Guided Research Project Series: Choose Your Scientific Discovery Topic

This course gives students the opportunity to develop research and oral and/or written communication skills while growing knowledge about a scientific discovery topic that can spark future learning pursuits. Through this inquiry-based project, students first learn what questions to ask about a scientific discovery topic (e.g. What is it? Who discovered it? What is its function? How does it work?). Students then learn how to locate, select, and organize information that responds to their questions. In this process, students also learn how to cite their sources to avoid plagiarism. Finally, students learn how to create an oral or written presentation of their research findings.

Possible scientific discovery topic ideas for this course include, but are not limited to:

electricity, laws of motion, penicillin, living cells, bacteria, gravity, electromagnetism, viruses,  polio vaccine, x-rays, thermodynamics, liquid crystals, neutrons, DNA, structure of solar system.

Each live class session roughly consists of (1) an introductory discussion, (2) direct instruction, (3) completion of a task, (4) sharing of work, and (5) a recap of the session. 

Here’s a breakdown of what each week will look like...

Week 1: 
We will discuss what we are interested in researching, what we know about it, and what we want to know about it.

I will explain the steps of a research project, and I will model how to plan using a graphic organizer.

We will complete a brainstorming map with our topic and subtopic questions. 
We will share what we chose as a topic and what subtopic questions we will research.

Before next class, students will need to finish the brainstorming map, start reading and watching videos about their topic, and listing their sources. Students will take notes on their topic.

Week 2:
We will discuss where to find information for research and what “credible” means.
I will explain which types of sources tend to be more credible and how to cite sources to avoid plagiarism. We will discuss strategies for finding specific information from books and websites, and we will discuss how to organize the information. 

I will explain and model how to look at the table of contents, index, search bar, headings, and subheadings to find specific information. I will demonstrate how to organize the information in written format.

We will complete searching, writing down findings from a book or web source, organizing the information on a document or slide, and citing the sources.

We will share our citations and findings.

Before next class, students will need to complete their organized research findings that respond to each subtopic.
Students will need to find and cite at least two more sources.

Week 3:
If learners choose to do an oral presentation, we will discuss types of visuals and what should go in the visuals.
I will explain that visuals need images and few words and that images need to be cited.
We will complete adding visuals to slides of the presentation. 
We will share our presentation.

If learners choose to do a written research paper, we will discuss types of text features and what text features should be added to the research papers.
I will explain the different types of text features and model how to add them, if necessary.
We will complete one to three text features to the research papers.
We will share our research papers.