MATES First Research Exhibit Project
Biology/Marine Biology/Chemistry
Assignment:“MATES Research Expo” Project Display for 2014 -2015
Objectives:
1)Review major research in the field of marine and environmental science.
2)Use appropriate search tools on the internet and find credible sources.
3)Organize information using a presentation rubric for a poster presentation.
4)Select a topic and develop a question based on that topic.
5)Set-up and conduct and experiment to answer the question.
6)Synthesize scientific information and data from studies to support the question.
7)Produce a professional-type presentation using skills learned on the computer from research class.
8)Present your project in the form of a professional poster session.
Project Development:
1)Your presentation is a poster presentation based on a choice of two options:
a)Conduct your own research investigation at home by forming your own hypothesis and gathering data.
b)Your project idea must be approved by your Biology Instructor for you to continue! All transfer students must get project ideas approved by Dr. Wnek
2)You need to reference your topic based on the experiment that you choose to conduct. A recommendation is to base your project off a previous study.
3)Research gathered must be from credible sources. Internet sources are okay if they come from a credible source (i.e. – government publications, zoos and aquaria, and college-linked information).
4)You need to select a topic and define a research question within the topic. The project could be based on anything within science (health, marine, environmental, physics, behavioral, etc…).
5)You will create a project display using a tri-fold project board which will be supplied to you in March. The Project Board will be four by three feet.
6)You will follow the attached template and rubric for design and grading.
7)Your instructors will serve as facilitators only and will not be a source of information for your project.
8)The project will be graded for neatness and completeness.
9)There will be NO hand-written titles or information on the Poster. Everything must be computer printed. We have computers at MATES and there is no excuse for sloppy presentation design.
10)There should be no glitter or stickers of any kind.
11)Include the following on your Poster Presentation:
a) Title
b)Abstract (a summation of the project in 150 – 200 words).
c)Introduction (describing some background information and the question).
d)Hypothesis (a statement based on a question that you are addressing)
e)Methods & Materials (what was used in your study and how the study was being conducted – bulleted information is acceptable).
f)Results (what were the data gathered? These are presented in Tables on the presentation – either your own data from your investigation or data synthesized from other studies addressing your topic).
g)Discussion (this is where you use Graphical information and present it in as Figures on your poster and discuss how the results relate to your question).
h)Conclusion (Please describe what you would have done differently or how you would change some parameters – it does not have to be long).
i)References (Credible references are important. Please cite them properly as a section on your poster and make this a smaller font size).
j)Acknowledgements (make sure to recognize any/and all assistance given to you throughout your research and/or study).
Grading:
a)Your grade for the project will be based on the rubric and process throughout the year.
b)There will be a science supervisor and an instructor using the rubric, checklist throughout the year and the combined points you earned out of the total points will be your grade.
1)The rubric is 40 points – thus 40 is a perfect score for that rubric.
2)Since two people will be grading your project, their combined points out of 80 points will be the grade (percentage). You will receive an additional 4 points in the category for meeting the deadlines. Therefore, you can earn a perfect 100%.
c)The judging will be for category recognitions only with the top 3 finishers (first, second and third places), with possible Honorable Mentions and specialty awards.
Schedule:
a)You must come up with a project idea by October 1, 2014.
b)All project ideas must be approved by your Biology Instructor.
c)You must gather your first three references by October 8, 2014.
d)If setting up an experiment, this must start by October 15, 2014.
e)A rough project design is due prior to your experiment.
f)Your finished abstracts are due by WednesdayApril 1, 2015.
g)Your rough posters are due by Thursday April 2, 2015
h)Your finished posters are due to MATES by Monday April 13, 2015
i)The formal poster presentation is scheduled for Wed. April 15, 2015
Important:
-Use the rubric and guide to help you with your poster. There will
be class visitations to go over the format and review your progress.
-DO NOT PROCRASTINATE as this is a requirement of all freshmen and
transfer students!
-Visit poster examples on this site or in the hallways at MATES to get an idea of the layout and design.
-You must maintain and present a DATA BOOK (BINDER) to back up your results on display.
GOOD LUCK. YOU WILL DO WELL. Remember, you are representing yourself, your class & your school.