MATES First Research Exhibit Project

Biology/Marine Biology/Chemistry

Assignment: “MATES Research Expo” Project Display for 2017 -2018

Objectives:

1) Review major research in science, math, technology, health and engineering.

2) Use appropriate search tools on the internet and find credible sources.

3) Organize information using a presentation rubric for a poster presentation.

4) Select a topic and develop a question based on that topic.

5) Set-up and conduct and experiment to answer the question.

6) Synthesize scientific information and data from studies to support the question.

7) Produce a professional-type presentation using skills learned on the computer from

research class.

8) Present your project in the form of a professional poster session.

Project Development:

1) Your presentation is a poster presentation based on a choice of two options:

a) Conduct your own research investigation at home by forming your own

hypothesis and gathering data.

b) Your project idea must be approved by your Biology Instructor for you

to continue! All transfer students must get project ideas approved by Dr.

Wnek

2) You need to reference your topic based on the experiment that you choose to

conduct. A recommendation is to base your project off a previous study.

3) Research gathered must be from credible sources. Internet sources are okay if they

come from a credible source (i.e. – government publications, zoos and aquaria, and

college-linked information).

4) You need to select a topic and define a research question within the topic. The

project could be based on anything within science (health, marine, environmental,

physics, behavioral, etc…).

5) You will create a project display using a tri-fold project board (36” x 48”).

6) You will follow the attached template and rubric for design and grading.

7) Your instructors will serve as facilitators only and will not be a source of information

for your project.

8) The project will be graded for neatness and completeness.

9) There will be NO hand-written titles or information on the Poster. Everything must

be computer printed. We have computers at MATES and there is no excuse for

sloppy presentation design.

10) There should be no glitter or stickers of any kind.

11) Include the following on your Poster Presentation:

a) Title

b) Abstract (a summation of the project in 150 – 200 words).

c) Introduction (describing some background information and the question).

d) Hypothesis (a statement based on a question that you are addressing)

e) Methods & Materials (what was used in your study and how the study was

being conducted – bulleted information is acceptable).

f) Results (what were the data gathered? These are presented in Tables on the

presentation – either your own data from your investigation or data

synthesized from other studies addressing your topic).

g) Discussion (this is where you use Graphical information and present it in as

Figures on your poster and discuss how the results relate to your question).

h) Conclusion (Please describe what you would have done differently or how

you would change some parameters – it does not have to be long).

i) References (Credible references are important. Please cite them properly as a

section on your poster and make this a smaller font size).

j) Acknowledgements (make sure to recognize any/and all assistance given to

you throughout your research and/or study).

Grading:

a) Your grade for the project will be based on the rubric and process throughout

the year.

b) There will be a science supervisor and an instructor using the rubric, checklist

throughout the year and the combined points you earned out of the total

points will be your grade.

1) The rubric is 40 points – thus 40 is a perfect score for that rubric.

2) Since two people will be grading your project, their combined

points out of 80 points will be the grade (percentage). You will

receive an additional 4 points in the category for meeting the

deadlines. Therefore, you can earn a perfect 100%.

c) The judging will be for category recognitions only with the top 3 finishers

(first, second and third places), with possible Honorable Mentions and

specialty awards. There is a rubric for the judges, but the judges scores will

not count toward the final project grade.

Schedule:

a) You must come up with a project idea by October 3, 2017 (no later).

b) All project ideas must be approved by your Biology Instructor.

c) You must gather your first three references by October 10, 2017.

d) If setting up an experiment, this must start by October 10, 2017.

e) A rough project design is due prior to your experiment.

f) Your finished abstracts are due by Friday February 16, 2018.

g) Your rough posters are due by Friday February 23, 2018.

h) Your completed posters are due to MATES by Monday February 26, 2018.

i) The formal poster presentation is scheduled for Wed. February 28, 2018.

Important:

-Use the rubric and guide to help you with your poster. There will

be class visitations to go over the format and review your progress.

-DO NOT PROCRASTINATE as this is a requirement of all freshmen and

transfer students!

-Visit poster examples on this site or in the hallways at MATES to get an idea of

the layout and design.

-You must maintain and present a DATA BOOK (BINDER) to back up your

results on display.

GOOD LUCK. YOU WILL DO WELL. Remember, you are representing yourself,

your class & your school.