Student Projects

Example Student Class Project ~Time Line~

This is an example outline of what we will do before and on the class period on the day of a student presentation. The order of these events may be changed based on the student's needs, the nature of the project, and how things are flowing at the time. None of this is written in stone, so to speak.

• Student Meets with Instructor (2 weeks before class presentation)

  This is optional, but highly recommended. Meet with the instructor to go over all that follows in this list to make sure you're ready.

• Student Assigns a Reading to the Class (1 week before class presentation)

  This reading may be a draft, other version of your written project report, or it may be someone else's text on the topic. The idea is the same as a reading done before a regular lecture. It should be read by all the students in the class before the class time. This reading assignment should be related to the problem that was assigned to the class. Consider this as an opportunity to get your fellow students interested in your topic.

• Student Assigns a Problem(s) to the Class (1 week before class presentation)

  This problem will be handed in by the students on a date and time that will be set by the student presenter. This assignment due time maybe on the day of the presentation, or a few days after. Consider this as another opportunity to get your fellow students interested in your topic, by forcing them to think hard about your topic. The more you engage your fellow students the better your presentation will be.

• Instructor's Class Overview and Introduction (5-15 min)

  Discuss what we are doing in the current and next class. The instructor will give an introduction for the student presenting. The length of the introduction can be longer depending on the project and what is needed.

• Student Class Presentation (25-40 min)

  This will be the time for the student to talk, with or without interruption, show slides, draw on the black board, and/or demo something in front of the class. A minimum of 25 minutes is required. The student will be responsible for any needed equipment setup, and any advanced planing that that may require.

• Go Over the Project's Assigned Problem (10-25 min)

  The student will present a solution to the problem to the class.

• Interactive Class Discussion (10-20 min)

  This can be intermixed throughout the class period.

• Student Evaluation (5-10 min)

  Everyone in the class will evaluate the presentation, assigned reading, and assigned problem using a standard form.

Grading Student Projects

The presentations and reports for your project will be presented to your fellow classmates. Your focus should be to engage your fellow classmates in your project.

The course project will be worth 30% of your total course grade. The course project grading breakdown is as follows:

• Project Documents -- 40%

  All of the project documents will be continuously developed and displayed on the world wide wide throughout the period of the course.

  All of your project files (working and finished files) will be accessible from your project home-page and links there-in. The project home-page will serve as the working file repository and a form of finished presentation. It is encouraged that even working files like project to-do lists, generated data, document source files, and/or project time-lines be accessible from your project home-page.

  Students are encouraged to look at other students' project home-pages. There should be a cross fertilization and peer review process of the student projects as they evolve.

  One week before the time of your presentation you will provide on your web pages reading and one or more physics problems to the class. These problems will become part of the course homework.

  Keep your project home-page organized. Keep a clean separation between working documents and polished documents. Avoid using javascript that interferes with browser functionality. The emphasis should be on clear and organized information and not glitz.

  At the completion of the course all the files in your project home-page will be archived for all to see on the VT physics department web site.

  For your final report you will send in all files (and directories) in a tarball (*.tar.gz) or a zip file as an email attachment to the instructor.

• Class Presentation -- 25%

  The class presentation will take place in class at one of the scheduled times. Presentations may use any props, power-point, Mathematica etc, if you wish. The student will be responsible for making arrangements to get any needed presentation equipment. The presentation may just use the chalk board. If there is something to show that is related to the project in another location (a lab, or outside location), then prior arrangements should be made to have the instructor and some (or all) of the students meet in the other location.

• Project Documents, Peer Score -- 20%

  For each student class project there will be three student reviewers chosen to judge the web-based project documents. If a student being judged does not get a prefect score, that student will be given time to improve their project documents in the areas outlined by the reviewers and be judged again in the final review.

• Class Presentation, Peer Score -- 15%

  Each class project presentation will be judged by all the students attending the class. The students attending will each hand in an evaluation form for each project presentation.

Project Requirements

The project will have many required elements. The time that each element is due will be listed in the course calendar, unless special arrangements are made ahead of time. It is the student's responsibility to make certain that each element is delivered on time. The student project is required to have the following elements:

• Instructor Project Approval

  All projects must be pre-approved by the instructor by a given time which is at the discretion of the instructor.

• Student Instructor Project Meeting

  You're required to meet with the instructor to discuss the topic of your project. More than one meeting may be required to get "instructor project approval" on your project. The meeting can be at office hours or by arrangement, with a group of students or alone. One purpose of the meeting(s) is to get Instructor Project Approval. Of course this must be done before you get instructor project approval (above item).

• Project Home-Page and Documents

  This is explained above. The content will vary depending on what your project is. The project home-page should include all documents associated with your project.

  • Home-Page Setup

    This will be due after the first week of class. See the course calendar for the exact time.

  • Preliminary Document Review

    The instructor and three student (peers) will review your project on the project web page. In addition, you will be sending preliminary reviews of three other student projects to the instructor via email. The instructor will compile all the preliminary reviews and send them to you. The student preliminary reviews will consist of an itemized list of constructive criticisms, with which the project will be improved for the Final Review. The student should clarify any constructive criticisms that are not understood.

  • Final Documents Review and File

    For your final project report you will send in all files (and directories) in a tarball (*.tar.gz) or a zip file as an email attachment to the instructor. The instructor's email account will not bounce large files (so I'm told). If you can ask "should this go in the final project file" then the answer is yes. Everything related to the project goes in the final project file, just as it is displayed in your project web page. The same three student reviewers that did the preliminary review will participate in the final review, the primary scope of the comments should be focused on the constructive criticisms from the Preliminary Review.

• 25 Minute Class Presentation

  Remember your audience is the class. Presentations will be scheduled in the course calendar, with the aid of the instructor. This presentation will be rated by all the students attending.

• Class Assigned Reading

  This should be read by the class before the presentation. List it on your project web page. It will be the student's responsibility to announce this to the class, and to get it posted by the instructor on the course calendar and the project web page.

• Class Assigned Problem Set

  Keep it on your project web page. Post the solutions on you project web page. It will be the student's responsibility to announce this to the class, and to get it posted by the instructor on the course calendar and the project web page. This problem can be a subset of a larger problem that the project is focusing on solving.

• Paper Report

  We call it paper because it will be on real printed paper, but it will also be available as a PDF file (and source files like *.tex, *.abi, *.doc, etc) on your project web page. The paper report should be written so that your fellow students can understand it. They will be grading in the preliminary and final reviews as described above. The following sections are required:

  • Title Page

    with author bio. The author bio may introduce anything that may motivate the choice of your project topic.

  • Abstract

    A brief summary in 300 or less words. This may serve as an overview or introduction, but this may also be separate from an overview or introduction. Your abstract should summarize the important points of your project.

  • Report Body

    Keep it organized. Keep the size somewhere between 5 and 15 pages. You'll do better with quality over quantity.

  A good example of how to get started is to write a solution to a problem on the topic. Then set it down for a few days and come back to it and extend it with more explanations. Then show it to your fellow students and you'll quickly see lots more to add to make it more coherent. Reminder, everyone's a critic, take advantage of that, and be objective about it.

  All paper reports will be due at the same time so students that give class presentations early in the semester will have the advantage or more time to assimilate feedback from the class presentations into the paper report.

If any of the above elements are missing from a student project, the project may be considered incomplete. All the student grading will be normalized by the instructor.

Some Possible Student Projects