S CIENCE N IGHT 2009

1. SCIENCE NIGHT 2009 • It’s here! Science night 2009 is upon us, and its time to start thinking about the part that you’ll play. This worksheet will help you plan out your part, as well as give you all the relevant information that you’ll need. Refer to the points below: • Science Night 2009 will be on Thursday, May 14th, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. in the HS gym. • The theme of Science Night 2009 is “How Science Affects Your Life.” • Each student is required to do a project, but is not required to attend Science Night. It’d be really nice if you could, though. No extra credit is available for attending. • You may work in groups that are subject to approval by Mr. Syracuse, or alone, if you wish. • Your project must have some physical bit to it. That is, you can’t just do a research project, though research will certainly be part of your project. You have to have an experiment, demonstration, etc. • Your project must be relevant to the class. That is, if you are taking biology, it must have something to do with biology. If you’re taking Earth Science or Forensic Science, it has to be related to that. This is a PRETTY LOOSE classification; lots of things can fall into each of these categories. • You may work with people in other classes if you wish, but it will be your responsibilityto collaborate outside of class! • So follow the questions on this sheet, and hand it in to Mr. Syracuse. Or, if you are working as a group, complete just ONE SHEET for the entire group, and put all your names on it. • What is your name, or who are the people in your group? Which class/period are you or they in? • Make a list of at least ten, vague topics that are interesting to you, and also that pertain to this class. e.g., if you are in biology, you might consider pollution, recycling, the water cycle, chemical reactions, etc. Nothing specific yet! Use the interwebs, a textbook, a lab we’ve already done, a catalog, or any other source to find a tasty topic; don’t just write down things that you can think of off of the top of your head. • 3. Select two or three of these topics that you think it would be possible (and interesting!) to make a project out of. e.g., you probably won’t be able to do a project on rocket science, because we don’t have any rockets, but water pollution, fingerprinting or photosynthesis are all good topics. Still nothing specific!

2. Here is where you need to separate the wheat from the chaff, if you will. You need to select one of the vague topics from question three, and think of some specific, sub-topics within it. e.g., if you selected “fingerprinting,” then you need to think about things like the genetic basis of fingerprints, variations among populations, depth of ridges in different age groups, etc. 5. So now pick one of the sub-topics from question 4 that you think you can reasonably get a project from. Think about things like materials (do we have/can we get the stuff you need?), time (do you have to grow plants? Should you start now?) and the “So What?” factor. Write your specific topic down below. MY/OUR TOPIC IS ______________________________________________________________________ What materials will you need Mr. Syracuse to get for you? What materials do you or your group have that you need? What bits of technology, if any, (e.g. computer, projector, document projector, LabPro temperature sensor, pH sensor, pressure sensor, etc.) will you need to present your project? What is the physical bit of your presentation? What experiment or demonstration will you do? How will you present your information at SN09? What research will you need to do? TEACHER APPROVAL _________________