Assessment Of Learning Culminating Activity-Research Paper/Presentations

Research projects are a great way to get involved with an individual topic and become experts.

In research projects students can pick a topic from a theme of topics provided by the instructor.

An example of this would be a biology unit on the immune system where students do a research

project on a disease that affects the bodies immune system. Students research their topic using

scientific papers, textbooks, internet articles or other places with relevant information to write an

in-depth paper on their topic. In the process the students learn not only about their topic but the

unit of study in general. Students write their paper based on a success criteria and rubric

provided by the instructor. In addition to the paper, students present their research in the form of

a presentation in front of the class. If students work in groups, an interview with the induvial

students is a good idea to make sure all students understand their topic and that they didn’t let the

rest of their group do all the work. As a chemistry major I’ve written a few research papers

during my time at university. I find that they are a very effective from of learning and can often

lead to more retained information than test taking. As an educator it is important to have a very

clear and universal standard success criterion for students to follow to ensure the project is

relevant and fair to all students. Research projects serve as a culminating activity that

incorporate key concepts from the entire unit. As such they show a student’s culmination of

knowledge and evaluating them would fall under the category of summative assessment. I’ve

attached my own research paper from fourth year organic chemistry and the subsequent

presentation to use as an example.