Group 4 Project

Some Philosophy

Scientific investigations of today involve teamwork which , like the Group 4 Project, is interdisciplinary.

The underpinnings of teamwork are:

communication andrespect for each other

Nature of the Project

Collaborative experience Interdisciplinary co-operation ‘Real Science’ activity Processes, not Products

Topic

Sustainable Energy

Participation All students investigate the same

topic Split into smaller groups for 3 or 4

topics Each group will choose their own

sub-topic.

Four Phases

Planning 2 - 3 hoursDefinition of ActivitiesAction 5 - 6 hoursEvaluation 2 - 3 hours

Planning Definition Action Evaluation

(6 - 9)6 - 9 Hours

Planning (2 – 3 hours) Mixed-subject sessions:

brainstorm the topic Develop a hypothesis Suggest data collection Sharing of information & ideas

Definition of Activities

Develop subject-specific questions to answer

A subject specific hypothesis Define specific tasks Talk to staff (technicians) when

planning your experiments.

Action (6 - 9 hours)

Separate/group subject investigations

During ‘Normal’ lessons, after school or during Grp 4 time.

Evaluation (2 – 3 hours) The emphasis during this stage is on

students sharing their findings, both successes and failures, with the group 4 team.

Each group will be expected to give a brief presentation of your investigation (5 mins per team) Each person in the team will have 1 min to present their findings followed by Q&A.

Each project will be peer reviewed.

Assessment

The group 4 project forms one part of a candidate's overall practical experience and must be assessed for personal skills. (page )

If students study two sciences they must receive the same PS mark for the different sciences.

Example of Process to Identify a group 4 Project:

Step 1: Identify major topics: e.g., body, pollution, water, recycling, air, energy, nutrition, waste, agriculture.

Step 2: concentrate on a few topics: Impact of microwaves.., flat screen TV..

Step 3: Narrow topic down to one: e.g., Impact of phones on seed growth?

Example of Process to Identify a group 4 Project (cont.):

Step 5: Students in each subject come up with issues in their own areas.

Step 6: Create a hypothesis Step 7: Students in each subject narrow these

down to what they can collect in terms of data and investigations.

• Biology issues: Tracking growth of seeds at different stages.

• Physics Issues: Recording/Measuring the electromagnetic waves emitted by cell phones and impact on 4 seeds from different phone cases

• Chemistry Issues: Identify any chemical reaction taking place to explain growth if any.

• D.T Issues: Student came up with a CAD drawing of phone casing that will limit the impact of cell phones on plants/human beings. (Heavily linked toTopic 4-Materials)

Broad Topic: Sustainable Energy

Broad Topic: Sick Building Syndrome

Focused Question: How do the environmental conditions in a given building cause illness?

• Biology issues: Survey of symptoms, research into existing medical data: studies of respiratory illnesses, research on organisms --cause/effect

• Chemistry Issues: Call Health Department to find out tests for sick building e.g. in humidity studies, harmful gases,, etc. CO, CO2, particulates, water analysis, investigations of Brownian motion; Rn detection, condensation patterns

• Physics Issues: measurement of electromagnetic fields, air flow patterns, R factors, temperature of the buildings

• DT: Comparing materials used in the construction of buildings (topic 4) Looking at the impact of room layout and U-Value (topic 12)

Evaluation of Personal Skills:Personal Skills Accepted responsibility to contribute

to team Encouraged the contributions of

others Recognized the contributions of

others Showed self-motivation and

perseverance Showed ethical behavior in personal

relations and reporting results Paid due attention to environmental

impacts

Evaluation of Personal Skills: Evaluate yourself (student 1) and each of

the other members of your group on each of the skills listed in the table below:

Use the following evaluation scale: 1 = did not display the skill at all

2 = displayed the skill to some extent3 = did all that could be expected in this respectN = I did not have an opportunity to observe this skill