Project-Based Credit
What this credit option is:
· A chance for motivated students to enhance their high school career
· A way to earn credit for graduation by doing valuable independent work according to a schedule
· A challenge and a chance to deeply explore a personal interest
What it is not:
· A chance to get out of going to school
· A way to avoid taking classes that are challenging
· A way to earn a whole bunch of credit without doing much work
A project is not just study; it is study that leads to a contribution to human knowledge. Projects can also be a contribution in the form of a product, invention, or work to improve human health and safety.
Sample 7-8 Month Timeline (Late Spring Term Start)
Task/Time Frame
1. Choose a research topic or project in spring semester.
2. Find a teacher (project advisor) that is interested in your topic or project late in spring semester.
3. Have your project advisor sign a pre-approval form for your project late in spring semester.
4. Develop your project proposal; meet with your project advisor multiple times during summer.
5. Assemble and meet with project committee to obtain full project approval in August
6. Complete project and prepare for oral defense Oct--Nov.
7. Complete oral defense of project in front of committee December/January
Note: The sample timeline above assumes that a student is a full-time student who wishes to complete a project beginning in spring. Each project candidate should develop a similar chart with the assistance of his or her project advisor. Most candidates should expect to take 1-2 semesters to complete a paper/project.
Important Signatures
Complete the following steps as your research/writing/project planning develops:
1. Have your project advisor sign a pre-approval form in late spring.
2. Get your approval form signed by your committee in August: your project form is due the first week of the term you intend to get credit for the project. For most students, that will be in the fall.
3. Make project copies: One copy of all written work needs to be delivered to the project advisor no later than Wednesday of the last week of the term you plan to get credit for your project. It is essential that the evaluation page be signed by all members of your committee. A copy of your written project work will be kept at the school.
Characteristics of a Quality Project
1. Need for significant work: A significant need for work and research should exist. The results need not have immediate application, but your project should not be trivial. You must believe that your project is important and worthwhile, thereby helping to retain motivation during periods of routine work. Keep in mind that the need to understand the nature of some specific phenomenon, or produce a useful product is the motivation for your work.
2. Amenable to completion: Your topic needs to be feasible. It is important to consider both the availability of information and the availability of tools and resources. Take into account that some projects are beyond the capabilities of students because of technology, cost, or time requirements.
3. Achievable in a reasonable time: Typically, a project should have the potential for completion in less than one year by a full time student. A written final project might be in the range of 5,000 - 10,000 words, although the nature of your topic may mean a much shorter written part. Other project types will require extensive documentation too.
4. Match with student's capabilities and interests: The research topic should match both your interests and capabilities. This will sustain you in times of frustration and offset the possibility of entering areas where you have insufficient expertise.
5. Contribution to human knowledge: Base your project on a significant issue, need or problem that is beyond what you would likely do in school. For example, you may want to replicate an experiment or study by using improved data and/or techniques in order to expand upon what has been done before. You should aim to explain, solve, or create.
Human knowledge can be increased by:
New or improved evidence;
New or improved methods;
New or improved technology/materials/products;
A publication-quality book, essay, film, website, podcast, or other media product;
Work that contributes to human health and safety;
A project that increases cross-cultural exchange, diversity or understanding.
New or improved concepts or theories; or any combination of the above.
Your Committee
It is your responsibility to select committee members that will be influential to your project. They should be people with whom you wish to work closely. You will need to have four people on your committee: a parent/guardian, an administrator, a community member and a teacher (who will serve as project advisor and must be a certified teacher of the subject you plan to get credit for) on your committee. Your committee should have at least one other member with expertise in the area of your project. Choose committee members that will be available for advice and signatures throughout your project’s progress. Be sure to plan ahead; you never know when you will need advice or a signature in order to move forward.
The role of your project advisor: Your project advisor serves as the chief advisor concerning the development of your project and your project in general. The project advisor is a teacher with final authority to grant or deny credit for a project. Regular contact with your advisor is necessary. Choose an advisor who will be accessible to you throughout the entire process. The advisor will help during the selection of your project, your writing and project completion, and your defense. Your advisor's principal role is to offer you guidance on any issues that come up, as well as provide some assistance in finding resources if necessary.
The role of the committee: With the assistance of your advisor, you will select a school administrator, a parent, and a community member to round out your committee. Ideally, all committee members should have expertise enabling them to provide critical and helpful advice on your project and be willing to read and evaluate your work before your oral defense. Your project presentation/defense should be simple because people you know and trust have reviewed your work! As a whole, the committee is in place to serve your needs.
Upon submission of the Pre-Approval Form, your project advisor will wait for you to make your committee selections and then assist you in creating a formal proposal. The committee will review your proposal, provide you with additional support, and eventually serve as your oral defense committee. All four committee members must sign the Project Final Evaluation Report after you have successfully completed the oral defense of your work.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism occurs when a writer deliberately uses someone else’s language, ideas, or other original (not common-knowledge) material without acknowledging its source. All work developed by a student must comply with KVCS rules concerning fabrication, dishonesty, and plagiarism. Material developed by someone other than the student should be clearly credited.
Academic Dishonesty, which includes but is not limited to:
a) Cheating -- intentional use, or attempted use of artifice, deception, fraud, and/or misrepresentation of one's academic work;
b) Fabrication -- unauthorized falsification and/or invention of any information or citation in any academic exercise;
c) Facilitating dishonesty -- helping or attempting to help another person commit an act of academic dishonesty. This includes students who substitute for other persons in examinations or represent as their own papers, reports, or any other academic work of others;
d) Plagiarism -- representing without giving credit the words, data, or ideas of another person as one's own work in any academic exercise. This includes submitting, in whole or in part, pre-written papers of another or the research of another, including but not limited to the product of companies or individuals who sell or distribute such materials, and the representation and/or use of electronic data of another person as one's own, or using such data without giving proper credit for it; or
Internet material must be treated as published material and must be fully credited. Purchased research materials must also be clearly identified as the work of others and not the original work of the author. In situations where material was developed through study groups or other formal or informal group interaction, the author is obligated to credit others for the ideas that were developed as part of a group process.
A committee member who believes that some form of dishonesty has occurred may take one or both of the following courses of action:
a) The project advisor may resolve the situation directly with the student or involve an administrator in resolution of the issue. The decision will be put in writing accurately stating the issue and how it was resolved, or
b) In addition to academic sanctions decided by committee members, students can be subject to the academic honesty procedures described in the KVCS Student Handbook