Objective:

• I can finish my experimental model, conduct my final experimental procedures and complete my project by the specified deadline.

Required Files:

• NetOp Final Presentation 2017 Template

Links:

• The Scientific Method

Assignment:

• Use this week to finish work on your projects. Remember your guiding question and use the Scientific Method to guide your experimental procedure. Form your hypothesis, test with an experiment, analyze your data and draw conclusions to help answer your guiding question.
• This is the final week when you will have time to work on your project, so use the remaining time wisely to conclude your experimentation before Friday’s final deadline.
• The final checkpoint, Checkpoint 6,  will occur on Friday, April 28th. At that time, each team will be expected to submit a final written log of their week’s activities as  evidence of progress to receive credit for Checkpoint 6.
• Next week each team will be required to present the results of their project. Presentations will take place on Thursday and Friday of next week, so use the time to begin developing your presentation. Use the provided PowerPoint Template with the requirements and basic format  to build your slideshow presentation.

Objective:

• I can continue building my experimental model and proceed with my experimental procedures to complete my project by the specified deadline.

Links:

• The Scientific Method

Assignment:

• Continue working on your experiments. Focus on your guiding question and use the Scientific Method to guide your experimental procedure. Form your hypothesis, test with an experiment, analyze your data and draw conclusions to help answer your guiding question.
• Based on last week’s build experience, continue to assess how much time you need to complete your project, and determine whether or not this project can be accomplished within the remaining four weeks (again taking into account this week’s odd Tuesday schedule). Adjust your Team Work Plan  and project scope accordingly.
• Plan on completing your experimental procedures this week so you can use next week to gather and analyze data to draw your conclusions in preparation for the final presentation of results on May 4th and 5th.
• Checkpoint 5 will occur on Friday, April 21st. At that time, each team will once again be expected to submit a written log to the current Google Classroom assignment post detailing their weekly activities as evidence of progress to receive credit for Checkpoint 5.

Objective:

• I can continue building my experimental model and initiate my experimental procedures to complete my project by the specified deadline.

Links:

• The Scientific Method: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_scientific_method.shtml#overviewofthescientificmethod

Assignment:

• Continue working to build your finished product.
• Begin procedures to conduct your experiment. Remember your guiding question and use the Scientific Method to guide your experimental procedure. Form your hypothesis, test with an experiment, analyze your data and draw conclusions to help answer your guiding question.
• As you progress, open a Google Doc and keep a written log of your project progress. You will turn this log in at the end of the week as evidence of the progress you have made throughout the week.
• Based on last week’s build experience, continue to assess how much time you need to complete your project, and determine whether or not this project can be accomplished within the remaining three weeks. Adjust your Team Work Plan  and project scope accordingly.
• Checkpoint 4 will occur on Friday, April 14th. At that time, I will speak to each team, looking for evidence that sufficient progress is being made towards completion of the project within the time frame specified in the Team Project Work Plan. All teams will once again be expected to provide evidence of progress in the form of a written activity log submitted to this week’s Google Classroom Assignment Post in the form of a Google Doc to receive credit for Checkpoint 4.

Objective:

• I can collect materials and begin building my experimental model to complete my project by the specified deadline.

Assignment:

• Begin working to build your finished product.
• Collect and begin to assemble your materials into a working product.
• If your project does not have a physical component, begin procedures to conduct your experiment.
• Based on this week’s build experience, continue to assess how much time you need to complete your project, and determine whether or not this project can be accomplished within the remaining four weeks (taking into account this week’s odd schedule). Adjust your timelines and project scope accordingly.
• Checkpoint 3 will occur on Friday, April 7th. At that time, I will speak to each team, looking for evidence that sufficient progress is being made towards completion of the project within the time frame specified in the Team Project Work Plan submitted last week. All teams will be expected to provide evidence of this progress to receive credit for Checkpoint 3.

Objective:

• I can conduct research to determine what materials, procedures and time resources I need to complete my project by the specified deadline.

Required Files:

Team Work Plan 2017

Assignment:

• Begin working to determine what materials you need to complete your project’s finished product.
• Determine what you need to do to assemble said materials into a working model.
• If your project does not have a physical component, determine what procedures you need to follow to conduct your experiment.
• Estimate how much time you need to complete your project, and determine whether or not this project can be accomplished within the remaining five weeks (taking into account this week’s odd schedule and the March 31st holiday). Adjust your timelines and project scope accordingly.
• If you have not already, please complete a Team Work Plan and submit it by Thursday, March 30th to complete Checkpoint 2.

Final Project

Over the next six weeks, you are tasked with developing a project that will address some aspect of Computer Science. The project must include an experimental element and a written description that combine to answer a guiding question.

 Guiding Question:

You must formulate a driving question that will guide the development of your final product. This should not be a question you already know the answer to, although you should form a hypothesis that will guide your testing. Nor should it be a question that has an answer that can be looked up on Google. Your driving question should be a computer science-related question that can be answered through experimentation and proven with empirical data. Possible driving questions include (but are not limited to):

• How difficult is it to write a computer program that can guess a password?
• How can one design a video game that teaches someone how to do something?
• How can one learn more about app design by creating a new app or making improvements to an old one?
• How does a computer work, and how are all the parts connected together to create a working electronic device?
• Do extreme temperatures (both hot and cold) affect how well a computer performs given tasks?

You will need to submit your guiding question to Mr. Marmolejo, and receive approval before the end of the week. Upload a Google Doc with your Guiding Question to today’s Google Classroom post by end of day on Friday, March 24th.

Product:

At the end of the project, you will need to have a way to demonstrate the results of your experimentation. There are 3 products to choose from, each with varying levels of difficulty. The harder the product is to create, the more points it is worth.

Option 1 – 100 points: Create a working model of your project using your own materials, or materials that are available in the Center for Computer Studies, along with a written report detailing the steps you followed to complete the project, your experimentation procedure and the results of your experiment that lead to the answer you determined for your guiding question.

Option 2 – 85 points: Create a PowerPoint presentation that discusses all the elements of your experiment and details the steps you followed to complete the project, your experimentation procedure and the results of your experiment that lead to the answer you determined for your guiding question.

Option 3 – 70 points: Create a poster that discusses all the elements of your experiment and details the steps you followed to complete the project, your experimentation procedure and the results of your experiment that lead to the answer you determined for your guiding question.

Remember, these products need to include both the visual and written elements to receive full credit.

You will have checkpoints along the way and will get feedback from Mister Marmolejo throughout the course of the project.

Do’s and Don’ts:

Do be sure to pick a project that you are interested in, and that will continue to hold your interest for the next six weeks.

Do your research in class, and your experiments if possible.

Do yourself a favor and write up a plan for the next six weeks.

Do use your class time wisely: to conduct research, to build your project or to write up the results.

Don’t pick a project that will take one day to finish and expect to chill for the next five and a half weeks.

Don’t build a project for its own sake – make sure you develop a guiding question and an experimental procedure that the project can address.

Don’t sit at your desk and watch YouTube videos, unless they are directly related to your project.

Don’t bite off more than you can chew: make sure your project is something that you can finish within six weeks.

Don’t assume that six weeks is all the time in the world. As you discovered in the Directional Antennas project, the next six weeks will go much faster than you think – plan and manage your time accordingly.

Week 1 – Checkpoint

As soon as possible, you should upload a Google Doc  to today’s Google Classroom post that contains the following details:

• Your Name (if you are teaming up with someone, include both team members’ names)
• Your guiding question
• If you are teaming up with someone, you must submit a Team Agreement as well (edit the PDF document in Acrobat and upload a digital copy to the Google Classroom assignment post).

Team Agreement 2017

I will review your guiding question and return your document to you with my approval, or with suggestions for revision. If your question is approved, you may proceed to the planning phase of the project. If your question needs revisions, submit the revisions for my approval as soon as possible.

Your guiding question must be approved by the end of the day on Friday, March 24^th, 2017 for you to receive credit for the first checkpoint.

Published on Monday, March 20th, 2017

Due Date: Friday, March 24th, 2017