Ideas

Many of exercises in this assignment ask open ended questions designed to allow students to discover concepts for themselves. So it is important that student put thought in the "Why?" and "How do you know?" questions. If students are having trouble making these connections, first point them back to the data and encourage them to discuss the concepts with each other.

Rubrics

Possible rubrics for grading the project and the peer review activity at the end are given below. Each rubric includes an evaluation of the individual student's contribution to the accomplishments of the group as well as an evaluation of the group's work. To use these rubrics, you will have to observe your students throughout the project. To improve performance, give each student a copy of the rubric before starting the activity and ask students to grade themselves and their group partners. If you disagree with a student’s self-evaluation, meet with the student to discuss the differences and how to improve future grades.

The group participation evaluation is adapted from Judith Arter and Jay McTighe, Scoring Rubrics in the Classroom, Corwin Press, California, 2001. (ISBN 0-7619-7575-6)

Sample Solutions

To get sample solutions for this project, E-mail the site director, Jordan Raddick.