Individual Research Projects in Science Classes (2023) [SOURCE]
Aurora Turgeon
One assignment I will include in my course will be an individual research project and presentation. Students will be asked to choose a topic from a provided list. (Or gain instructor approval for a topic not on the list). The students will be asked to create a 5-8 minutes presentation covering the following information:
- Summary of the topic – who, what, when, why, and where?
- The ways in which inequity and differences were exploited – Who benefitted? Who was harmed?
- The ways in which inequity of power and privilege was maintained? Discuss the roles of individuals, institutions, and social systems.
- Reflect on how this topic made you feel.
Suggested topics (source: National Science Teaching Organization)
- Food Deserts
- Environmental Racism
- Tuskegee Syphilis Study
- The Opioid Epidemic
- The 80s Crack Epidemic and Fallout
- Industrial Dumping
- Asthma in Urban Spaces
- Denial of Greenspace
- Lead in Drinking Water
- Henrietta Lacks (Racism in Cancer Research)
- Abnormally High Rates of Cancer in Black Populations
- Vaccines and the Anti-Vaccine Movement
- Effects of the Foster System on Development
- Effects of Solitary Confinement on the Brain
- Incarceration and Institutionalization Complex
- Science and Gender Identity
- Human Experimentation/Exploitation
- Partial/Whole Human Cloning
- Genetic Discrimination
- Eugenics and Racialized Genocide
- Population Control
- Population Growth and Resource Management
- Science of Language and Lingual Oppression
- Gender Bias and Sexism
- Mass Incarceration
- Search Algorithm Bias
- Prescription Opioid Abuse
- Third World Pharmaceutical Trials
- Mental Health and Treatment Disparity
- Science in Hip-Hop Music
- Access to Healthcare
- Infant Mortality
- Quality Housing and Health
- The Effects of Abuse and Trauma on the Brain
- Exclusion of Women/Minorities from Science