Week 1 Progress Report

Today we received our Science assessment task which is a Student Research Project (SRP) in our school mail inbox. Mr. Ng went through all the major details about the assessment task and what we need to do. We went through how to use 'Blogger' to update the things we have done in relation and progress of our assessment task and we also learnt how to use 'bubbl.us' for our brainstorms.  In class we are working toward our assessment with progression- We had to write a method up for an experiment on page 64 of our  Science booklets which I should refer back to later. I also have found the sample blog a helpful guide to follow by for my blog : http://year10project2011.blogspot.com/
I am still thinking of ideas to base my assessment task on, I found the idea page useful on the myclasses site, So I will have to get back to you on that one. But overall I am quite excited for the assessment task !


When I got home , I decided to have a thorough look through the myclassess ideas list and also  research possible experiment ideas I could possibly carry out for my SRP. After that I decided to create a bubblus mind map for my SRP ideas. Click it on below and also feel free to click on my mindmap and zoom in if you can't see all the text.

BUBBL.US MIND MAP:

It's the 3rd of March and I came back to just update this post to just state which experiment I have chosen to go on with for my SRP. And I after hard thinking I have chosen to go with " Do different brands of popcorn leave different amounts of un-popped kernels? "  As I have read on the Assessment Guidelines found on the myclassess website that "The most successful research projects are those that hold some interest for the student."  And I have a great interest in Popcorn as I don't like unhealthy snacks such as chips, so I substitute with Popcorn which I enjoy a lot. And additionally a problem I have encountered with popcorn is always having a lot of un-popped  popcorn kernels which really annoys me, because I personally feel you aren't getting the best value out of your money . So I found this a great topic for my SRP. 

Since I have chosen my topic I just had to make sure I consider safety when choosing my project. I will have to carry out a risk assessment.

 Remember:

 Your project cannot involve explosions or poisonous or flammable substances

 You must not use domestic supply (240 volt) electricity when constructing circuits

 You must not be cruel to animals

 Do not damage the environment

I was able to successfully tick all these boxes in relation to my topic , so tommorow I will ask approval off my science teacher Mr.Ng.

 I came back again to edit this post , it is the 4th of March and I have shared my topic with Mr.Ng and he approved of it. So now I have to plan out my assessment as I don't want to run out of time.  From the Guidelines on myclasses I have decided to use the timetable as I read through it and assured it suits me.

So I will be following this timetable from here on to carry out a successful SRP:

p.s I will be highlighting each thing I have completed as I go on this timetable.

Timetable/Timeline:

	Done	Timeline
Week 5 T1		Choose your topic. Think about an aim. Discuss it with your teacher
		Create your mindmap using bubbl.us
		Create your blog and write your first blog entry
Week 6 T1		Carry out library research, make phone calls, write letters/emails.
		Add any additional information to your mindmap
		Write this weeks blog
Week 7 T1		Design experiment(s), discuss them with your teacher. Allow time for repetition.
		Organise equipment/resources,
		set controls,
		identify dependent and independent variables,
		select your method of collecting results,
		Create your draft neoOffice file and write in your Aim, Equipment, Variables, method and safety precautions
		Write this weeks blog
Week 8		Write your method and carry out the experiments,
		Write your method and record your results into your results table in your neoOffice file
		Write this weeks blog
Week 9		analyse the results,
		evaluate methods used,
		discuss with your teacher.
		Write your analysis and evaluation of methods into google docs
		Write this weeks blog
Week 10		Edit the report draft .(email it to your teacher to read over it)
		Write this weeks blog
Holidays		Complete your report If you had problems with your initial experiment or results now is a good time to repeat the experiment (if you do this make sure you include both sets of results and discuss report)
Week 1 T2		Write a final blog with a link to your bubblus. Mind map
Week 2 T2		Submit your completed project.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Hess,A. (1999) Batteries [Internet] Carmel, CA. Available from: < http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_sample_final_report.pdf>[ accessed 3rd March,2011]. 

Jackson,K. (Unknown) What are some Science Project Ideas ? [Internet] Unknown. Available from: <http://www.dailypuppy.com/articles/what-are-some-science-project-ideas/f12acb7c-db23-22e6-7c6c-8a2a8ace42ef >[accessed 2nd March,2011]. 

Ross,B. (2007) Science Project Ideas [Internet] Betsy Ross Arts Magnet School, 150 Kimberly Avenue. Available from:<http://www.rossarts.org/naples/ideas.htm >[accessed 3rd March,2011]. 

Shakhashiri,B.(Unknown) Candy Chromatography [Internet]University of Wisconsin-Madison. Available from: <http://scifun.chem.wisc.edu/homeexpts/candy.htm> [accessed 2nd March,2011].

Shelly,S. (2003) Earth Science Projects [Internet] 501 Boylston St., Suite 900. Available from:< http://www.infoplease.com/spot/science-projects-earth-sciences.html>[accessed 2nd March,2011].