Research/Capstone

Project
By:
Dr. Jocelyn O. Callet
Subject Teacher
 Research/Capstone Project

Subject Description: In this course, students, under

the guidance of a research adviser, will identify a
scientific, technological, or mathematical problem,
design and apply an appropriate methodology,
formulate hypothesis, and draw conclusions based on
their investigation. At the end of the semester
students will prepare a scientific report to be
presented/defended in a forum.

Note: The culminating activity may take the form of a

school wide S & T project exposition.
 Scientific Problem
A scientific problem is something you
don’t understand but you can do an
experiment to help you understand.
Scientific problems are usually based on
observation of scientific phenomena.

Here is some advice to help you identify

a scientific problem you can address by
designing your own experiment.
 1) Find a topic:
A topic is a relatively specific area of knowledge, or
subject, you will be working in, such as smoking
and lung cancer, sexual selection in birds, gravity,
Newton's Laws of Motion, properties of water,
etc... If you have been given a topic, you may need
to narrow it, to identify a more specific topic
within the broader one. This can make it easier to
work with. If you are supposed to choose your
own topic, do some brainstorming about things
you have learned about in your science course
that was particularly interesting for you,
something you’d like to know more about. Write
down some possible topics and choose the one
that seems most interesting to you.
 2) Identify A Problem Within
The Topic:
The problem is something you’d like to know more
about, a question you’d like to answer. Questions
can come from many different sources: from
lectures or textbooks, from an experiment you
have done that raised other questions, from
articles you’ve read in scientific journals or even
newspapers and magazines. To identify a scientific
problem, then, you can find sources that relate to
your topic and look to see what problems are
raised in your search. Write down the problems
that you find. Choose one that would be
interesting to solve and that is feasible for you to
solve.
 Applied research is a methodology used to solve a
specific, practical problem of an individual or group. The
study and research is used in business, medicine and
education in order to find solutions that may cure
diseases, solve scientific problems or develop technology

It is also defined as Research that encompasses real life

application of the natural science. It is directed towards
providing a solution to the specific practical problems and
develop innovative technology.

In finer terms, it is the research that can be

applied to real-life situations. It studies a
particular set of circumstances, so as to relate the
results to its corresponding circumstances.
 Basic Research

Investigation and analysis focused on a better or

fuller understanding of a subject, phenomenon, or a
basic law of nature instead of on a specific practical
application of the results

Basic Research is completely theoretical, that focuses on

basic principles and testing theories. It tends to understand
the basic law.
It deals with generalization and formulation of theory about
human behaviour. It is aligned towards collecting
information that has universal applicability. Therefore,
basic research helps in adding new knowledge to the
already existing knowledge.
 How To Determine Whether Your Problem Is A
Scientific One, And What You Can Do To Answer It?

If your problem is a scientific problem, then you can

perform a scientific experiment to find the answer to your
problem. A scientific problem is a question that you
have that can be answered via an experiment.
Not all problems that you have are scientific problems.
That's because not all questions can be answered with an
experiment. For example, the problem of trying to figure
out what to have for dinner is not a scientific problem
since you can't conduct an experiment to find the answer.
But the problem of trying to figure out how fast a
population of rabbits can grow is a scientific problem as
you can conduct an experiment on a population of rabbits
to observe and record just how fast they reproduce. You
can then use your information and any patterns that you
find to find your answer.
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