Quick intro to Spring Projects

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Students’ projects for spring quarter are turning out to be very varied. Here are a few answers to student questions.

Project Outputs

  •  For literature- or lab-based projects, you will be submitting two outputs: A review or research paper, and a 20-minute Powerpoint presentation during Science Carnival.
  • If you are taking an online course instead of completing a project, your sole output for the quarter will be a certificate of completion from the online course (along with other process checks agreed to with your supervising faculty). If your course does not offer such a certificate, check in with Robin for acceptable output.

Class time devoted to Student Projects

  • Thursday, 9-10 am every week, will be devoted to project process time and/or check-ins.
  • Weeks 26-29 of what would normally be chemistry lab time (Tues 9-12) will be devoted to project work. Some of this will be open time to do lab work if necessary, and some will be devoted to process elements (like peer review of presentations).
  • There will also be time carved from physics (exact times still TBA).

Approximate Timeline

  • Week 21: Draft of project proposal due by 9 am Thursday (4/5). We will refine this draft during project time to include learning objectives.
  • Week 22: Final project proposal due 9 am Thursday (4/12). First set of students do proposal/background presentations.
  • Week 23: Second set of students do proposal/background presentations
  • Week 24: Annotated bibliography due 9 am 4/23. Students discuss annotated bibliographies with Robin.
  • Week 25: no in-class project work–get a solid draft ready for week 26!
  • Week 26: Peer Review of first half of papers (Introduction/Background, Materials and Methods, Preliminary Results/Analysis/Discussion)
  • Week 27: First set of students do preliminary results presentations
  • Week 28: Second set of students do preliminary results presentations
  • Week 29:
    • (Tues/Wed): final presentations for faculty/other project students
    • (Fri) present at Science Carnival (NOTE: All students in M&M are to attend Science Carnival Presentations, please arrange your schedules)
  • Week 30: Final project papers due 9 am Thursday