Year-Long Independent Research or Community Service Learning Project
Goals:
• Experience learning that’s different from typical text book learning.
• Occupy biology class and homework time productively after AP exam.
• Foster independence, effective time management, and intellectual curiosity.
• Promote community service.
• Encourage ecological awareness.
• Design and execute original research.
• Use primary sources for format, content, and methods.
• Meet separate common bench marks for each of four terms
• Present project in the final term.
The Basics
The heart of the year long project is original research and/or community service. Although the final products are a paper and a substantial in-class presentation, you must begin by identifying a topic that YOU will study first hand. If ideas don’t start popping into your mind immediately, spend a Saturday afternoon at the Museum of Science or browse science articles in the New York Times. Log on to the Charles River Watershed Association website, or look into organizations promoting the health of Boston Harbor. Chat with neighbors involved in some aspect of the biological sciences. You might find something there that starts the wheels turning.
In planning your project, be sure to consider the community impact of your work. How might what you plan to do help other people? What will be your contribution to the community at large?
Scope:
Required Meetings: 1 formal 10-minute non-class-time meeting per term per project group
Term I: Brainstorming and idea proposal – preliminary background research, initial calls. General direction. Need a collection of different types of sources, e.g. primary sources, flyers, personal contacts, web resources, organizations, sites where applicable
Submit: hypothetical research proposal, 1 page and preliminary bibliography, including contact person or people from outside NNHS.
Term II: Research and background necessary for you to set up and do your own study.
Submit: a research paper which includes methodologies etc. gleaned from library research, interviews with experts with whom they are working, etc. All sources must be properly cited!
Term III: Development of detailed methodology. By now you should be very clear on what you are going to do and how you are going to do it.
Submit: a unit lesson for teaching outreach, or experimental design, etc., including spring semester time line.
Term IV: Complete execution of project.
Present: a PPT presentation (10-15 minutes) for the class. Include background info, what you did, results, conclusions, critique. You will also hand in an annotated bibliography detailing the sources you actually used and how you used them.
Group size:
Projects may be done individually or in groups of up to three students. Sorry, you may not work with students from other blocks.
Project Ideas:
Environmental projects may include but are not limited to:
Policy: e.g. working with a local environmental organization on a campaign to establish stricter industrial pollution standards
Basic Science Research: e.g. conducting thorough water quality assessments around Newton and writing a paper to be submitted for publication
Raising Awareness: e.g. creating a program to raise awareness of a particular local environmental issue
Education: e.g. working with elementary school teachers to institute an annual composting project for their students
Labor: e.g.helping to organize and execute an extensive clean up day for a particular natural area of concern.
The future of NNHS: green buildings and green campuses – what, how, who?
Web-based research and data mining are also possibilities for your IRP. The following are a list of websites generated by Ms. Tokos in a couple of hours of web surfing for possible leads. Most of the sites were recommended by other teachers, including me.
http://genomics.wheatoncollege.edu/index.php
This is an interdisciplinary effort between biologists and computer scientists to speed analysis of known DNA sequences. Check out the educational resources. I would recommend this for a student who has a knack for computer programming.
http://www.wfu.edu/biology/albatross/
Wake Forest University has developed a project whereby students can become involved with tracking migration patterns of albatross through on line satellite imagery. There also seems to be info here on other projects involving satellite imagery of various types.
http://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/
More satellite data. This is primarily geophysical data related to geology, climate, and oceanography. Lots of potential here.
http://www.bigelow.org/shipmates/
http://www.gomoos.org/
Oceanographic data from the Gulf of Maine.
http://www.st.nmfs.gov/st1/index.html
Databases of a variety of information related to fish. Mostly commercial and recreational fisheries.
http://www.reef.org/data/data.htm
Databases of marine fish in US coastal waters.
http://whale.wheelock.edu/whalenet-stuff/stop_cover.html
Databases concerning marine mammals and turtles. If this topic interests you, do a more broad search for sea mammal or sea turtle tracking. I get the sense that there’s quite a bit out there.
http://www.vims.edu/rmap/wetlands/cgi-bin/index.htm
This site describes data related to the impact of human activities on wetlands in Virginia. If this topic interests you, I would encourage you to use this site to generate ideas for accessing similar info that is more relevant to coastal areas that are relevant to you.
http://www.butterflygardeningandconservation.com/
This seems like a source of potentially fun project ideas. However, I think the growing of plants and monitoring of butterflies would have to go on throughout the summer. If you are a junior who is really motivated to take this on, I am willing to have you make a presentation of your work to an AP biology class next fall. AP biology grade would have to be “Incomplete” until this presentation was made.
http://www.gorilla.org/
Conduct a behavioral study at the Franklin Park Zoo.
http://www.learner.org/jnorth/
This is another site that could lead you to develop a project that will not be complete until the end of the summer. That’s okay, as long as you are content to receive an “Incomplete” until you present your research in the fall. Juniors only.
http://www.absc.usgs.gov/research/NPPSD/index.htm
Database of seabird populations around Alaska and the North Pacific. This site makes me want to browse around the USGS web site more generally. I’ll bet there’s lots more.
http://www.uen.org/swan/
Follow the migration of trumpeter swans.
http://www.nbii.gov/disciplines/botany/index.html
This is potentially a huge resource for all things of the plant ilk. Check out the link to data and information resources.
http://far.nbii.gov/
Ditto above but with respect to fish and water resources.
http://www.nbii.gov/disciplines/herps/index.html
Ditto above but with respect to amphibians and reptiles.
http://education.imars.usf.edu/doral_classification.doc
This resource could lead to a study of coral reefs. I have an article from The ScienceTeacher magazine that may help you get started if you decide to pursue this topic.
http://www.cop.noaa.gov/stressors/extremeevents/hab/
Background info and possible links to real time data related to harmful algae blooms. Dense human populations on the coastlines make huge impacts on aquatic microbes.
http://avery.rutgers.edu/WSSP/Begin/index.html
This site describes a collaboration between New Jersey highs school students and Rutgers University professors. However, Mr. Snow and his students also worked on this last year, too! This is an opportunity to apply computer science to the study of DNA sequences.
http://roadkill.edutel.com/
This could be either awesome or awful.