Group 4 Project Guide

Project Themes: Our Choice our future

Important Dates
Friday 15th December (8:30a.m. - 12 :30p.m.)
Monday 18th December (8:30a.m. - 2 :30p.m.)
Planning, research, and data gathering/processing
Presentations 19th December (9-12 p.m.)

Day 1 At the end Day 1 you will be sharing your Problem Statements , Areas of
Investigation and Focused reserch question with the rest of team .

Planning Your Project

Step 1: Identification of a group theme. Start with one of the broad themes and
narrow it down. Example: If the theme were “Forensics” a group theme might be
“blood evidence”. That theme can then be narrowed to things such as DNA profiling,
blood spatter pattern analysis or other more specific areas of investigation.

Step 2: Create a problem statement. The problem statement provides context and
direction for the research. It is a more in depth description of the group theme.
Example Problem Statement: Blood evidence in crimes can often make the difference
between conviction and acquittal. With all of the crime dramas on television, a lot of
myths are spread about how crime scenes and evidence are viewed and processed. We
intend to investigate the science behind blood evidence collection and processing.

Step 3: Identify areas of investigation (AoI). What interests you about the problem
you have identified? Examples: DNA profiling, blood spatter pattern analysis, effect of
cleaning products on blood, etc. Note that in these cases real blood would not be
used, but blood could easily be simulated in terms of density and viscosity. Other
investigations could be undertaken using the vast literature available.

Step 4: Assign roles. The whole point of the project is to get different disciplines
working together to investigate/solve a problem. This means that the biology
student(s) shouldn’t pick a biological investigation and go off and do that separately
from the group. Assigning roles should involve identifying the important AoIs that
will support a clear resolution to your problem statement and then deciding who
will undertake the investigation. This may involve a biology student and a computer
science student working together, for example, to investigate the design and/or
production of a computer database of blood spatter patterns and analyses.

Step 5: Research. A good place to start is by formulating a clear, focused research

question, similar to what you would produce when designing an experiment. While
the group 4 project does not have to be experimental in nature, experiments should
be performed wherever resources are available. Consider what information you
need to answer the question and make a clear presentation on your chosen theme.
These questions should drive your research regardless of whether you use a
database, scientific literature or experimental data. Keep track of these questions in
your project journal. It is important that you have personal input into the
results of your research. It is not sufficient to simply look up answers online
or summarize information from a single source. Example research
plan/questions: Is it really possible to determine if an assailant is right-handed or left-
handed from blood spatter patterns? We will test various scenarios such as stabbing
with a knife, slicing with a knife, beating with a cricket bat, etc. One team within our
group will be the “murderers” and the other team will investigate the evidence to try
and identify the “murderer.” We will then identify each pattern and try to identify any
evidence that may support a conclusion as to the handedness of the “killer” in each
case. OR To what extent is DNA profiling reliable evidence? We will search for data
relating to the number of convictions obtained using DNA evidence and compare that
to the number of cases overturned (wrongful convictions) due to DNA evidence as well
as acquittals despite DNA evidence. Research will also be undertaken to describe the
process of DNA profiling and the claims that a person’s DNA profile can be reliably
matched to only a single person.

Day 2

Step 6: Synthesize and evaluate your results. Any conclusions drawn from your
research should be your own. If you use database or literature sources the data
analysis and manipulation is your responsibility. You should be able to discuss the
reliability and validity of your data, whether it is from an experiment or from
another source.
Step 7: Outline and create your presentation. The presentation should be no more
than about 20-30 minutes long, so you’ll have to be able to summarize your research
quickly by focusing on the highlights. It is not necessary that you use Powerpoint or
Google Slides, so if you want to get creative with your presentation format, go ahead.
Other presentation tips include: 1) don’t write what you’re going to say on your” slide”.
If we wanted to read a report we’d ask you to submit a report. 2) keep the amount of
information on each “slide” to a minimum. You’re the expert, so we want to hear what
you have to say. 3) a good general rule of thumb is that each “slide” will take about 1-
2 minutes.

Day 3

Assessment
students will be given a grade based on creativity/innovation, collaboration and
presentation skills. They these are tied to ISOI digital literacy standards, others such
as creativity and innovation are related to IB science skills such as communication
and understanding the nature of science. Please note that this is a summative
assessment and there is no second chance, so you need to do your best work the
first time around.
Further Information
All presentations will be videotaped and uploaded to Vimeo. This serves two
purposes: 1) it allows the supervisors to view and mark each presentation, which
we will not have time to do on the presentation day; and 2) it allows community
members (parents, classmates, other teachers) to view and celebrate your hard
work even if they cannot attend the presentations.

Check out these links from the experts behind TED Talks on how to create an
outstanding presentation: a guide to better slides and public speaking tips.