Since 1998, when the FIRM (Fundamentals In Research Methods) course was introduced at the Arkansas School for Mathematics and Sciences (ASMS), it has been growing and changing to meet the needs of students. Its latest change has been the introduction of RTT (Research Through Technology), a one-semester course required of all entering juniors. In its current form, FIRM/RTT has the following objectives:
As entering juniors all students take RTT, which meets three times weekly. In the course of their fall semester, juniors learn the intricacies of the scientific method and its application to a variety of problems while learning to use the wide variety of mathematics and science software ASMS makes available to them. Students learn to use the media center and electronic resources to conduct valid research, gather data in a sound manner, design practicable experiments, test hypotheses about data, analyze data with descriptive statistics, and write their findings in scientifically acceptable research papers. All skills and objectives taught in RTT are reinforced in other junior classes like Junior English Composition and the various mathematics and science courses juniors may choose to take.
In the spring of their junior year, with RTT over, juniors move into the FIRM program after they choose a science research project. Teachers offer a list of projects they have the expertise to mentor, and juniors interview for project positions. Once teachers and juniors have been matched, the students begin the year-long process of preparing for International Science and Engineering Fair or Senior Research Symposium competition. During that spring semester, juniors do background research, write a literature survey explaining or justifying their project, write problem statements and hypotheses, propose experimental methodologies, and present their work in PowerPoint format to panels of teachers and seniors, who offer critiques.
It is expected that students use the summer to begin, if not complete, experimentation. Many students work with off-campus mentors, making such experimentation possible. In the fall of their senior year, students spend their FIRM time analyzing the data gathered during experimentation and completing the elements of the project research paper, which is due as a final exam in Senior English Composition in December. In January and February, seniors make final edits of their papers and prepare the multi-media presentations for ISEF and Junior Academy competition in March. All aspects of these presentations are taught in Senior English Composition; students practice their performances and receive critical feedback from both teachers and classmates. After the March regional ISEF or Senior Research Symposium competitions, seniors become mentors to juniors who have just begun preliminary research on their projects.
ASMS faculty all agreed that students would do research as a graduation requirement; the two biggest problems encountered in making RTT/FIRM happen have been the time commitment required of teachers and the logistical problem of keeping students meaningfully busy. Each teacher supports no more than six projects; since they are projects the teacher him/herself proposed to students, faculty members (even in the Humanities Department) are engaged in something they find interesting. Furthermore, because the skills students need to undertake a lengthy and complex project are reinforced in most every class the students take, there is a great deal of interdisciplinary support for the process. Students know that all teachers can be approached for help, since all teachers are involved in science research projects. The most positive outcome of this aspect of RTT/FIRM is that all students belong to all teachers; traditional territoriality is lost.
The second issue - keeping students meaningfully engaged - proved to be more difficult. How were teachers to meet with six seniors in various stages of project completion and with six juniors just beginning work at the same time? And how were they to keep everyone involved? The answer was found in schedule adjustment. Every Tuesday afternoon teachers meet with juniors for two hours. During that time juniors confer about problems they may be having, work in the library gathering research, read and analyze the materials they have gathered, pursue deadlines to be met, draft sections of their paper, etc. Teachers are in their offices at all times, and their students meet with them as needed after the initial check-in and update on progress. On Tuesday afternoons all labs on campus are open to seniors for their experiments; no juniors may use the labs during FIRM so seniors have uninterrupted work time. On Wednesday afternoons just the reverse happens: seniors meet with their FIRM advisors and juniors may work in the labs as needed.
All students graduating from ASMS have earned 1 credit in FIRM/RTT; each semester
is ½ credit. All students must successfully complete a science research
project; they cannot graduate without doing so. In the ten years of ASMS's existence,
there has been an unflagging support for the idea of student research, and the
faculty keeps identifying ways to better prepare students to be scientific researchers.
e-NEWS: May 2003 Issue