Introduction

Our topic arose from a need to establish a statistics course and the desire to encourage more students to participate in the Junior Science and Humanities Symposium, sponsored by the European division of DoDEA. One part of the statistics course is experimental design. This lead to the development of the science part of the unit as it fit into our Introduction to Physics program.

In order to develop a coherent project, students must be given the opportunity to explore topics in which they have an interest. They topics presented in this unit are guidelines. These topics were given as examples as they fit into the DoDEA standards for Introduction to Physics. A worthwhile project can not be developed without the teacher presenting information using an inquiry based approach.

Inquiry is a common word in science education today. There are many units currently on the web that use this approach. The Inquiry Page Project provides a very cohesive, in-depth forum for learning more about how anyone can add more inquiry into any science classroom.

The topic of how technology impacts teenagers’ grades is a subject that has come up frequently in classroom technology discussions. This lesson is mapped out as to how a JSHS project might be developed using this topic. Other ideas for topics are also listed. The choice of topic must be up to the student so there is ownership. Computational science can apply to all the topics given.

Our classes are arranged on a modified block schedule with classes meeting for 84 minutes every other day. Each unit encompasses five 84 minute periods in each AP Statistics and Introduction to Physics. Significant out of class time is required in order to complete a report worthy of submission to the Junior Science and Humanities Symposium.