21st century scientific research is no longer done by a lone scientist with wild hair, a beard, dorky glasses, a mean laugh, tons of pens in his pocket, who lives in his own world wearing a white coat, working in his lab with lots of test tubes and colored liquids. Scientists tend to work in research teams and need the support of engineers, computer specialists or technicians depending on the nature of their work.
Research Teams: So, first things first, you should be a member of a research team. Begin work by defining the probelm you are investigating. Discuss the main research question, and brainstorm a list of other questions you need to answer in order to address the overall question.
Research Questions: Teams develop at least one specific research question to answer. They discover what they know and what they need to know. There are different ways to keep track of what you know and what you need to find out. A typical strategy for students is to keep a running list moving items from need to know to know and adding new need to know items throughout the investigation. Other students make concept maps of what they know and add to the map throughout their work.
Records: Keep a log or journal of your work. Physicists' journals are bound books with page numbers to make it easy to find information. They record not only what worked but what did not.
Download Leo's Log Book. Leo works at Fermilab and shared pages from his log book to show you how he keeps a record of his work.
Work Plan: Outline what you need to do and who will be responsible for each step. Figure out how to use the online resources. Keep these steps in mind:
Data: If you have a detector at your school, how do you upload data? Data is uploaded daily into temporary storage. Someone needs to verify that the detector was working and the data is valid and move it to permanent storage. How will your class cover this important responsibility?
If you don't have a detector at your school, you need to understand how the detector performance is checked so you have confidence in the data.
Are you going to trust the checks that other students did or do you need to spot check their work?
Analysis:
Reporting: We have established a poster session to share results.
Scientific Dialog:
Talking to Experts:
Collaborating with Other Researchers: This is where science really begins. Complete a poster on your work. You aren't in this alone. Find out what investigations other students are doing.
