

Assessment Using SciResearch SciResearch includes two types of assignments: individual assignments and group assignments. Individual assignments should be kept for students in a folder over the course of the project. These will serve as the basis for a reflective portfolio assignment once the project is complete. You may choose whether to include these assignments in the grade book for nominal points towards their grade, but you should certainly keep track of who has turned what in. This will facilitate the reflective portfolio assignment, which should be worth significant points towards their grade. Checklists have been included for these items to guide your grading, which may be found in this document. Group assignments serve to develop the project that students will complete. These should be collected and graded as they are due. For students to develop worthwhile projects, it is critical that you provide students with constructive and timely feedback on their work. This process also helps build student confidence and ability as they learn to use criticism to improve their work, a skill that is doubtlessly important for their future academic and professional lives. Rubrics have been included in this document to guide your grading of these assignments.

Timeline Allow students enough time between assignments to complete them based on the suggested work time given below. If you are doing a science fair at your school, work backwards from that date to establish due dates. Share this calendar with your students.

Page Suggested Work Time

1 Benefits of Doing a Science Project Assign as a one night homework assignment. 2 Types of Projects Assign as a one night homework assignment.

3 Select a Topic of Research Assign as a one night homework assignment. Provide feedback. Allow another three days for students to finalize their topics.

4 Conduct a Literature Review One week.

5 Develop the Question or Problem One week. 6 Develop a Procedure One week.

7 Get Approval to Start Assign as a one night homework assignment. 8 Analyze Data and Draw Conclusions As much time as possible, at least four weeks to

conduct experiments. 9 Communicate Results One week.

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Keeping Track of Student Work • Online: Use Edmodo or Goggle Classroom to organize work. you can have students

submit work online and provide them feedback in the same place. This helps when

students must review the work they’ve done for the final report.

• Folders: Create a folder for each project, and slip paper copies of work into the folder.

Students can also manage their own folders, but if so you should create a folder

checklist for all the items they must have. Students should leave these folders in the

classroom. You can hand them out to students when it is time for them to make their

final report.

The Science Fair If you are planning on holding a science fair, here are some additional considerations.

• Select a day after school for the science fair to be held. Thursdays work well. Make sure

that you follow any guidelines from your school system.

• Consider the date of the science fair when determining due dates for each part on

SciResearch.

• Choose a large area to hold the fair. You will need tables and chairs, and a quiet and

private area for judges. Media centers work best.

• When looking for judges, start early and ask often. Maintain updated contact

information for judges from year to year. You may wish to send a form home to parents

asking for judges. Make sure to consider the background of the judge when assigning

them projects to judge.

• Decide the categories so that 10 or so projects fit in each. Number the projects in each

category so judges can find the boards.

• If you have more than one judge for each category, encourage judges to reach a

consensus on 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and Honorary Mention.

• Provide light food for the judges. You can get catering trays from most grocery stores for

reasonable prices.

• Consider offering students extra credit for participation or for placing.

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1: Benefits of Doing a Science Project

• This page can be assigned as a one night homework assignment, or in about 15 minutes during class. Students should complete the assignment after watching the video.

• Students should not only list the benefits of completing a science research project, but also rank them. You may wish to use their responses to follow up with them in class by exploring the most common benefits more deeply.

• This is a great time to coordinate for students who have competed in the science fair in the past to come and speak to your classes. We want to students to be excited about the project.

2: Types of Science Projects

• This page can be assigned as a one night homework assignment, or in about 15 minutes during class. Students should complete the assignment after watching the video.

• Emphasize with students that one type of project is not easier than the other, so they

should focus on what interests them.

• When you collect this assignment, ask students to consider who they might like to work

with. You want to have as many students working in groups as possible to minimize the

number of projects you will mentor. You should allow students to work with anyone in

any of your same classes, i.e. “you can work with any student in any of my chemistry

classes.”

Types of Projects Reflection Answer Key

1. Engineering 2. Experimental 3. Experimental 4. Varies, but an explanation should be included.

3: Select a Topic of Research

• Students should complete this as a one night homework assignment, but they will probably need more than one night to hammer out their ideas. Plan on reviewing the assignment quickly and turning around to give feedback.

• Ensure that students are completing a rigorous project for their ability level. This means some students will do more advanced projects than others.

• Science project websites can be helpful to generate ideas, but you do not want students to simply copy a project they have found. Require them to change something, extend the project, or investigate different variables. For example, if a student is doing something with plants, do a bioassay using native and invasive species.

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• William Molnar’s Laboratory Investigations in AP Environmental Science has many projects that students could modify. You can buy the most recent edition, or an older one if it is less expensive. Page through the book and make copies of projects for students to do. This is great for the students who really struggle to come up with a worthy project idea.

• Julia Cothron’s Science Experiments and Projects for Students is another excellent book for this purpose.

4: Conduct a Literature Review • Students will complete both an individual assignment and a group assignment. The

individual assignment should be assigned as a one night homework, while the group assignment will take about a week.

• Students should dig into the websites given. They should review things like the qualification of the authors and citations. They should consider if the website gives the whole picture on the issue, or if it is biased.

• You should coordinate with your librarian to teach students how to use databases and how to find scientific research articles. The sources the students use for their projects should be varied and include some scientific papers. A sample scientific paper is provided on the web page that explains what each section is.

• One of the main issues you will see is that students provide very short summaries. The directions state they should be able 2 paragraphs for the summary, and 2 paragraphs for the relation to other sources.

• You can complete the rubric either by hand or digitally. Make a copy of the completed rubric so one copy can stay with you, while the other is returned to the group.

Evaluating Sources for a Literature Review Answer Key

1. Institute for Responsible Technology: Not an acceptable source. The author is not a

scientists, and seeks to sell books, training, and movies to the viewer. Many of the

studies referenced on the site are valid, but no contrary studies are given, thus the

content is biased. Many students will believe this site to be appropriate because of the

“.org” designation.

2. 35 Surprising Facts About Global Warming: Not an acceptable source. While much of the

content is accurate, there are no citations to specific studies, only two references at the

bottom. The author is not a scientist nor does he have any qualifications beyond an

interest in being green.

3. Spectroscopy: An acceptable source. This source would be good for general background

information. The contributing authors are physics professors at various universities.

Additional reading points to several books, with an external link to NASA.

https://www.amazon.com/Laboratory-Investigations-Environmental-Science-Manual/dp/141380487X

https://www.amazon.com/Science-Experiments-Projects-Students-Research/dp/0757524982

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Literature Review Submission Rubric

Name(s) Class Period(s)

Types of Sources: Different types of sources are selected, from a variety of authors.

Books Scientific Journals

Reports Government Documents

Web Sites

Other

Notes: Score: Little

Variety Some

Variety Good

Variety

1 2 3 4 5

-

Quality of Sources: All sources are reliable. This includes academic/ scholarly/ peer reviewed sources.

Notes: Score: One point for each reliable source. -

1 2 3 4 5

-

Citations: All sources are properly cited using APA format.

Notes: Score: One point for each correctly cited source.

1 2 3 4 5

-

Summary: The summary describes what the source is about. Summaries are complete, reflecting that students have read the entire article, and are approximately two paragraphs.

Score: Up to two points per summary.

Few revisions needed Several revisions needed (needs improvement)

1

2

3

4

5

-

Relation to Other Sources: It is clear how the sources relate to one another. Each relation is complete, reflecting that students have read the entire article, and are approximately two paragraphs.

Score: Up to two points per relation.

Few revisions needed Several revisions needed (needs improvement)

1

2

3

4

5

-

TOTAL POINTS: /35

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5: Develop the Question or Problem

• There are two versions of the group assignment, one for engineering projects and one

for experimental projects. Each group could complete the appropriate version.

• One of the main issues you will see is that students provide very short summaries. They

should give 2 paragraphs for the summary and the relation to other sources.

• Students can “reuse” sources from Part 4 so long as they related to how they will

conduct the experiment or build/ test a prototype.

Developing an Experimental Question Rubric


Item Yes No Notes

Finalized topic approved

Scientific question approved

Independent variable approved

Dependent variable approved

Hypothesis approved

Approval for next step

Completion: All parts have been completed by student. 1 point 2 points 3 points 4 points



0 1 2 3

-



0 1 2 3

-

Summary: The summary describes what the source is about, focusing on methods to conduct the experiment/ measure variables. Summaries are complete, reflecting that students have read the entire article, and are approximately two paragraphs.

Score: Up to three points per summary

Few revisions 5 points

4 points

Some revisions 3 points

2 points

Major revisions 1 point

Notes

1

2

3

-

TOTAL POINTS: /25

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Developing an Engineering Problem Rubric


Item Yes No Notes

Finalized topic approved

Engineering problem approved

Design constraints approved

Functional requirements approved

Possible solution approved

Approval for next step

Completion: All parts have been completed by student. 1 point 2 points 3 points 4 points



0 1 2 3

-



0 1 2 3

-

Summary: The summary describes what the source is about, focusing on solutions to similar engineering problems or possible solutions. Summaries are complete, reflecting that students have read the entire article, and are approximately two paragraphs.

Score: Up to three points per summary

Few revisions needed 5 points

4 points

Some revisions needed 3 points

2 points

Major revisions needed 1 point

Notes

1

2

3

-

TOTAL POINTS: /25

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6: Developing a Procedure

• Students have already designated their experimental variables or engineering solutions.

They must now devise a way to test them. The sources they found in Part 5 should be

useful in writing the procedure.

• Look out for the time required for the proposed procedure. For example, if a student

wants to grow plants, they need to identify a species that can grow quickly enough to

collect data. Alternatively, they could modify the procedure to involve studying

germination, which takes much less time.

• The individual assignment has student practice writing detailed procedures. You may

wish to collect this before the due date of the group assignment, so you can give

feedback before students write the procedure for their experiment.

Writing Detailed Procedures Answer Key

1. Reasons given will vary.

2. Procedures will vary, but they should be very specific.

3. Most students will agree that they could follow the procedure. They should give a

couple of specific reasons for their answer.

4. IDV: Length of effort arm, DV: Number of pennies to lift load.

5. This experiment does not have a control group. It is not needed because the

experimenter is simply comparing the masses for different arm lengths.

6. Students should choose a step to improve.

7: Get Approval to Start

• While all required forms should be completed by each group, play extra close attention

to group that have expressed interest in competing in a science fair.

• You may wish to print out your own copies of the forms for each group and highlight

that parts that students must complete. For example, many students are confused by

Form 1B – they only must complete the top section.

• You can also print out the assignment and use it as a cover sheet for the forms to help

organize them.

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8: Analyze Data and Draw Conclusions

• Students should be allowed at least 4 weeks to perform their experiments.

• Review the components for this part of the project with students. They are likely to miss

the photos of all group members engaged in the experiment, make sure to remind

them.

Data Analysis and Conclusion Rubric

Item Components Present? Excellent Developing Poor

Question or Problem

Question/ problem is clearly stated.

+1 +3 +2 +1

Data

A labeled diagram of your experimental set-up

+1 +3 +2 +1

All collected data/ observations in tables:

• Units on all measurements

• 3 trials per treatment

• Averages

+1 +3 +2 +1

Pictures of all group members. +1 +3 +2 +1

Graph

Computer generated graph:

• X: IDV Y: DV

• Title, axes, increments, labels, spacing

+1 +3 +2 +1

Analysis

Describe what happened without rewriting your data.

+1 +3 +2 +1

Discuss anything that may have gone wrong and why it matters.

+1 +3 +2 +1

Discuss what you could have done differently to make it better.

+1 +3 +2 +1

Conclusion

Answer scientific question or explain if design criteria were met, support your answer with data.

+1 +3 +2 +1

Make suggestions for future research.

+1 +3 +2 +1

Explain the significance of your findings to the real world. How will what you learned make a difference?

+1 +3 +2 +1

TOTAL POINTS: /45 Notes:

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9: Communicate Results

• Students are given two options for completing their final report. They can make a formal

report (like a laboratory report) or a display board. Templates are provided for both.

Both choices have the exact same components.

• If you are holding a science fair, you may wish to purchase display boards in bulk and

sell them to students at cost.

Final Report Rubric

Item Points

Title Page: Title of your project, group members, school, period/day, teacher /5 Abstract: An 8 to 10 sentence explanation of your project: include an introduction, problem/ hypothesis, procedures, results, and conclusions.

/10

Acknowledgements: Professionally thank anyone who provided significant help on the project.

/5

Scientific Question or Engineering Problem: revised based on feedback. /5

References: A complete listing of all references you used during the project. At minimum, this should include all 8 sources from your literature reviews.

/10

Hypothesis or Proposed Solution: revised based on feedback. /5 Variables/ Constants/ Control Group /5

Materials and Methods: Include a list of materials and the detailed procedure. Make any suggested edits from feedback.

/10

Data table(s): Revised based on feedback. /5

Graph(s): Revised based on feedback. /10 Pictures: Showing students engaged in the project. /5

Analysis: Revised based on feedback /5 Conclusion: Revised based on feedback /10

Professionalism: Document is well formatted, organized, and easy to read, with appropriate font. Citations are in APA format. No spelling or grammar errors.

/10

TOTAL POINTS: /100 Notes: