Requirements for Middle School Teams:
- Student team members are responsible for designing and implementing their project.
- Teacher/mentor is available for guidance and advice on the team’s project.
- The QuikSCience Project must include:
- Lesson Plan
- Community Service
- Environmental Challenge/Solution
- Student Reflections
- Presentation of the Project (i.e., project board, PowerPoint, You Tube, website, etc.)
- Project Summary and Portfolio Checklist (Forms are attached and sent electronically)
- Delivery of the project (One printed copy, (4) document disks and any other items)
Deadlines:
December 4, 2009 - Your team must submit the attached documents: Parental Consent form for each student on the team and the School Principal Consent and Teacher Consent form.
February 19, 2010 - Your team must submit your QuikSCience Challenge Project before 5:00 pm on Friday, February 19, 2010 to the USC Wrigley Institute. The team must submit their entire project in 2 forms:
- A printed-paper version (double-sided preferred) and
- Two copies of each of the following disks (total of 4 disks) on either CD (preferred) or DVD (no mini’s!). The"Text Documentation"(Disk 1) must include the Portfolio Checklist, Project Summary, Lesson Plan, Community Service, Research Proposal, Environmental Challenge, and Student Reflections. The "Presentation" (Disk 2) will contain pictures and your unique presentation (see limitations below in #5).
March 10-12, 2010 - A panel of selected judges, who will evaluate teams based on their portfolios and creative presentations, will determine the winners. Selected teams will be called for an interview after which the final selections will be made.
March 25, 2010 - Please join us for the QuikSCience Open House recognition event! All teams are invited to this event at the Quiksilver, Inc. headquarters in Huntington Beach to view all the projects entered into the QuikSCience Challenge. All teams will receive special prizes, be entered in raffles, and enjoy great burgers before the announcement of the winning teams!
Guidelines:
1. New Lesson Plan for the Oceans: You, as students, work as a team to create and teachat least one new, ocean-related or aquatic/watershed, lesson plan that fits into the science curriculum at your school for a lower grade classroom. The teacher/mentor will provide guidance and oversight for content accuracy. You can brainstorm the topic with your team! This lesson plan should use the ocean or aquatic environment to illustrate or inspire students in some area of science and should be related to your public service project. The idea for the lesson plan can come from existing COSEE-West curricula www.usc.edu/org/cosee-west, other educational sources, or be invented by your team (perhaps the best!)
For ideas on HOW to teach take a moment to reflect on how you learn: Think of your favorite teacher: how did he/she teach, what activities did the students enjoy, how did the teacher speak, what interested the students in his/her lessons, what teaching resources or equipment was used? Also consider what is your favorite way to learn? How do you learn best? What do you enjoy about school (music, drama, small group work, problem solving, etc)?
You can explore other ideas about how we learn and learning styles at:
http://vels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/support/teaching.html#teaching
http://www.newhorizons.org/stratigies/mi/front_mi.htm
Now develop your own strategies for teaching and learning. The key is to create a lesson and teach it how you would like to be taught! (See Writing a Lesson Plan Guideline).
Your lesson plan description IN YOUR PORTFOLIO should describe:
- How it fits into your class’ science curriculum
- What California state science standards were met
- What grade level to be taught
- How many times lesson plan was taught
- The total number of students taught
- How they responded to the lesson plan
- How you modified the lesson plan as you taught it
- Any further improvement you would make after teaching it
2. Community Service: Your team should lead a larger group of your peers and/or members of the community in a public service activity involving the oceans or anything that affects the oceans (like storm-water runoff). You should be as creative as possible in this activity! You should also work to link it to some of the educational activities in your science classes at the school. If your project is an ongoing Community Service, describe how your team expanded and added new components to the project. Please include information such as the date & location of the event or activity, benefit to community, number of participants your project reached, relationship to your school, and any surprises or outcomes, etc. Submit a description of your Community Service project IN YOUR PORTFOLIO.
3. Write a Solution for an Environmental Challenge: As you are working with your project topic, seek solutions to the environmental problems you uncover. For example, if you are teaching students about the dangers of runoff into the ocean, what are some creative solutions for preventing runoff, helping animals affected by runoff, or reclaiming beaches from present runoff damage? Describe the problem, a solution to the problem, and what action would be required for this solution to be carried out. This should be a ½ to 1 page long document and submitted IN YOUR PORTFOLIO. (See Solution for Environmental Challenge Guideline).
4. Reflections: Each team member, including the teacher/mentor, must write a one-paragraph reflection on his or her personal experience in the QuikSCience Challenge. These reflections can be combined into one single word document and included IN YOUR PORTFOLIO,
5. Creative Presentations of the Project: Your team should create a visually interesting presentation that documents your project. Please keep in mind that the judges must be able to view your team's entire creative presentation within a 10 minute time period to the select winners. Additional materials will not be considered. The team must submit their entire presentation in 2 forms:
- A printed-paper version (double-sided preferred) of all project components (photos, photograph/copy of your posters, physical models, websites, etc.)
- Two copies each of the following disks (for a total of 4 disks) on either CD (preferred) or DVD (no mini’s!).
- (2 copies) “Text Documentation” (Disk 1) must include the Portfolio Checklist, Project Summary, Lesson Plan, Community Service, Research Proposal, Environmental Challenge, and Student Reflections.
- (2 copies) “Presentation” (Disk 2) will contain your unique presentation and any photographs.
- Photographs should not exceed 100 KB each.
- Power Points should not exceed 10 MB.
- Movies or videos should not exceed 10MB. Please use Real One Player, QuickTime Player or Windows Media Player and preferably link your movie in a PowerPoint presentation using YouTube.com or vimeo.com. We suggest this because it can be password protected and a link allows for easy access for the judges.
- Physical models or Presentation boardsshould not exceed 30" x 48"
Remember to think green: Limit your usage of paper, resources and plastic with everything you do!
6. PORTFOLIO Checklist / Project Summary: These documents record the details of your lesson plan, community service project, research proposal with your environmental solution, and the team reflections. Both the Portfolio Checklist and the Project Summary MUST be on the "Text Documentation" (Disk 1) AND a printed copy (See Portfolio Checklist for details).
7. Deliver Presentation of the Project: The project materials must be received by mail (not just postmarked) or delivered to USC Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies, AHF410, by 5:00 pm on February 19, 2010. Please allow extra time for traffic!
These overall project guidelines, along with information and examples of past competition projects, are available on the QuikSCience Challenge website at www.usc.edu/quikscience. The COSEE-West website at www.usc.edu/org/cosee-west may also be a helpful resource as you work on your projects. It includes links to curricular material that is available online and resources from partner organizations that may be of interest. While this site may serve as a starting point, please feel free to use whatever web or print-based resources you would like. As always, make sure you cross check information as much as possible for scientific validity! In addition, if your team needs feedback on your ideas or further assistance in getting started on any of the competition components, inspiring USC mentors are available to consult with your team.
Prizes:
Judging:
The QuikSCience Challenge projects will be judged on the following categories:
- Effort and thoroughness
- Creativity
- Scientific Merit
- Overall Skill
Projects will be judged on student ownership and if the students followed all the directions and met all the requirements. Your presentation should be visually interesting and include your overall project components to be viewed by the judges within a 10-minute time period. Judges are looking for your projects overall impact on the students, school, peers, and their community. The project must meet all of the requirements outlined in this letter to be eligible for the team trip to the Wrigley Marine Science Center on Catalina Island.
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