The first step is to think about what you want to do for your project. Think about what you may want your final product to look like. Take a look at the list above, you may choose an example from this list or create one of your own. Please do not feel limited by the examples I have provided. I am just trying to give you ideas and get you thinking about what you may want to do. Remember that whatever you choose, it should address the 3 project objectives above. If you are having trouble getting started, I strongly encourage you to see me during my office hour so that I can help you in the thinking process.
Similar to an experimental design, your plan will outline the steps you will take to complete your project. What often helps me when planning a project is to backwards design. Think about your end product, how it will look and what message you want to get across. How will you communicate to others what you learned from your research? In your planning you will also want to assess what you already know and what you need to know through doing research.
Your chosen project should require you to do a significant amount of research beyond what we learned in class so far. Remember to always strive to obtain quality research. We will be citing sources in MLA format. Here are some criteria to use to evaluate your research.
At some point before your rough draft is due (better sooner than later), you are required to check-in with me about the progress of your project. You DO NOT have to be finished with your rough draft to do this check-in. You can come at any point during the completion of your project. This is a face-to-face check-in that will most likely be for 5 minutes or less.
Your final product should reflect the time, effort and research that you put into your project. It should also highlight that you completed your project with the 3 objectives in mind. Therefore, your ROUGH DRAFT should be an extremely similar version of this final product. Please refer to the table below for expectations for your rough draft.
The type of final product that you create will be up to you. Do your best to be creative, unique and original so that your product doesnʻt resemble someone else's. Examples of the format of your final product may be but are not limited to a video, infographic, poster, brochure, digital/hand drawing, research paper, slideshow, song/dance, etc. Nonetheless, your final product should reflect the time, effort and research that you put into your project. It should also highlight that you completed your project with the 3 objectives in mind.
This should be a polished, totally complete, non-rushed version of your project that has benefitted from feedback (peer and, if you choose, teacher feedback as well). A true final product is a version with which you have been working for some time. To produce a quality final product, you should anticipate 5-10 separate work sessions dedicated to that product.
Think about what you chose to do and why. Hopefully this will inspire you to take action and respectfully inform others about your cause. How can you take your work beyond our biology class?