START Seminar – Class Summaries for Fall 2013

Assignment (due 29 Aug 2013): Proper email.

• The reasons why you chose your major.
• Specify your major and your class (freshmen, junior, sophomore or senior).
• Your near-term goals (once you graduate from JSC).
• Town and state where your family resides.

end of assignment

2 - 6 September 2013

The plastics awareness initiative

Please read the following article: Dubose, Lou, 2013. Science on Trial. Retrieved on 30 August 2013 from http://www.washingtonspectator.org/index.php/Science/science-on-trial.html#.Uhzd0bzA7rU.  

See the Plastics Project home page.

Some upcoming conferences relevant for the STARTers

The 2013 New England Intercollegiate Geological Conference will be in North Central Maine, the Katahdin Region, 11-13 October 2013, and based at the Big Moose Inn On Millinocket Lake, Maine.

The 2014 National Conference on Undergraduate Research will be held at the University of Kentucky on 3-5 April 2014.

Send me an email if you are interested in attending any of these conferences.

Comments on the first email assignment

• Whenever possible, avoid using personal pronouns when writing (for example: 'you').
• Use paragraphs when appropriate.
• Capitalize only proper nouns.
• Avoid abbreviations.
• Define the acronym before first use.
• Avoid contractions.

Assignment (due 6:00 p.m., Thursday, 5 Sep Aug 2013): biographical statement.

Access the biographical summaries, copy your personal biographical statement, make changes, and submit the modified version to me as part of a properly written email.

Assignment (due 9 Sep 2013): Plastics Project

• Research topic.
• Membership team.
• One (or more) paragraph(s) that incorporates your hypothesis.
• At least one properly referenced statement – see the referencing guidelines.
• Bring a printout of the document to class and send me a proper email with the attached document.
• Use page numbers (if more than one page), write clearly, and format appropriately.

end of assignment

9 - 13 September 2013

The Udall Foundation makes financial annual scholarships to students who intend on pursuing careers related to the environment, Native Americans, Alaskans, working in National Parks, working with the US Institute for Environmental Conflict, and working with the Native Nations Institute for Leadership, Management and Policy.

16 - 20 September 2013

• Develop a file naming convention that avoids spaces and uses only alphanumeric characters.
• Reference style
• Page numbering
• Date
• P, >, ^
• Write out numbers less than ten.
• Find synonyms for often repeated words.
• Avoid abbreviations and the ampersand.
• Define acronyms before first use.
• Use subheadings.
• Use symbols.

Assignment (due 23 Sep 2013): Plastics Project

• Research topic and title.
• Membership team.
• A clearly written testable hypothesis.
• Justify the intended research and include sections on methods and materials.
• At least two properly referenced statements – see the referencing guidelines.
• Bring a printout of the document to class and send me (and others on your team) a proper email with the attached document.
• Use page numbers (if more than one page), write clearly, and format appropriately.

end of assignment

23 - 27 September 2013

Assignment (due 30 Sep 2013): Learning Styles Project

Create a Word document that has the following characteristics:

1. Name, date, title of activity, appropriate page numbering, and a reference list.
2. Go to the Index of Learning Styles Questionnaire and take the 40-question survey.
3. Use the Windows Snipping Tool to cut out the graph associated with the report.
4. Include this graph in the document. Create a figure caption for this graph and refer to it in the text. The figure caption should have the form: Figure 1. Results of Learning Style Questionnaire (Soloman and Felder, nd). Be sure to add this reference to the reference list following the referencing guidelines.
5. Add a graph created with Excel that uses the results of the activity conducted in the START Seminar earlier today. Add an appropriate reference for this figure.
6. Be sure both figures are of the same width (hold down the shift-key when dragging a handle to size an object in order to maintain an appropriate aspect ratio).
7. The sections of the paper should be:
   Title page
   Purpose of the activity (discuss the intended goal of this activity)
   Results (this where the two graphs will be placed and briefly discussed)
   Analysis of the results (discuss the similarities and differences between the two methods).
   Discussions (discuss the benefits, if any, from doing this activity; did you learn anything about your learning style?)
   Conclusion (brief summary of the project and your results)
8. Please send an email with the attached file and bring a printout to class.

End of assignment.

We will use Excel next week and work on graphing issues. In the meantime, please come by my office to discuss your time tracking activity.

30 September - 4 October 2013

Assignment (due 14 October 2013): Inspirational Quotes

End of assignment.

Assignment (due 14 October 2013): Learning Styles Project II

Create a Word document that has the following characteristics:

1. Name, date, title of activity, appropriate page numbering, 1.5 line spacing, and a reference list.
2. Review the VARK guidelines, take the VARK questionairre, and assess the VARK results.
3. Present the VARK scores in a well-formatted bar chart using Excel.
4. Include the bar chart created in #3 above in the document along with the two figures from the previous Learning Styles Project.
5. Create a figure caption for each figure and be sure to refer to each figure in the text. The figure caption should have a three-part form: Figure X. Title (author, year). Be sure to add the references used in all figures to the reference list following the referencing guidelines.
6. Be sure all three figures are of the same width and large enough to view (hold down the shift-key when dragging a handle to size an object in order to maintain an appropriate aspect ratio).
7. Please send an email with the attached file and bring a printout to class.
8. Use the following subheadings in the paper (embolden and underline each subheading):

• Title page.
• Purpose of the activity — Discuss the intended goals of this activity (how one learns and if the efficacy of these tools).
• Results — Discuss each assessment in a separate paragraph (or more) and follow the discussion with the associated graph.
• Analysis of the assessment tools  — Discuss the similarities and differences between the three methods; evaluate these tools. Were the types of questions similar or did they inquire about different aspects of how you think and respond? Which, if any, of the three evaluation tools would you recommend to others?
• Discussions  — Discuss the benefits, if any, from doing this activity; did you learn anything about your learning style? Will you do anything different because of this activity?
• Conclusion  — Provide a brief summary of the project, your results, and future choices you may make because of this work.
• References  — Use proper format; some examples may be found below. Be sure to reference all statements that are not your own.

End of assignment.

Examples of the style of citation that should be used for the assignment described above (additional citations will be required, but feel free to use the ones below if required in your document):

Felder, R. and B. Soloman, n.d. Learning Styles and Strategies. Retrieved on 1 October 2013 from http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/ILSdir/styles.htm.

Giles, E., S. Pitre, and S. Womack, 2012. Multiple Intelligences and Learning Styles. Retrieved on 1 October 2013 from http://epltt.coe.uga.edu/index.php?title=Multiple_Intelligences_and_Learning_Styles.

Soloman, B. and R. Felder, n.d. Index of Learning Styles Questionnaire. Retrieved on 1 October 2013 from http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/learningstyles/ilsweb.html.

7 - 11 October 2013

14 - 18 October 2013

Topics to discuss: creation of email rules (to redirect incoming mail), use of Word (hanging indents, flowing text around figures, and linking figure captions to figures), and an NSF requirement.

The category headings for the NSF report may be found below. Please send me a Word document that describes how you are meeting these goals and opportunities.

21 - 25 October 2013

Topics to discuss: use of Word (page numbering, flowing text around figures, linking figure captions to figures, and cropping figures).

28 October - 1 November 2013

Topics to discuss: Exponential growth and Excel.

4 - 8 November 2013

Attend the "State of the College" address by President Murphy in the Stearns Performance Space at 4:00 on Monday.

11 - 15  November 2013

Topics to discuss: Scroll bars with Excel and backing up to thumb drives.

Assignment (due 18 November 2013): Active Graphs

For extra fun, add lines (with arrowheads) that move parallel to the axes, and linked to the red data marker.

Send me a functional, clean, well-formatted, properly labeled, and properly-named spreadsheet that is attached to a proper email.

End of assignment.

18 - 23  November 2013

Topics to discuss: Sorting data with Excel.

Greg Petrics will join us for a discussion of log and exponential functions.

25 -29 November 2013

Thanksgiving Break – please be careful.

2 - 6 December 2013

Dr. Martha Lance discussed learning styles (and pleaded for more STARTers to become Coaches).

A discussion of the use of arrays for plotting data using Excel led to the creation of dynamic graphs.

A model for decision making was discussed.

9 - 15 December 2013

Finals Week

Final Exam: Monday, 16 December 2013 at 4:00 p.m.