by Megan Hylok
mjhylok@mpsomaha.org

Grade Level: 9-12

Content Area: Science

• Students will use their knowledge of the Scientific Method to design and conduct a scientific research experiment.
• Students will learn and utilize various Technology Applications to enhance their scientific research experiment.
• Students will gain a better understanding of interactions that take place within an environment.
• Students will analyze their data and draw conclusions.
• Students will explain how what they’ve learned connects with the Nebraska State Science Standards.

Procedures

Choosing the Research

1. At the beginning of the year, take the students to the Outdoor Classroom. Have students sit and perform Part 1 of 20 Questions Activity on Palm notepad.
2. When the students are finished making up 20 questions, have the students sort their questions into different categories. Students will make a list of their categories and beam to the rest of the students in the class using notepad. As a class, combine, modify and narrow the choices of categories.
3. Within groups of 3, students will place each category under an Environmental Science Course Content Topic. As a class, discuss the overall best placement for each category and why.
4. Teacher will discuss with students what makes a “good” research question and have the students complete Part 2 of 20 Questions Activity.
5. Have students narrow their list of questions to 3-5 “good” research questions.
6. Students will get into groups of 3, beam each other their questions in notepad. As a group, students will modify and discuss what makes the question good or bad. From here the students will narrow down the group questions to 3 excellent research questions.
7. The group will complete Part 3 of 20 Questions Activity. Each person in the group will take one of the 3 chosen research questions and write a short research proposal using notepad or “Freewrite”. Students can then beam their proposals to each other and edit their proposals before beaming the final proposals to the teacher. Each student will have a different research proposal.
8. Teacher will read, edit, make suggestions and hand back student research proposals. After reading teacher comments and suggestions, students will narrow their 3 choices to 1 research proposal. Students will make any modifications and beam back to the teacher.
9. Once students have their research proposal decided they are ready to begin their research!
10. This would be a good time for the teacher to review the project expectations by going over the Scientific Research Paper Checklist and Scientific Research Presentation Checklist. Two areas of careful thought are the technology requirements and the application to the Nebraska State Standards.
    

Research

1. Students will collect background information on research topic. “Flingit” may be used to collect information from a webpage to be viewed on your handheld computer.
2. Information must be cited correctly according to MLA format. Citing References is very important, see the “eBook”, A Guide on Citing References, to cite your work correctly. Give credit where credit is due.
3. Students may use “Freewrite” or “LiteNotes” when writing background information and the design of their experiment. This helps with quick editing when necessary.
4. Students may use the Scientific Research Design Guide to help with research design organization.
5. Using background information, students will create their hypothesis.
6. Students will write a detailed, step-by-step procedure on how to complete their research question using “Freewrite” or “LiteNotes”. These can sometimes change while in the field, then easily modified later when writing the paper. Students must also include a drawing with their procedure. Using “Sketchy” an animated, color drawing might be a fun technology choice.
7. Students will need to create a materials list for the teacher in order to begin their research procedure. This could be done in “NotePad” then beamed to the teacher.
8. Once the procedure is approved, students may begin the research set-up and data collection. Below are some Palm Applications students may use to help complete the data collection.
   
   • ImagiWorks - probeware for data collection and graphing.
   • Vernier – LabPro and LoggerPro for data collection and graphing.
   • QDiary - Diary of sequential values triggered by time/date. To be saved in a MemoPad document.
   • Track - Logging program with database. Data may be exported to other programs.
   • wdTemp - Temperature conversions.
9. Analyzing data is one of the hardest areas of research for students. After graphing the data they look for any trends or reasons for error. Work must be graphed on a computer. Make sure students explain “what” the graph is showing, not “why”, save the “why” for the discussion.
10. Students need to write up the discussion. Students should discuss “why” the trends occurred and any reason for error. Students also need to think about suggestions to make the project better.
11. Students will then be required to put their scientific work into a paper, (Scientific Research Paper Checklist) and present their work in a presentation, (Scientific Research Presentation Checklist).
12. Students need to make sure they are following the technology and State Science Standards requirements.
13. The total project is worth 100 points. See Scientific Research Final Checklist on how the project is graded.
    

Teacher Notes:

• Make sure you discuss some field collecting ideas.
• Check to see that you have the equipment at school and it is working.
• Know how to run all equipment.
• Be flexible. Groups will be doing different research and data collecting.
• Students should be doing work appropriate for their level of ability.
• Have a clear picture on how students will be collecting their data.