You are to prepare a 10 minute oral presentation. This is a major assignment and should be started early. Choose a topic that you are interested in so that it will be fun for you. The topic should be in the physical sciences. More about topics is given below.
At least two weeks before the presentation each student will hand in a concept outline of the presentation. The main concept of the presentation will need to be clearly in mind to do this. It is often found that the hardest part of the presentation is identifying the main concept. This outline will be graded and returned.
At the time of the presentation each presenter will hand in a revised concept outline, an exam question, and the answer to the exam question. The outline will be returned with a grade for the presentation. The concept outline should be given to the instructor before the presentation begins. Click on concept outlines for more information about the required outline. Click on grading criteria for information about how the presentation will be graded. Both of these references are also found under Assignments on our homepage.
The selection of topics will be on a first come, first served basis. A sign-up sheet will be kept by the instructor and it will be the official list. Duplicate topics will be a problem and the one with their name on the list first will be given preference.
Topics must be from the physical science area (see below). Presentations should be on topics that have not been covered in class. Several presentations in the earth and space science areas would be appropriate since we will not be able to cover much in these areas this semester.
The physical sciences include chemistry, physics, earth science, and space science. A partial list of more specific topics follows:
Chemistry: Ozone depletion, global warming, radioactive decay, chemical equations, ideal gases, lenses, sound waves, Doppler effect, etc.
Physics: Equations of motion, force and Newton's laws, levers, pulleys, other simple machines, balanced forces, centripetal force, rotational forces, electrical circuits, magnetic forces, optics, elementary particles, chaos, relativity, quantum mechanics, etc.
Earth Science: Weather, geology, water cycle, oceans, lakes, rivers, earth's composition (mantle, etc.), tornados, hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanos, atmosphere, swamps, rainbows, greenhouse effect, minerals, rocks, fossils, etc.
Space Science: Sun, planets, morning and evening "stars", solar and lunar eclipses, solar system, space travel, cosmology, big bang theory, other theories about the origin of the universe, black holes, black matter, using gravitational forces to propel rockets, changing length of the day,etc.