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Research projects are a great way to get involved with an individual topic and become experts.
In research projects students can pick a topic from a theme of topics provided by the instructor.
An example of this would be a biology unit on the immune system where students do a research
project on a disease that affects the bodies immune system. Students research their topic using
scientific papers, textbooks, internet articles or other places with relevant information to write an
in-depth paper on their topic. In the process the students learn not only about their topic but the
unit of study in general. Students write their paper based on a success criteria and rubric
provided by the instructor. In addition to the paper, students present their research in the form of
a presentation in front of the class. If students work in groups, an interview with the induvial
students is a good idea to make sure all students understand their topic and that they didn’t let the
rest of their group do all the work. As a chemistry major I’ve written a few research papers
during my time at university. I find that they are a very effective from of learning and can often
lead to more retained information than test taking. As an educator it is important to have a very
clear and universal standard success criterion for students to follow to ensure the project is
relevant and fair to all students. Research projects serve as a culminating activity that
incorporate key concepts from the entire unit. As such they show a student’s culmination of
knowledge and evaluating them would fall under the category of summative assessment. I’ve
attached my own research paper from fourth year organic chemistry and the subsequent