BMCI '05

Detailed Goals and Requirements for Research Portion

Goals:

The research phase of BMCI is designed to involve teachers in an intensive, focused research experience and to develop classroom projects to expose high school students to interdisciplinary research. Specific goals are as follows:

1. Engage teachers in a meaningful research experience, under the guidance of experts in the field.

2. Expose teachers in the module writing group to research experiences and opportunities.

3. Develop interdisciplinary research projects for high school students.

4. Develop skills that will help participants lead research projects involving high school students.

5. Assess the impact of DCI on teaching.

Requirements during workshop:

1. Research Notebook: Each participant in the research group will keep a daily summary of research conducted. Examples of things to include in this summary are the following:

· Problem formulation.

· Investigation of the literature and of previous work.

· Things you learned.

· Ideas/conjectures/questions.

· Email contacts with experts in the field.

· Results of experiments.

· Ideas for the technical report.

2. Technical Reports drafted by subteams: must include abstract, report and references. Here is a suggested format:

· Abstract: The abstract describes what the paper is about and highlights the main results.

· Introduction: The introduction explains what the paper is about. It gives guidance to prepare the reader for what follows, and offers motivation for the reader to want to read the rest of the report.

· Background: The background section gives technical terms and concepts that are basic and serve to inform the reader who might not know such things. The background section also provides a review of the relevant literature (with citations).

· Main Results (possibly multiple sections): This describes your results.

· Summary/Conclusions: Summarizes your work and gives conclusions.

· Avenues for Further Study: Discusses ideas that you have for further exploration of the topic.

· Appendices

· References

3. Philosophy of classroom teaching by individual: Each participant will prepare a short (one paragraph) statement that discusses how he/she expects the workshop to affect his/her teaching.

4. Team Presentations: on Friday, July 29, each team will present their research project. The purpose of this presentation is to expose the teachers in the module writing group to the research experience, so your presentation should be developed with that in mind. Due to the number of participants and the limited amount of time, each person will get ~5 minutes.

5. List of Potential Research Topics: After the workshop, participants in the research experience will be asked to develop a research project for high school students (see below). In preparation for this, each team will prepare a list of possible topics for projects.

Requirements after workshop:

In the year following the workshop, participants in the research experience are expected to do the following:

1. Formulate a research plan for students. This plan should be submitted by Sept. 1, 2005. A suggested format for this plan is given in Appendix A.

2. Work with students on a research project. This should be done in the fall semester. The teacher should keep a weekly log of the project.

3. Write a summary report of the research project, which should be submitted by January 15, 2006. A suggested format for this report is given in Appendix B.

4. Pilot a module written by one of the module writers. This will be done in January or February of 2006, and maywill include a visit by the module writer.

5. Submit feedback form on piloted module (due March 15, 2006).

6. (Optional, but encouraged) Present research project at Bio-Math Conference. If this is done, an abstract to the conference must be submitted by

7. Submit student questionnaires (due June 1, 2006).

Appendix A - Suggested Format for Research Plans

1. Title

2. Background - explains the general topic area in sufficient depth that students can understand the research questions.

3. Problem Description - describes the research question.

4. Resources - Provides pointers to resources that can be used by students.

5. Expectations - Describes what students will be expected to do during the project. This might include the following:

a. Maintain a research notebook.

b. Submit a technical report.

c. Submit an evaluation of the project, including a description of how they benefited from the project.

Appendix B - Suggested format for Summary Report

1. Title

2. Research Plan

3. Summary of research results

4. Benefits to students.

5. Benefits to teacher.

6. Lessons learned/suggestions for improving the project.

7. Appendices:

a. student logs

b. teacher log

c. student reports