Dr. Patricia Hanlan
Physics
Detroit Country Day School
• Not really – as long as you start with curiosity, you will
find a path.
• Today I want to show you several paths to good
projects so that you can decide which might work for
you.
What
equipment
do I have?
What interests
me?
What skills
do I have?
What
bothers
me?
What am I
willing to
learn?
What
resources
do I have?
What time
can I
commit?
What knowledge
do I have?
What
bothers
me?
• Find a question to answer
• Build on your curiosity about the world around you
• Decide if something that “everyone” knows might not
be true
• Is there a way to ask your question so that only one or
two parameters of the problem can be examined?
• Example: I hate the fact that grass grows in my
sidewalk. Is there a way to make a “grass-proof”
connection between cement pavers?
•
What can you do with this?
What
knowledge
do I have?
• Let’s say you are very knowledgeable about something (golf or
gardening, basketball or baking) because you have been
involved in the activity for a long time.
• Now that you have taken science classes, things that were done
“just because” might seem a bit odd.
• Do you have a question that you can form because of
knowledge you already have about something?
• Example: Do light weight shoes really improve athletic
performance?
What
interests
me?
• Let’s say you are very knowledgeable or very interested in a
specific subject (phragmite growth in SE Michigan).
• You already have a more-than-amateur knowledge of the field
and you already know some of the most interesting problems
that people are trying to solve.
• Do you have a different/easier/cheaper way to solve a known
problem?
• Example: Can cattails reclaim a phragmite-infested area?
• Is there a teacher who helps with science fair or
who just seems to know lots about lots?
• Does someone I know work in a field I am
interested in?
• Do I live close to a university and am I willing to
ask for a research position? Am I able to spend
the time necessary to be part of a lab?
What
resources
do I have?
What time
can I
commit?
What
equipment
do I have?
• My school has a cool piece of equipment that we
learned to use in the chemistry lab.
• My grandfather has some odd machine in his garage.
• My school has a old thing in a storage room. When I
asked what is was, I was shown how to use it.
• If you start by tinkering, then you can find a interesting
way to use the equipment. It might let you answer a
question that you couldn’t try before!
• Example – I have a spectrophotometer. I can study
sugar content in drinks.
What am I
willing to
learn?
• Can I keep my research area broad until I find
something interesting?
• Going to a university library and looking at what
scientists were doing 100 years ago is an interesting
project. Some of the ideas that were speculative at
the time and now easy to test.
• Can I go to the internet? Sure, but make sure that any
idea you get becomes your own.
• There are many opportunities for both research and
academic experience each summer and during the
year. Some of them lead directly to science
projects, some only indirectly. Anytime you have
contact with new material and new mentors, you can
find a way to connect.
• Many of these programs are free.
• For example, The Ford High School Science and Technology
Program are seminars that happen during the school year.
• Any nearby university department hosts seminars on a
regular basis
What
knowledge
do I have?
Question
First (1)
Hobby
First (2)
Subject
First (3)
Technique Research People
First (4)
First (5) First (6)
Experience
First (7)
Observe
Know
about a
problem
Learn
about a
subject
What can
Find a
this machine project
do?
Get a
suggestion
Do
something
new
Understand Know
parameters about
current
solutions
State most
important
question
What
questions
can be
answered?
Try it out
Try it out –
do you get
the
problem
Learn
something
new (go to 3
or 4)
Restate
question
Question a
given
solution
Try to
What can I
isolate a
isolate?
parameter
Restate
question
Restate
question
and talk to
mentor
Meet
someone
new (go to
6)
Try it out
experiment Restate
question
Restate
question
Restate
question
Restate
question
Try it out
Restate
question