As noted at the start of this course, you may be performing two group projects during this semester: one at midterm and one at the end of the semester. The procedure and expectations for these two projects will be the same, and are the topics of this web page.
The purpose of the Problems Lab is to lead you to develop the skills associated with a good experimental investigation of the behavior of a physical system. This is really what science is all about – experimental investigation leads to results which lead to scientific theories which result in predictions of physical behaviors or characteristics which lead to experimental investigations.... Without developing the skills associated with the planning and carrying out of an experimental investigation and communicating the results of that investigation to others, you are developing only a shell of an understanding of what goes on in any kind of science. This is why your Activity book is often so vague in specifying precise steps telling you what to do—it simply presents you with a situation and a problem, and tries to have you and your fellow group members discuss ways to approach the problem, decide which and how many measurements to make, and how to communicate your results via graphs, tables of data, or final equations. The best way to develop the skills associated with these decisions is with practice. Your activities should provide you ample opportunity to think about, discuss and develop these skills throughout this semester. You should discuss your ideas with your instructor to get feedback on your experimental approach if you don’t feel comfortable with them.
The Semester Projects are a means for the course instructors to assess how you are progressing in developing these skills of experimental investigation and to give you direct feedback on areas which need improvement, or to let you know of areas in which you seem to be excelling. The feedback will consist of comments and grades from both instructors and your fellow students.
The Semester Projects will be done in groups – in particular, the group in which you are assigned during the time allotted for the project. (Group members will be switched several times during the semester. See the course syllabus.) As a group, you will decide on a project to perform. This project is simply a study of the behavior of a physical system, be it a ball rolling down an incline, a car coasting down the road, or a wad of paper falling from a window. Your purpose in deciding on a project is to find a project which, (i) is finite enough to be performed during the allotted time, and (ii)incorporates significant topics from the course material and methodologies being presented in the lecture pages as well as in the Problems Labs, including a graphical analysis of data. Your group will have to submit a Project Proposal that addresses the two points given above by the deadline given in your course schedule. Sufficient data will have to be taken by your group so as to provide convincing evidence for the conclusions that you draw about the system’s behavior or characteristics that you have studied. A detailed analysis of your results and the associated errors will be expected.
Your project results will be presented in two forms. First, your group will make a group presentation of your findings and conclusions. You will have 10 minutes to make your presentation as a group. Each group member will have to play a significant role in the presentation. A laptop and projector will be available for your use during the presentations—PowerPoint presentations tend to be the best received (as opposed to dry-erase board or overhead presentations). If you have any special software that is needed to run special files or videos for your presentation, or if you are using a very new version of software that may not have yet been updated on the laptop provided, then you should bring your own laptop to use during your presentation. You should not put your presentation on poster board—it cannot be seen from the back of the room and will not result in a good project evaluation grade! At the end of your group presentation, your performance will be evaluated by both your fellow students as well as by your instructor.
In addition to the oral presentation, each group member will submit an individually written formal written report on the project performed. This written report must follow the format outlined on the Written Report web page (see the buttons at the upper-left of this page). Your total project grade will be a combination of your grade from the group presentation along with the grade on your individually submitted report. Your written report along with your project grade and comments about your group’s presentation for the Midterm Project will be returned to you as soon as possible after the day of the presentations.
Some Important Points about the Projects
1. Everything submitted to the instructor pertaining to the project must be neatly typed. This includes the proposal and the written report.
2. The total cost incurred by each group for the completion of the project is not to exceed $10. (No reimbursement for the money spent will be provided.)
3. Everyone in the group must be involved in the planning, carrying out, and presentation of the project. An Honor Statement will be provided for each group member to complete and submit in which each group member’s percent of involvement will be estimated. (For example, if there are 4 members in the group, then the percent involvement of each group member should be 25%. If one member contributed very little, then perhaps that member’s percent involvement should be closer to 10%, and the other members’ closer to 30%.) The lab instructor will then collect the Honor Statements from each group member and average all of the percent involvement scores submitted for each student (unless a group member submits scores that seem to be too far out-of-line compared to the other group members’ submissions, in which case that student’s submissions will be ignored).
4. The project must cover significant topics covered in the lecture and Problems Labs, including a graphical analysis of data and uncertainties. These topics must be clearly pointed out in the project proposal submitted to the instructor.
5. Your work on the projects is being used to assess the extent to which you are developing the skills associated with good experimental investigations. You therefore want to make sure that you incorporate as many of the skills encountered in the Activities as possible. (See Appendix A in the Activity book.)
6. The submitted written report should represent your own work. While the ideas will certainly have been discussed with your group members, the work presented in the written report must be your own. In particular, you may not incorporate figures or graphs from other sources into your report, let alone any portions of text written by someone else (whether they are in your group or not). Everything that you submit must be work that you have produced. (The only exception to this rule is if someone took a picture of your lab set-up, and you wanted to use that picture to produce a figure for your report. You may use that picture with appropriate credit to the photographer, but then you must do the labeling of appropriate information on the picture to produce the desired figure.) Any breach of this policy will be treated as plagiarism and will be dealt with harshly.
7. Your group will be allowed no more than 10 minutes to compete its presentation. If you do not finish your presentation in the allotted time, then your grade will reflect the fact that the presentation was not complete. This is where planning and practice come into play!
8. You should not hesitate to consult your instructor about your projects, presentations or written reports if you have questions that your group cannot resolve, or if something is unclear.
9. The best project topics are ones that interest you and your fellow group members and include clear applications of topics and skills from the course. Topics associated with your majors are always a plus!
10. It is understood that it is very difficult if not impossible to get all of your group members together at the same time in the same place. It is sometimes difficult and frustrating just to get some of your group members to contribute their share of the work and to simply show up at the agreed-upon meeting times! This is part of learning to work in groups. You should assign a group leader who is responsible for the planning and organizing of the tasks to be done, meetings to be held, etc. The person acting as the group leader should be acknowledged on the title page of your written report. The more work and frustration that your group leader has to go through to get your group together indicates a clearer sign that the percent efforts on the Honor Statement should perhaps be adjusted. Try your best to be helpful, cooperative, considerate and thoughtful of others’ ideas when working on these projects. Please see your instructor if you have difficulties in your group that cannot be resolved by the group members themselves.
11. Be sure to read over the comments made to previous groups about their presentations—aim for the positive comments and avoid the negative ones!
12. Look over the evaluation form that will be used to evaluate your oral presentation. Make sure that you clearly address each point on which you will be evaluated!
13. At the beginning of the presentations it is a good idea to have the person starting things off introduce the group (“we are group alpha...”) and the group members. Make sure that the title of the presentation is announced, and make sure that the purpose of the project is very clearly stated and explained. (This is one of the points on which you are being evaluated!)
14. The group members who are not speaking should be standing off to the side. In particular, do not stand in the way of people sitting in the audience—don’t block their view of the presentation!