Parts of the Project
Parts of the Project
Each project will consist of two main parts:
Creative Data Interpretation
Written Report
Creative Data Interpretation
This is the heart of your project—where you use your creativity to describe the results of the science. How can you present scientific data to explain the major conclusions to a non-scientist audience?
The creative piece should clearly explain the data to someone without the scientific knowledge to interpret datasets or graphs on their own. Skits, videos, original songs, puppet shows, poems, photographs, exhibits, sculptures, and interactive displays are encouraged. Efforts to use environmentally-friendly materials will be recognized. All creative projects will be submitted digitally as pdf's or high quality jpg's. Audio and visual recordings must be five minutes or less. Further instructions are on the submit page. The creative project is worth 40% of the total project score.
Regardless of what medium you use for the creative aspect of your project, you will need to produce a report that summarizes the science for the judges and others to review.
The Data Jam report should be completed using the template document titled: Full Data Jam_Report_Form. For Mini Jam report format, see the MINI-JAM page. An explanation of each section is included on the document. The rubric will also describe expectations.
GENERALIZED HELPFULS
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These worksheets and resources may help you work through understanding Data Jam, choosing an appropriate dataset level, getting to know your dataset, and graphing your data.
Getting to Know Your Dataset: This sheet guides a student through getting to know your dataset, from prior knowledge to understanding the metadata to graphing the data and analyzing the graph. It will help with report elements but is not a substitute for the final scientific report. (Thanks for JM of Our Sisters School for aligning this document to the rubric.)
Graph Choice Chart: This paper from the NSTA November 2014 issue of The Science Teacher has a chart that helps you choose the best type of graph for your particular science question.
Student Planning Sheet: This planning tool can help you break Data Jam down into small digestible steps with concrete deadlines.
Data Jam Scoring Rubric: This rubric will help guide you towards the ultimate project as it includes a more detailed description of possible components and potential scores.
Content-support videos: This page contains links to some exemplary videos that may help with content background for Level 2 and 3 datasets. Videos are from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and from the Univ. Southern California science video competition and also serve as examples on how to properly credit resources used in a video production.