Group Research Project. (Due, December 9). If you want to have some say in how science and technology affect your life, now and in the future, you must know how to learn more about these affects and ways to influence them. Most important science/technology-society issues are complex and difficult to understand, particularly if you set about learning more on your own. The purpose of the Group Research Project is to give you an opportunity to work with a small group of individuals with similar interests learning more about one particular problem.

As you will learn in this course, society makes decisions all the time about the use and control of science and technology. For the project, you need to focus on one area or decision where such a decision either has been made fairly recently or needs to be made. The goal of your Group Research Project is to prepare a report (in any format -- paper, web, film, video, play....) that:

• identifies the key decision or decisions that need(s) to be made
• provides sufficient and appropriate background information that would allow a member of the Public to make an intelligent decision about the decision or decisions, and
• presents recommendations on an appropriate course of action and explains why other courses of action are not appropriate.

You will share your conclusions with the rest of the students in your section at the end of the term and see whether they agree or disagree with you. Your project will be graded on:

• how well you work together as a group
• how well you identify the problem, present background information, and support your conclusions
• whether your report would be useful and understandable to the general public.

Your final oral presentation and report must be well thought out, carefully and fully documented, and well presented.

 How to find an interesting topic? By now you should have some understanding that science and technology affect just about every aspect of life, so the range of possible topics for your paper is very broad. How can you settle on one topic for a paper. Here are two suggestions for how to begin.

     Option #1. Have a brainstorming session with yourself or with two or three other students in the class. What are you interested in? OK, now what are you interested in that might be relevant to the course? Think about some likely areas.

• health/disease
• the food you eat
• technological developments, especially ones that will affect your life
• energy
• the environment
• social problems (crime, violence, housing, population)
• transportation
• global warming
• war
• your favorite topic

When you settle on a topic or two, then do some basic research. The web is the easiest place to begin for an assignment such as this. Go to a user-friendly search engine, such as GOOGLE and put in three or four key words, such as: energy, environment, ethics, nuclear. See what comes up. Look for a site that gives basic background information, do some reading, and then start thinking about what questions would you like to study.

     Option #2. There are a number of good website that list interesting topics relating to STS. I would suggest you begin with the Student Pugwash webpage, and especially their series of short publications, called Mindful. These publications will give you a good sense of the sorts of questions to raise and the need to look at all sides of an issue. There are also some STS sites (Science, Technology, and Society) that have links to other sites, such as the NC State Program on Science, Technology, and Culture and the University of Michigan's STS Program.

Bring the information and ideas you collect to discussion to discuss with other students. Time will be set aside during the first three or four discussion meetings to talk specifically about projects.

How do I find information? On most topics, you should be able to find enough information on the web to write your research paper. However, the web often provides only superficial information, which means some library research may be necessary. Here are two links that are indispensable:

• Mirlyn, particularly the various databases
• Medline

Medline is useful because many entries include abstracts, which are helpful in letting you know whether you want to read the entire

Key Dates

.- 9/30 join project team, agree on project topic - the sooner you get working on a group the better
- 10/19 identify your main decision and some useful sources of information
- 11/4 submit a outline of final research project report - the more detailed your submit, the more feedback you will get
- 11/28 ff. oral presentations in section
- 12/9 final reports due