Air Pollution: A Local and Global Problem

Let's Start - Project Assignments

Let's Start	Mission	Project Page
Links	Requirements	Grading

Getting Started:

Research Groups: For this project, you will be forming four-member research groups based on the city or country you wish to study. As your project progresses, you may want to form subgroups with other students who are looking for similar information. For example, you need to get in touch with an official from your city/country. Students assigned this task might plan together: What officials could we contact? How do we contact them? How to we introduce our project? Let's write an introduction together.

Research Plan: Each researh group will develop a plan for conducting your work. Initially, you need to determine what tasks you want to accomplish to address the problem, decide who will do each task and when they will report back to the group. Create your action plan on the computer and ensure that everyone has a copy of the plan. I will approve all research plans before you begin your work. You may need to revise this plan are your work progresses. I will approve amended plans too.

Communicating with Students and Experts: As part of your work, you should plan to collaborate online with other high school students in the city/country that you are researching and with experts. You should be able to find collaborators online. Check the online resource lists for lists of URLs and contacts.

Daily Logs:

Keep a log book and make journal entries every day you work on your project. Some log entries are "directed entries" when I will ask you to respond to specific questions. The other entries are "non-directed entries" when you will write what you feel is necessary. You should include such information as the following: what you learned, read, heard, discussed, questions you have, resources you found, people you've talked to, problems you have, what you plan next, what you have finished, etc.

Working Documents:

• Know/Need to Know (KNK): Print Form

  KNK can help your group assess what information you know and what you think you need to know to complete the project. It will help you answer questions, raise new questions and find solutions. Do new KNK charts throughout the project as you learn new information. All you do is list everything you know and everything you need to know.

• Brainstorming:

  Brainstorming generates ideas. When your group brainstorms be sure you begin with an idea, topic or question you want to explore. Remember the following rules: (for a more detailed explanation see Suler, J. (Jan. 1996). Teaching Clinical Psychology - Brainstorming. World Wide Web. http://www1.rider.edu/~suler/brainstorm.html:

  • List ideas and suggestions: write down all ideas generated
  • No criticism: do not judge or evaluate anything anyone says
  • Quantity: the more ideas the better
  • Combine and improve: add to, modify, improve other ideas
  • Relax: enjoy a mixture of friendly competition and mutual help
  • Silence is ok: think of ideas and reflect on what is out there

• Internet Logs: Print Form

  This will keep track of where and how you find information on the internet. It will help you reflect, share, and improve on your search. This will be vital for citing your resources. You must cite any images or other resources retrieved from the Internet and used in your project.

Weekly Group Self-Evaluations: Print Form

When you work in your group in class, complete an evaluation of how well your group worked. Rate your group's progress using the form. Add additional comments at the end.

Additional Comments:

Final Group Self-Evaluations:

At the end of the project you will complete a final group evaluation. This will include the following two parts:

• A final group evaluation using the weekly evaluation form.
• An assessment of the amount of work done by each group member.

  To do this take the number of students in your group and multiply by 10. This is the total number of points you group has to distribute.

  Divide these points up among the members of the group.

  Everyone must agree to the point distribution and sign the page.

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