Year 7 Science

 

Famous Scientist Research Assignment

 

 

Due Date: Term 1, Week 4

Weighting: 20%

 

Length: 1 x A4 page for each scientist

 

Syllabus Outcomes being assessed

4.1 A student identifies historical examples of how scientific knowledge has changed people’s understanding of the world.

4.5a) Students learn to describe some recent scientific contributions made by male and female scientists, including Australians, and discuss the effect of their contribution.

4.16 A student accesses information from identified secondary sources.

4.19 A student draws conclusions based on information available.

 

Purpose of this assignment

The discoveries of famous scientists have had a huge impact on our lives. The purpose of this assignment is to give you a detailed knowledge of the work of two scientists and to enable you to understand the influence that their discoveries had on science or society in general.

 

Task

Present information posters that detail the work of ONE famous Australian and ONE famous international scientist. Write the bibliography on the back of each poster.

 

 

Assignment Planner

 

Define the task

In class - choose ONE famous Australian and ONE famous International scientist from the list provided below. Research these scientists, then create 1 x A4 size information poster for each of your scientists that details the information below:

 

·         Describe his or her work.

·         Identify dates that were important in the work of the scientist and the reasons why these dates were important.

·         Explain why the work of the scientist was an important development for science or society in general.

 

You will be given time in class, with resources provided, to undertake your initial research and complete a scaffold sheet of information for each scientist. You then use these sheets at home to produce the TWO posters. You may include pictures.

Make sure that each final poster has the bibliography of sources you used on the back of the poster. From the table below, select ONE Australian and ONE International scientist.

 

International Scientist

 

Australian Scientist

 

Marie Curie

Galileo Galilei

Robert Gallo

Stephen Hawking

Alfred Nobel

Rosalind Franklin

Isaac Newton

William Herschel

Luc Montagnier

Charles Darwin

Albert Einstein

Ernest Rutherford

Thomas Edison

James Watson

Nikola Tesla

Nicholas Copernicus

Gregor Mendel

Louis Pasteur

Michael Faraday

Alessandro Volta

Karl Kruszelnicki

William Bragg

Frank Macfarlane Burnet

John Cornforth

Peter Doherty

Howard Florey

Fred Hollows

Mark Oliphant

Andy Thomas

Victor Chang

Barry Marshall

Tim Flannery

Sir Gustav Nossal

David Unaipon

Douglas Mawson

Michael Archer

Jean Joss

Mary White

Fiona Coote

Susan Serjeantson

 

Locate Information

1. Use the resources provided in the classroom. You can also look for information in the City and College libraries in the Reference sections, Science magazines, Science encyclopedias, Biography sections and information books in the 500 section of the library. Access some of the websites listed below.

2. You must use at least 2 different sources of information.

3. Keep a record of your sources, on the scaffold sheet, for your bibliography.

 

Select and Analyse

You should choose relevant information. Make notes from the information resources you select and put them into the scaffold your class teacher will provide.

 

Organise and Synthesise

Arrange your information, with sub-headings, for each of the parts described in Define the Task above. Combine your notes from the information resources you consulted into sentences and paragraphs. Your class scaffold will help you to do these steps.

 

Create and Present

Complete one A4 size page poster for each scientist. Write out a bibliography for the scientist on the back of each poster, using the entries you made into your scaffold. You must hand in your scaffold to your teacher with your final posters.

Make sure you put your name and class on each sheet and package all the sheets together into a page protector or display folder.

 

Evaluate and reflect

A good assignment will be well researched, include interesting, relevant information and be thoughtfully presented. It could include appropriate pictures or diagrams. It will cover all required areas and include a properly written bibliography on the back of each poster, as well as in the bibliography section of the scaffold sheets. Your class scaffold will be neat and show that you have completed all the steps required.

 

Good websites for this assignment:

 

Assignment assistance. How to write a bibliography

http://www.bdc.nsw.edu.au/library/assistance/bibliographies.htm

Australian scientists 

http://www.science.org.au/scientists/index.htm

Australian science biographies

http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/aasmemoirs/aas_memlist.htm

Australian Academy of Science

http://www.science.org.au/

Biographies of deceased Australian scientists

http://www.science.org.au/academy/memoirs/index.htm

Bright Sparcs

http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/bsparcshome.htm

World of scientific biography 

http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/biography/

History of science biographies

http://sciencepage.org/history.htm

Uniserve - famous scientists

http://science.uniserve.edu.au/school/resource/famsci.html

 

Marking Guidelines: Your work will be marked according to the criteria described below. You are encouraged to mark off each section as a check that you have completed it.

 

Student

check

 

Marking Criteria

 

 


Thorough use of scaffold provided by class teacher for each scientist

 

 

Thorough description of each scientist’s work

Australian

International

 

At least 3 Significant dates identified

Australian

International

 

Identified reasons why these dates are important

Australian

International

 

Explanation of why each scientist’s work was important to science or society

Australian

International

 

 

Presentation of A4 poster including neatness and creativity

Australian

International

 

 

At least 2 correctly referenced different sources

(on each poster and in scaffold)

Australian

International

 

 

Total score

 

Mark



 

/3

/3

 

 

/5

/5

 

 

/3

/3

 

 

/2

/2

 

 

 

/3

/3

 

 

 

/5

/5

 

 

 

/4

/4

 

 

 

/50