Mentoring Students on Independent Research Projects

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Mentoring Students on Independent Research
Projects

• Joe Large
• Marmion Academy
• MTA Spring Diner, 4/10/13

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• Dedicated to Bob Huntoon

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Why Independent Research?

• Development of Critical-Thinking Skills
• Problem-Solving
• Authentic Assessment
• College and Career Readiness
• Common Core

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History of the Marmion Program

• 6th Year of the Program
• 1 or 2 Semester Course Senior Elective (Honors)
• Pre-requisites
• 1. Student has demonstrated strong academic
  performance
• 2. Student must apply for Honors placement
• 3. Student has demonstrated ability to be an
  independent learner
• 4. Student must participate in preliminary
  interviews
• 5. Final approval by Assistant
  Headmaster/Director of Student Services and
  Department Chairperson

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Marmion Program (cont.)

• Students develop, with the assistance and
  guidance of instructors, an independent research
  project to include a written and oral report
  which is submitted to the appropriate department.
  This is considered an elite level of learning
  with formal presentation of results to faculty
  board, family and other members of the general
  public. Students may choose to do a one semester
  or full year project within any discipline.
• Sample Topics
• Bioluminescence
• Assessment of Contemporary English Literature
• Molecular Dynamics Simulation
• Global Impact of the Cold War
• Applications of Artificial Intelligence

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Phases of the Research Process

• 1) Develop the research question
• 2) Formulate the hypothesis
• 3) Find background information
• 4) Create a methodology for exploring the topic
• 5) Experiment/Simulate the research question
• 6) Gather data
• 7) Draw conclusions

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Case Study Nuclear Medicine

• Research Question
• How do we use advanced statistics to accelerate
  the decision-making process on nuclear
  contamination?
• Hypothesis
• Using the Poisson Distribution, we should be able
  to accurately forecast whether a sample will
  exceed the contamination level

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Case Study Nuclear Medicine

• Background information
• Nuclear decay of radioactive isotopes
• Use of isotopes in the field of nuclear medicine
• Government safety regulations for contamination
• Advanced statistics Poisson Distribution
• Computer programming MATLAB
• Methodology
• Simulate the decay of a radioactive isotope using
  MATLAB, and use this to test our hypothesis

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Case Study Nuclear Medicine

• Research Project Summary
• http//prezi.com/yjoaq4il-kkn/statistics-in-nuclea
  r-medicine/
• http//prezi.com/bddnvjktivx7/statistics/
• Simulation Results
• Student Reflection Interview
• http//youtu.be/jvVOmHS0afE

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Case Study Nuclear Medicine

• Building connections outside the classroom and
  communicating with professionals in the field
• FermiLab, Dr. Erik Ramberg
• Laboratory Technologies, Mr. Scott Oesterlin

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Common Issues

• What should we research?
• Where do we begin?
• What if I dont know the answers?
• Time management?
• Structure?

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Jacklyn (Jacki) Naughton

• Science teacher and research advisor for 30
  years.
• Developed and taught a STEM Inquiry and Research
  class at Niles North High School in Skokie, IL.
• Has served on both the regional and state
  Illinois Junior Academy of Science boards for
  over 15 years.
• Currently employed at IMSA as an Online Education
  Specialist.

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• PROJECT TITLE Determining Integers Expressible as
  the Sum of Two Squares and in the Form x2Dy2
• Purpose To determine whether a given positive
  integer n can be expressed as a sum of two
  integer squares and, more generally, in the for
  x2Dy2, where x and y are integers, and D is a
  given positive integer.
• Procedure Determine which integer primes are
  expressible as a sum of two squares. Using
  numerical examples and the property of unique
  prime factorization in the integers, conjecture
  and prove a criterion determining which positive
  integers are expressible as a sum of two squares.
  Repeat by determining which integer primes are
  expressible in the form x2Dy2 for some
  integers x and y, given a positive integer D.
  Use this information to find a criterion to
  determine which positive integers are expressible
  in the form x2Dy2.
• Conclusion Given a positive integer n, n is
  expressible as the sum of two integer squares if
  and only if every prime factor of n that is
  congruent to 3 modulo 4 is raised to an even
  power in the prime factorization of n. Also,
  there exists integers x and y such that n
  x2Dy2 if and only if every prime factor p of n
  such that -D is not a quadratic residue modulo p,
  p is raised to an even power in the prime
  factorization of n.

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Math projects

• Modeling the Efficacy of a Chemotherapy Drug with
  a Differential Equation for Drug Resistance
• Modeling the Movement of a Crowd Through an Exit
  Using NetLogo
• Using a Network Model to Analyze the Efficacy of
  Targeted Vaccinations
• Route Planning for Municipal Transportation with
  Shared Car Rides
• The Association Between Student-Teacher Ratio and
  High School Graduation Rate
• A Markov Analysis of Wins Above Replacement
• Efficient Evasion on a 2D Surface
• Synthesizing Flute Waveforms using Fourier Series
• Determining the More Efficient Algorithm A
  Comparison between the Nearest Neighbor Algorithm
  and the 2-Opt Algorithm
• The Circle Algorithm A Novel Heuristic for the
  Traveling Salesman Problem
• Investigating the Spread of Tuberculosis within
  an Airplane using a Network Model
• Modeling the Growth in the Population of Illinois
  Using Differential Equations
• Statistical Analysis of Shootout Goals in Hockey
  Using Defense Independent Goalie Rating
• Turbulence and Splash Analysis of a Rip Entry in
  Competitive Diving

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Thoughts from a math-modeling teacher

• "I think it is important for teachers to realize
  that they can not individually help every student
  on all aspects of their projects. If students
  don't have mentors, then the students need to be
  very good independent workers. Both teachers and
  students need to be comfortable not knowing the
  answer. This is a course about getting things
  figured out that can be very unnerving for math
  students who are used to looking up the right
  answer in the back of the book, and it can also
  be unsettling for teachers if they think that
  they need to know it all. We don't, so don't be
  afraid to find mentors or seek help from other
  experts in the school."

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Student Research Facilitation

• Course Benefits
• Learn about models and tools for implementing
  student research in your school or district
• Advance your local planning efforts to facilitate
  student research opportunities
• Share best practices for in-school, after-school
  and summer program models from experienced area
  teachers and STEM leaders

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Student Research Facilitation

• Course Specifics
• Duration 11 weeks
• Format Hybrid - 3 contact meetings with
  remaining sessions done independently, online
• Meeting locations Northwestern University in
  Evanston or Illinois Mathematics and Science
  Academy (IMSA) in Aurora or virtual meeting
• Program is free 45 CPDU credits available
• Teachers are encouraged to come in teams

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Visit the OSEP website to enroll
osep.northwestern.edu
Under projects and programs, look for STEM
Student Research
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RISE Research Inquiry Skills and
Experimentation

• Course Benefits
• Learn the skills necessary to conduct independent
  research and report your findings
• Choose a topic of your own interest
• Collaborate with other high school students
  involved in independent research
• Connect with a research expert in your field of
  inquiry as an e-mentor
• Conduct authentic research
• Present your research findings at various
  regional/state venues

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RISE Research Inquiry Skills and
Experimentation

• Course Specifics
• RISE is an online, non-credit bearing course
  offered by the Illinois Mathematics and Science
  Academy
• Access to a computer with Internet capabilities
  is necessary
• Duration Two semesters
• For registration information contact Jacki
  Naughton _at_ jacnau_at_imsa.edu

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Discussion

• Questions?
• Comments?
• Thoughts?