CVHS Science
2010-2011 Honors Research Project Page
NWSE Home Page (for most of the paperwork)
CWOSE Home Page (for the fair we are actually attending)
Project Timeline, Milestones and Due Dates
The timeline was last updated on 11/3/10
The website was last updated on 3/16/11
Your teacher will have you fill out evaluation forms periodically throughout the project -- Group Evaluation Form
This website can be used to determine which ISEF forms will be required for you project -- Forms Wizard Website
Wednesday, 3/16/11
Congrats to all of your winners from CWOSE! Groups who were awarded the opportunity to go to the Northwest Science Expo in Portland on April 1 will need the following information:
The day's schedule is available at the NWSE Home Page that is linked above. You should peruse the website for information about the fair.
We will need to know ASAP if you are planning on riding up to Portland with Mr. Kanter or are getting a ride with your parents. Let Mr. Kanter know by Friday, March 18.
We will need a new permission slip for the day of the fair even if you are riding with your parents. This needs to be turned in by March 28.
We will be leaving CVHS on April 1 at 5:30am and should be getting back that evening around 11:00pm. You should arrive at the school by 5:15am if you are riding up with us.
The general public has a viewing time available to check out the projects from 2:15-3:10pm and 5:00-7:30pm. The awards ceremony is from 6:30-8:00pm and all are welcome to attend.
If you would like a new poster printed because you have changed/improved things, an electronic copy of your new poster will need to be turned in to Mr. Kirsch by Monday, 3/28. If a new poster is not turned in, your original poster will be brought to Portland.
There is no food provided by the fair. Bring a bit of money for restaurants around the campus.
Students need to remain on the PSU campus during the day of the fair.
Thursday, 3/4/11
Tomorrow, while you are at the science fair, you will need to complete the Day of Science Fair Assignment.
Remember that we are meeting at the back of the school in Mr. Kirsch's room at 7:15am for a 7:30 departure to LBCC. If you are getting to LBCC via other methods you will need to have your project all set up by 8:30am at the latest.
Public viewing time is not posted on the schedule but the area is typically open for public viewing from 1-4pm, with students around between 1-2:30pm for comment.
Monday, 1/24/11
At today's lunch meeting, we passed out a checklist for paperwork that should be turned in no later than next Monday, 1/31. The earlier you can turn in your paperwork folder, the better. Please make sure that you have signed and dated all forms that need your signature and that all dates work within the project dates that you listed on Form 1A.
Any CV permission forms are linked below on this website if you need any that you have not already turned in.
Monday, 11/22/10
We are getting to a point in the process of working on these projects where it may benefit you to work on many parts of the project requirements at once. The expectations for several of the future assignments are provided in the links below:
Pilot Data Report--Due 11/29-30
Statistical Considerations--this may help you in the planning and analysis of your data.
Poster Guidelines--This assignment also lists requirements for a PowerPoint presentation that we are not doing this year. You can ignore those instructions.
Wednesday, 11/10/10
Groups should all have their ISEF project numbers at this point. That number and the password you were given should be used to log on to the affiliated fairs website at http://affiliatedfairs.org/fair_apps/login/project_login_form.php to fill out online forms. You will need to add any group members to your online registration and fill out all of the forms that you can. Later in the process, we will revisit these forms and check to make sure that any information entered at this point is still accurate before we submit all paperwork to the fair.
You can find a handbook of the complete ISEF rules at http://www.societyforscience.org/document.doc?id=9. Most questions about projects, especially if you feel that you need special forms for some aspects of your project, can be answered by looking at information found in this rule book.
Wednesday, 11/3/10
Some helpful information from today's lunch meeting:
The ISEF Paperwork Checklist will help you get through the majority of your paperwork and has important deadlines to keep in mind over the next week or so.
Use the Forms Wizard to get the forms from the ISEF website. The link to the Forms Wizard is above and the wizard will give you links to the forms you need to fill out.
Make sure to note the change in the Project Timeline, Milestones and Due Dates...the ISEF forms assignment has been adjusted slightly.
Permission Slips that are due are linked below:
Parent Permission Form --Everyone needs this form
Permission of Private Vehicle --If you are driving anywhere for anything related to the project you will need this form.
Transportation Permission Form --If you are driving and/or riding with anyone other than your own parents/guardians, you will need this form.
Tuesday, 11/2/10
This Wednesday 11/3/10 at lunch we will have a meeting to go over the requirements for the forms that are necessary to compete in ISEF. This paperwork must be filled out appropriately or else you risk disqualification at the fair. All honors students should attend this meeting in F-21.
Monday, 10/25/10
This Wednesday you will be turning in your Final Topic Assignment. We would also like groups to turn in their first Group Evaluation Form which is linked above. Each group member should print out a form and submit it to the teacher in charge of their group.
The next assignment on the list is the Proposal Outline which is due 11/8-9.
Tuesday, 10/19/10
The next assignment on the timeline is the Final Topic Assignment. This is intended to finalize your topic idea as mush as is possible during the course of the research process. The topic you write down on this assignment is still flexible and can still be changed but you want to be committed to your project at this time and should have worked through the planning processes enough to have a good idea if the project is feasible or not. The assignment mentions getting articles from the Valley Library but you can get them from the same resources that we used for the background research assignment. Make sure that the sources you are using are primary sources though or you will not be able to earn full credit. This assignment is a GROUP assignment. The vast majority of the assignments from this point forward will be group efforts and will be turned into the teacher who is working with your group.
Monday, 10/4/10
This week the focus of your project work should be on developing your topic and the specific question that you are going to pursue in your investigation. This Wednesday, you will need to turn in a paper with answers to the following questions:
Briefly state your question. What are you asking that your research project is going to (hopefully) answer? (THIS HAS TO BE A NARROW, DOABLE TOPIC, AND YOU HAVE TO BE SINCERE IN YOUR WILLINGNESS TO PURSUE IT).
Describe how this narrow question relates to a larger, important issue.
List the resources (people, facilities, equipment) that you have specifically identified to assist you on your project. List only those resources who have agreed to help, or that you know you have access to. If you haven’t ask someone, don’t list them as a resource.
The next assignment due on the Timeline and Milestones sheet is you set of Background Research Assignment. The best place to get sources for this assignment is the Valley Library at OSU. On Friday from 9-12, we will provide an opportunity for all honors students to work with the various research tools that we have available to us. We will go over ways to use the library at OSU as well as the tools that we have for times when the Valley Library is not an option. This meeting is not required but it is strongly recommended because research for this assignment needs to hold up to the standards or scientific research from primary sources and it is more involved than just a quick search on Google or even Google Scholar.
Thursday, 9/9/10
One of the most difficult parts of the projects is getting started with an idea. In class, we will discuss how you can come up with an idea that might prove to be good for your project. If you are interested in pursuing an honors project, the first thing that you need to do is to start thinking about your ideas. A good way to do this is by doing some Google searches about topics that interest you and seeing if you can find any interesting problems that you could investigate. By Friday, September 24th students interested in pursuing a project should have a basic idea that they will begin from...this idea can and probable will change throughout the course of the project.
Prior to open house on September 29th there will be an informational meeting regarding requirements for earning honors credit in physics, chemistry, and marine science. The meeting will begin at 5:30 PM in room F-21 and will last as long as there are questions. The overall goal of this meeting is to provide students and parents with the information they need in deciding whether or not to pursue the honors option in these classes. This meeting precedes the fall open house, the idea being to consolidate the number of times students have to come to CV in the evening.
When you are starting to think about your topics for research, it may help you to get going by looking through the different categories that make up the science fair. http://www.societyforscience.org/isef/students/research_categories.asp has a short description of each of the different categories that you will have to choose from when we sign you up for the fair.