Group 4 Project

GROUP 4 PROJECT

The Group IV Project is to emphasize interdisciplinary cooperation and the processes involved in scientific investigation rather than the products of such investigation. A scientific investigation requires that a problem should be identified. An answer (hypothesis) is proposed and research takes place to test the validity of the hypothesis. Scientific research should be methodical and logical.

INTERDISCIPLINARY

All the sciences are involved (ie all the IB students)
All will be working on the same theme.
All will be investigating the same problem from different perspectives.

TEAM WORK

You will be working as part of a team of 3 to 4 students. This means that your personal skills will be tested.

Personal Skills Group 4 Project

Complete/2

Partial/1

Not at all/0

Earned

Self-motivation and perseverance

Approaches the project with self-motivation and follows it through to completion.

Completes the project but sometimes lacks self-motivation.

Lacks perseverance and motivation.

Working within a team

Collaborates and communicates in a group situation and integrates the views of others.

Exchanges some views but requires guidance to collaborate with others.

Makes little or no attempt to collaborate in a group situation.

Self-reflection

Shows a thorough awareness of their own strengths and weaknesses and gives thoughtful consideration to their learning experience.

Shows limited awareness of their

own strengths and weaknesses and gives some consideration to their learning experience.

Shows no awareness of their own strengths and weaknesses and gives no consideration to their learning experience.

WHAT KIND OF PROBLEM?

The choice of problem to investigate should have moral, ethical, social, economic or environmental implications. It should be a problem which provides enough scope for all the different science groups.

WHAT KIND OF PROJECT?

The project will be selected by the students. Its your idea.
Needless to say the teachers will be on-hand to give advice concerning feasibility in terms of time and materials, safety and ethics.
The project may have a hands-on practical action phase or one involving purely theoretical aspects. It could be undertaken in a wide range of ways.

Ø Designing and carrying out a laboratory investigation or fieldwork.

Ø Carrying out a comparative study (experimental or otherwise) in collaboration with another school.

Ø Collating, manipulating and analyzing data from other sources, such as scientific journals,

Ø environmental organizations, science and technology industries and government reports.

Ø Designing and using a model or simulation.

Ø Contributing to a long-term project organized by the school.

The planning stage will be completed the first year of IB, the topic will be decided upon, and provisional discussion in individual subjects will take place at the end of the first year. Students will tackle the project and would be ready to start work early in the second year.

PROJECT STAGES

The 10 hours allocated to the group 4 project, which are part of the teaching time set aside for IA.

Planning:

You will be required to turn a proposal at the completion of this stage. This stage will be completed at the end of your first year in IB science.

This stage is crucial to the whole exercise and you will be given time after the AP and IB test in May to work in your groups to formulate a research question and hypothesis and to research your topic. In researching your topic you need to determine what is known about your topic and your research question. Your group will need to develop a research plan and submit a formal proposal.•

After selecting a topic or issue, the activities to be carried out must be clearly defined before moving from the planning stage to the action and evaluation stages.

The g WHAT IS A PROPOSAL?

A proposal for a project always precedes the actual project action phase. In a proposal one outlines three things:

·

·         The nature of the project

·         What is presently known about this topic

·         A research plan

Use the internet or library resources to identify who has done research into this or related areas and what their findings were. This does not have to be very long but should demonstrate that you have taken the time to inform yourself about the area of science you plan to operate in. Make sure that you record the references and attach them to your research.

4ject

Action:

Early during your second year of IB science a day will be set aside for the action stage of your project. There should be collaboration during the action stage; findings of investigations should be shared with other students within your group. During this stage, in any practically based

activity, it is important to pay attention to safety, ethical and environmental considerations.

Evaluation:

The emphasis during this stage is on students sharing their findings, both successes and failures, with other students.