9th Grade Semester Projects

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    Fall: (ex)peditions Unlimited: A Biogeographical Journey

    In groups of four or five, students will take a virtual trip to a remote location where they will research In groups of four or five, students will take a virtual trip to a remote location where they will research biodiversity, vegetation, climate, and environmental changes. They will explore how biology and geography interact and change over time. The project combines class content from Environmental Biology and Physical Geography while offering the students a chance to improve their skills in researching, writing, presenting, graphing, measuring, scaling, mapping, collaborating, and present- ing. The project culminates in a formal presentation of the groups’ findings in front of the entire freshman class and other guests.

    Essential Question: What is the most significant factor affecting the Earth’s environment?

    (The Essential Question is what drives the project, gives it meaning, and focuses the students’ learning. It is an open-ended question - without one correct answer - that could be answered in many different ways.)

    Project Component Overview

    • Field Journal: Each student will keep their own scientific journal for the duration of the project, in which they will keep notes, research, drawings, diagrams and invented anecdotes about their “journey.”
    • Mapping: Student teams will create two poster-sized maps that clearly show their destination and geographical information relevant to their expedition.
    • Infographic: Student teams will design a digital poster that includes universal symbols, illustrations, and data visualizations with short-form text to tell a cohesive story.
    • Radio (Audio) Field Transmission:  Student teams will make an audio recording describing the group’s arrival at their destination and their initial discoveries.
    • Video Field Transmission: Student teams will present their destination’s ecological problem in a short, live-feed, interactive video presentation.
    • Final Expedition Presentation: In front of the entire freshman class and assorted guests, expedition teams will describe their “expedition” and scientific discoveries in a professional presentation that summarizes the entirety of the project.

    Project Component Checklists and Detailed Instructions 

    Each project component has a checklist that describes all the criteria for the component.  Any criterion missing will lower a student’s assessment for that component.  Each component checklist will be distributed by the instructors as the project progresses.

    Spring: Fusion Film Festival

    Students investigate through extensive research, global issues related to human rights, pandemics, ecology, and sustainability. Students complete individual research projects about a specific aspect of their global issue and present their findings in a variety of multimedia formats with the goal of increasing the community’s awareness of these critical global issues. Finally, students will compile their knowledge with their assigned student team to produce a short educational film adapted from an assigned professional film from various genres.