Investigative Projects

Major investigation projects enable students to create their own questions around a topic, collect, organize, and evaluate information, draw conclusions and share results through presentations and explanations. Students may demonstrate the results of their investigations through different types of products and experiences, including the writing of a paper, the development of artwork, oral presentations, audio and videotape productions, photographic essays, simulations, or plays.

Sometimes students select their own topics for research projects based on their interests, while at other times research projects are focused around specific academic topics being studied in class. In some senior project formats, students are free to select any topic of interest for an investigation project.

Scientific experiments are a sub-category of investigative research projects, in which students create questions around a scientific concern or issue, develop hypotheses, conduct design experiments, test a hypothesis, and formulate results.

While major investigation projects are often considered long-term activities, some investigation projects can be conducted over relatively short periods of time when adequate amounts of time are devoted to them each day.

Example

An example of an investigative project is one which will require students to pick a topic related to the class subject, such as a topic of interest around history. Students then are able to do research around their topic, find, read and summarize information and data, draw conclusions, write papers, present and share results.

Conducting scientific research experiments are also common science classroom activities.

Other research projects may be built around student interests. Students select a topic of interest, develop a set of questions that help them to explore a topic and narrow the topic down to something manageable, find, read and summarize information and data, contact outside resources to help learn more about the topic, draw conclusions, and make a presentation.

Some investigative projects are conducted over several days before holidays or at the end of the school year.