Name: ______Period: ______Date: ______
Honors Biology, Wissahickon High School
Wissahickon High School
Honors Biology
2011 – 2012
Independent Research
Project Guidelines
Honors Biology Independent Research Project Timeline
All assignments should be typed with the appropriate heading and have the appropriate rubric stapled to the front of the assignment. Any assignments that are handed in late will be assessed a 20% penalty. Please give your teacher at least a week’s time to examine any materials and provide feedback.
List of Brainstormed Ideas / SeptemberInitial Proposal and 5 Conceptual Questions / September
Background Research and Initial Design Diagram / October
Final Design Diagram with Materials, Procedure, Sketch and Timeline / October
IRB Human Forms due / October
Forms for Nonhuman topics
SRC Forms for All Special Topics / October
October
SRC Approval / November
Log Book Check/Photo-documentation of start / November
Photodocumentation
First Day / November
Middle of Project / December
Last Day / In Log Book
Presentation* (PowerPoint, Google docs, keynote etc.) / MUST be checked prior to Presentation
Class Presentation
Non-special topics and volunteers
Special topics and plants / December 20-22
January 3-7
Final Logbooks / Due on Presentation Date
PJAS Regional Competition / February 26
Montgomery County Science Research Competition / March 16 - 20
Delaware Valley Science Fair / April 5 – 7
PJAS State Competition / May 15 – 17
*All presentations must be tested before the presentation day, technical difficulties will not be accepted for extensions.
Honors Biology Independent Information
Students are expected to independently design and implement a biology-related experiment. You will then analyze and present the results of your experiment to your classmates. Various resources are available to help you choose a topic to study. However, you are expected to only use them for ideas and develop new elements or twists that will make your experiment original.
Special Topics
"Special Topics" projects, which include microbiology and human studies, require additional supervision, paperwork, and approval by school and regional regulatory boards. Students choosing these topics must demonstrate a commitment to following deadlines and attention to quality and detail. Students working with a supervisor are expected to do their own experimentation. If you are interested in studying one of these topics, you should consult with your teacher.
Microbiology projects must be performed under the supervision of your teacher at school or a professional in a certified laboratory. One to two weeks will be required after school with your teacher during the month of December to complete your project. This time period must be scheduled in advance with your teacher at his or her convenience.
Materials
You are responsible for all of the costs of your project. Supplies for microbiology projects must be purchased from approved biological supply companies through your teacher. You may ask your teacher to borrow glassware or other classroom materials.
Competitions
Students are encouraged to participate in two school-sponsored science competitions. The
Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science (PJAS) Regional Competition is held in February and uses a criteria-based rubric to judge students’ research. First place winners qualify for the State Competition, which is held in May. The Montgomery County Science Research Competition, which is held in March, differs from PJAS in that students compete to place in their respective divisions and have the opportunity to win scholarships and prize money. Each division’s first and second place winners will qualify for the Delaware Valley Science Fair.
Research Logbook Guidelines
Your logbook should be a separate notebook that contains an accurate; organized, and thorough record of the entire experimental design process. If your teacher permits/requires you to use a binder, it must be at least 1". All pages should be numbered. All documents, including graded rough copies and rubrics, should be included in the notebook. Graded rough copies can be kept at the back of the notebook or in a folder.
The following sections must be present in your notebook:
Title Page:
Your title should be in the appropriate format that relates the independent and dependent variables.
Table of Contents:
Allow 2 pages at the front of the notebook for the table of contents. Hand numbering the pages is probably easiest.
Experimental Design Diagram
Materials and Procedure:
You should explicitly state detailed, step-wise directions that would allow someone else to conduct your experiment. Be sure to include procedures for the control and experimental groups.
Sketch of Experimental Setup
Project Timeline
Resource Information
· Vocabulary List of Biological Concepts and Terms
· Background Report: One page summary of answers to conceptual questions
· Annotated Bibliography
Photodocumentation:
Photos are a great way to obtain experimental data and for teachers to verify completion of the experiment. You must document with a picture the start, middle, and the end of experimentation. In each picture, you must be present in the picture measuring data in the experiment. It should be clearly shown in the picture how you arrive at your measurement. For example, if you are measuring a plant’s height, you must take a picture of you holding the ruler next to the plant with the number side facing the camera.
For human studies, you cannot take pictures of your subjects. In lieu of pictures, submit a copy of your surveys, testing procedure, and consent form at the beginning of your study. During the experimentation, a copy of one of your subject’s signed consent forms with his or her collected data. After experimentation, submit a copy of your completed data tables and consent forms.
After you complete each piece of photodocumentation, you must hand in the completed form with the appropriate signatures to your teacher. Failure to complete all three pieces of photodocumentation in a timely manner will result in failure for your research project.
Daily Log:
It should contain everything that you "do" after you have chosen your topic and have begun to plan your project. All entries should be dated, written in pen, and include all collected data and observations. You may refer to your detailed procedure when necessary. Part of your grade is determined by having an appropriate number of daily log entries.
Analysis: Graphs, charts, tables, and statistics. Please note that you need to perform some additional statistical work other than calculating averages. You will be expected to use the results of your analysis to draw your conclusions.
Conclusions: Draw conclusions based on your data, analysis, and hypothesis. Use your background information to explain your observations. You should include a discussion of at least three sources of error and how they affected your project, ways to improve your experiment to eliminate your sources of error, other improvements, extensions, and applications.
Abstract:
A typed, 200-250 word summary of the purpose, hypothesis, general design, overall results, and conclusions of your experiment.
Competetion Paperwork:
All students are required to complete the ISEF paperwork.
· Access the online wizard to find out what forms you need to complete: http://sciserv.org/isef/students/wizard/index.asp.
· Go to the Science Department website for specific language needed for forms relevant to special topics: http://whs.wsdweb.org/departments/science.
Rubrics:
All rubrics with your rough copies of documents should be included at the back of your notebook.
Initial Proposal and 5 Conceptual Questions
State the problem that you wish to solve in the form of a question. (1 point)
2 points / 1 point / 0 pointsIs the topic related to biology? / Directly / Slightly / Unrelated
Are materials readily available? / Easily / With effort / Unobtainable
Is the project achievable? / Reasonable / Unreasonable
Level of Sophistication / Advanced / Appropriate / Marginal/Simplistic
Originality of Project / Completely / New Elements / Standard
Questions Reflect Appropriate Challenge / Excellent / Acceptable / Simplistic
Conceptual Questions: Write down five questions whose answers will help you gain the necessary background to understand the scientific concepts of your project. If you are dealing with living things, you must include how to care for the organism and its scientific name.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Self-Evaluation: Circle in pencil and sign here: ______(1 point)
Peer Evaluation: Circle in blue and sign here: ______(1 point)
Teacher: Points Earned ______(20 points)
Proposal: / Accepted / Revise by ______/ Revisions Accepted: ______Initials: ______
Background Research and Initial Design Diagram
Utilizes a variety of resources / Yes / No
Total of five or more resources used / Yes / No
Evidence of Research (e.g. notes on research) / Yes / No
List of Biological Concepts with Definition or Description / Yes / No
Five Conceptual Questions Attached / Yes / No
Background Report
Typed / Yes / No
Sufficient responses to… / Question 1 / Yes / No
Question 2 / Yes / No
Question 3 / Yes / No
Question 4 / Yes / No
Question 5 / Yes / No
Annotated Bibliography
Sources in proper MLA format / Yes / No
Appropriate descriptions on how sources used / Yes / No
Citations in Alphabetical Order / Yes / No
Initial Design Diagram
Correct Format / Yes / No
Title / Acceptable / Unacceptable
Hypothesis / Acceptable / Unacceptable
IV / Acceptable / Unacceptable
Levels of Treatment / Acceptable / Unacceptable
DV / Acceptable / Unacceptable
Trials/Sample Size / Acceptable / Unacceptable
Control / Acceptable / Unacceptable
Constants / Acceptable / Unacceptable
Self-Evaluation: Circle in pencil and sign here: ______(1 point)
Peer Evaluation: Circle in blue and sign here: ______(1 point)
Teacher: Points Earned ______(35 points)
Proposal: / Accepted / Revise by ______/ Revisions Accepted: ______Initials: ______
Final Design Diagram with Materials, Procedure, Sketch, and Timeline
Final Design Diagram
1 points / 1/2 point / 0 pointsCorrect Format / Yes / No
Title: Relates IV and DV / Yes / No
Hypothesis: If…then… format / Yes / No
IV / Yes / No
Levels of Treatment / Exemplary / Adequate / Unsatisfactory
Control Group / Yes / No
DV
Identified / Yes / No
Quantitative / Yes / No
Metric / Yes/NA / No
Trials/Sample Size / Yes / No
Constants / Yes / No
6Pts
3 points / 2 points / 1 points / 0 pointsMaterials List / Complete
Incomplete / Missing
Procedure
All appropriate steps present? / Yes / Missing some / Needs more detail! / No
All steps specific and thorough? / Yes / Missing some / Needs more detail! / No
Listed in step-wise manner? / Yes / No
Sketch of Setup
Experimental conditions clearly shown? / Yes / OK / No
Quality sketch? / Yes / OK / No
Timeline
All steps shown in the appropriate order / Yes / Incomplete / No
Allows enough time to accomplish tasks / Yes / Unrealistic / No
Self-Evaluation: Circle in pencil and sign here: ______(1 point)
Peer Evaluation: Circle in blue and sign here: ______(1 point)
Teacher: Points Earned ______(25 points)
Experiment: / Accepted!Begin experimentation. / Revise by ______/ Requires IRB/SRC Approval
Revisions Accepted: ______Initials: ______
Research Forms
All students are required to complete the research paperwork. Access the online wizard to find out what forms you need to complete: http://sciserv.org/isef/students/wizard/index.asp. Please note that if you are typing on the online form using Adobe Acrobat Reader, you cannot save these documents. Go to the Science Department website for specific language needed for forms relevant to special topics: http://whs.wsdweb.org/departments/science.
Complete / Number of Items Missing1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5+
5 points / 4 points / 3 points / 2 points / 1 point / 0 points
Parent/Guardian Contract
It is very important that your parent/guardian is aware of the design, proper safety procedures, and risks of your experiment. Please have your parent/guardian sign this form in addition to the research forms. Research forms will not be accepted without this signed contract.
· I approve of the topic my child has chosen for their project.
· I am aware of the risks and safety procedures needed for my child to perform his/her project safely.
· I will ensure that my child performs all of the experimentation on his/her own.
Signature: ______Date: ______
ISEF Forms: / Accepted / Revise by ______/ Requires IRB/SRC ApprovalRevisions Accepted: ______Initials: ______
Logbook Check
Title Page / Yes / No
Table of Contents / Yes / No
Final Design Diagram / Yes / No
Procedure / Yes / No
Resource Material
Glossary of Terms/Concepts / Yes / No
5 Concept Questions / Yes / No
Background Report / Yes / No
Annotated Bibliography / Yes / No
Appropriate number of entries? / Yes / No
Entries complete with procedures, observations, and data? / Yes / No
Entries that are neat, organized, and easy to read? / Yes / No
Revisions Done Appropriately and On-Time
Initial Proposal and 5 Conceptual Questions / Yes / No
Background Research and Initial Design Diagram / Yes / No
Final Design Diagram with
Materials, Procedure, Sketch, & Timeline / Yes / No
Research Forms / Yes / No
Self-Evaluation: Circle in pencil and sign here: ______(1 point)
Peer Evaluation: Circle in blue and sign here: ______(1 point)
Teacher: Points Earned ______(24 points)
Photodocumentation
Experimentation / During
Experimentation / End of
Experimentation
Date Picture Taken: ______
Please attach a picture below depicting you during one of following periods of experimentation.
Please briefly explain what you are doing in the photograph, the actual data that was collected, and how these measurements will be used for your project.
Please have you and your parent/guardian sign and date this form to acknowledge that you performed the research as shown above. Hand in this photodocumentation sheet to your teacher as soon as the picture is taken.
Student: ______Date: ______
Parent/Guardian: ______Date: ______
Teacher Initials: ______Date: ______
Photodocumentation
Experimentation / During
Experimentation / End of
Experimentation
Date Picture Taken: ______