A COLLECTION OF SUCCESSFUL PROJECTS
Brad Fout, Chelsea Keller, and Patricia Reuther
Physical Science Teachers
Hilliard Davidson High School bradley_fout@hboe.org
chelsea_keller@hboe.org
patricia_reuther@hboe.org

 What it is:
 Students working toward creating a deliverable product and learning content standards along the way
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Real-world applications and student-driven research
50% Content Learning & 50% 21 st Century Skills
 Ultimate differentiated instruction

 What it is not:
 Students researching completely different topics on tangents not linked to standards
 Teachers abandoning all traditional teaching resources and methods
 Every student creating something worthy of a
Noble Prize or every student creating something
“only a mother could love”
 Honors students doing projects for inclusion students because “they can’t handle it”

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Use a journal for students to reflect in about groups, comment on project status and timetable, discuss skills needed for project success (ex. listening, leading, contributing).
Give participation grades for all work days.
Teachers conduct daily assessments of individual involvement that is visible to the students.
Have group members grade each other confidentially and adjust product grades accordingly.
Utilize freshman technology classes to incorporate technology skills.

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Creating a Game-Winning Play in Sports
Catapult Building
Home Insulation
Creating Songs about Waves
Circuit Board Review Game
Water Cleaning Contest
Apocalypse Myths vs. Truth
Nuclear Catastrophe Bug-Out-Bag

 Students designed a game-winning play in the sport of their choice
 Requirements:
 30 second time limit
 At least 6 changes in motion
 Examples of motion content (i.e. positive and negative velocity, acceleration, no motion, etc.)
 Diagram of play identifying types of motion
 Performing play in gym!

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Standards: Motion, distance, displacement, velocity, acceleration
21 st Century Skills
 Applying content knowledge to a real-life scenario
 Teacher learns: student abilities and roles within classroom

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 Keep it simple – focus on the movement of the ball.
Select groups with at least one “athlete”
Try to reserve a culmination day to perform the plays in the gym!

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Each class is given 1 liter of dirty water
(ChemCom recipe) and elects a class leader.
Students plan cleaning strategies, execute the procedure, and reflect on what worked.
 At the end, water will be tested for ions, clarity, turbidity, and volume.

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Conductivity tester monitors ion concentration qualitatively
Bottles have striations to measure volume
The class with the most liquid with the lowest ion concentration wins!

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Standards: properties of mixtures, characteristics of ionic solutions, lab safety and techniques
21 st century skill focus: Communication
 Characteristics of a leader
 How to be a good group member
 How to motivate others
 Teacher learns: student players (leaders, followers, innovators, artists, slackers)

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The leader is at the front of the room on planning days and he or she writes down all the cleaning ideas and then the class votes on what to do, including a materials list.
On cleaning day, ONLY give the class EXACTLY the materials they asked for…even if it doesn’t make sense.
On cleaning day, the leader is strictly a delegator.
 Participation grade for all students
 Leader’s = class average

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Teacher leads students through apocalypse scares
(ex. Y2K, 6/6/06,
12/21/2012, 2013 asteroid scare).
Students are divided into groups of four to disprove one of the eight most common apocalypse myths.
Students spend two weeks with computers researching and creating a presentation.

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Standards: structure and formation of the solar system, plate tectonics, star life cycle
21 st century skill focus: Critical Thinking
 Evaluating Sources’ Validity
 Connecting the information in the textbook to their myth
 Navigating the Prezi or Google Presentation Software
Teacher learns: Limits due to stage fright and how to motivate students

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Building’s Technology Coordinator sits in class for first few days to help students with technical issues.
Reserve Media Center Computer Lab months in advance.
When students first receive their myth, make them break it down into 10 mini-questions in their own words so they don’t waste time surfing.
Give students a one-day limit for selecting their background picture.

Home Insulation Design,
Construction, and Testing: Overview
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In groups of two to three people, students build a card-stock house with a transparent window and test its heat retention.
Students collect and analyze data with calculations and graphing.
Students add insulation materials and repeat process.

Home Insulation Design, Construction, and Testing: Deliverables
 Lab reports (one per group)
 Well-researched introduction and summary
 Temperature data charts in Celsius and Fahrenheit
 Calculated heat loss with sample calculations
 Graphed temperature data over time
 Condensed procedure and justification for insulation choices
 Glossary of terms used
 Collaboration on Google Docs

Home Insulation Design, Construction, and Testing: Objectives
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Standards: Methods of heat transfer, calculating heat energy using specific heat, converting temperatures, graphing data, identifying conductors and insulators
21 st century skill focus: Communication
 Coordinating with group members on both the lab procedure and lab report
 Writing the lab report
 Graphing and using data
Teacher learns: Student literacy levels

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Home Insulation Design, Construction, and Testing:
Tips for Success
Select groups based on varied level of Excel skills
(documented on first-day-of-school survey) and math level.
 Have packing materials, paper products, old clothes, foil, plastic wrap on hand for students to choose from if they cannot bring in supplies.
 Specify that traditional insulation materials are not “green” enough since they are petroleum products to control what students bring in from home.

Learning about Waves while creating
Garage Band Songs: Overview
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Groups of three to four students
Students will summarize teacher-chosen learning targets into a song.
After recording their song into the Garage
Band app, they will fine tune their song by adjusting the frequency and wavelength of their voices.

Learning about Waves while creating
Garage Band Songs: : Deliverables
 Students will share a 2-5 minute song that summarizes a certain topic from the waves unit

Learning about Waves while creating
Garage Band Songs: Objectives
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Standards: wave terminology, calculating basic wave characteristics, wave interactions
21 st century skill focus: Collaboration
 Students must agree on background music whether created by the group or sampled from a professional artist.
 Students must divide topic into lyrics and utilize talents to create a cohesive work.
Teacher learns: Student adaptability and creating a comfortable class environment

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Learning about Waves while creating
Garage Band Songs:
Tips for Success
Familiarize yourself with the iPads and software.
Identify content that students need to understand prior to writing lyrics.
Make sure students have written lyrics that fit their beat before they start recording.
Limit song choice to a pre-selected list.
Establish firm deadlines and checkpoints. It is especially important that the students not be allowed to erase and start over with a completely new song after a certain point.

Applying Motion and Energy with
Catapult Building: Overview
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In groups of two to four, students will design, construct, test, modify, and compete with their catapults.
Students bring in their own construction materials to make a catapult.

• Build a catapult that is no more than five kilograms
• Must launch a golf ball a minimum of one meter horizontally and then modify for a height launch contest.
• The catapult must be assembled in class, no parent projects!

Applying Motion and Energy with
Catapult Building: Objectives
 Standards: basic mechanics terminology and calculations
 The displacement or change in position of an object can be calculated by subtracting the initial position from the final position.
 Average velocity can be calculated by dividing displacement (change in position) by the elapsed time (v avg
= (x f
– x i
) / (t f
– t i
)).

Applying Motion and Energy with Catapult
Building: Objectives, continued
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21 st century skill focus: All skills
 Previously the last project of the year
 Requires lots of materials and some time outside of class so often students choose groups
Teacher learns: Student growth in areas of 21 st century skills

Applying Motion and Energy with
Catapult Building: Tips for Success
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Have a supply of tools on hand with extra nails and duct tape.
Student will need assistance with the construction, but it must be a different catapult than a fifth grade
Science Olympiad catapult.
Lock up supplies brought in by students so they aren’t “borrowed” by other classes.

LAB:
 Series Circuit Semester
Vocabulary Review Game
 For this project, students construct a series circuit board that reviews vocabulary from several of their semester classes.
 Students work in pairs.

Board Materials:
 Wire strippers
 20 metal fasteners
 File folder
 Ruler
 Pen
 Paper
 Insulated speaker wire (about 1.5 meters)

A total of 8 light assemblies were made:
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String of holiday lights
9-volt battery
Masking tape
Two paper clips

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This is an individual assignment or can be done in pairs based on classroom climate. At this point many students need relief from group work.
Students research the effects of nuclear radiation exposure and what measures should be taken to protect themselves from radiation to create a survival guide.
Students are inspired by the television show
Doomsday Preppers.

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Students will create a brochure that identifies the contents of their bug-out-bags.
Students will share their chosen items with the class. As a group, the class will identify the absolute necessary materials for an ideal bugout-bag, which will be evaluated by a local doomsday prepper or a prepper discussion forum.

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Standards: Types of Nuclear Radiation,
Probable Health Effects from Ionizing
Radiation, Half-Life and Nuclear Decay
21 st century skill focus: Creativity
 Bag can only be 25 pounds so items must have multiple uses.
 Students must visualize post-catastrophe needs beyond food and weapons for long-term survival.
Teacher learns: Student work ethic after influence of group projects

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Keep the focus on the content; students easily get too interested in the contents of their bag.
Steer them away from a focus on self-defense
(weapons); keep the focus on survival by reminding them of gun laws and the time required for permits.
 Establish firm deadlines and checkpoints.

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Academic Content Standards
Museum of Science and Industry: Make a Circuit
Board http://www.msichicago.org
Doomsday Preppers
 http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/doomsday
-preppers/
GarageBand for Apple Devices
 http://www.apple.com/apps/garageband/
Punkin Chunkin
 http://science.discovery.com/tv-shows/punkin-chunkin