The most successful Fire Projects are the ones that tap into an area of interest for you, the student. Because of this interest, you will receive the motivation necessary to face the challenges, overcome the obstacles, and excel in the completion of your product.
With this in mind, choose a product that taps into your interests, extends your learning, stretches your potential, and challenges your abilities. What that may be is up to you. The goal is to go beyond your current knowledge to create a higher level of learning. Just remember the requirements. Your selection must provide you with a “learning stretch”, one that will take you at least 20 project hours outside of class to complete.
Because the Fire Project will be one of the most important assignments of your high school career, not to mention the fact that it will take up much of your time in the coming months, you need to consider your choice for the product very carefully.
Think about all of the things you are interested in—things you would like to fix, do, learn, understand, see, improve, create, experience, or own. Brainstorm your ideas as they come to you: do not limit yourself at this point. If you are into sailing and want to sail solo to Hawaii, write it down. You can always eliminate ideas later if they turn out to be impractical or too expensive. Narrow your ideas down to three or four which are “do-able” and prioritize them. In deciding whether or not a particular product idea will work, take into consideration whether or not research information will be available and whether the Product is one which you can financially afford to undertake. Also, consider if it will maintain your interest for eight months, take you at least 20 hours to complete, stretch your abilities, challenge your limitations, and stretch your learning.
The Essential Question: Because a successful and meaningful Fire Project necessarily involves genuine inquiry around a topic of your choosing, you will focus your work around a complex, interesting, and sustainable essential question.
When you have chosen your topic, you must develop a research question that will focus your research. How do you develop a usable research question?
List all of the questions that you yourself would like answered. Choose the best question, one that is neither too broad nor too narrow. Sometimes the number of sources you find will help you determine whether your research question is too broad, too narrow, or okay.
With this in mind, choose a product that taps into your interests, extends your learning, stretches your potential, and challenges your abilities. What that may be is up to you. The goal is to go beyond your current knowledge to create a higher level of learning. Just remember the requirements. Your selection must provide you with a “learning stretch”, one that will take you at least 20 project hours outside of class to complete.
Because the Fire Project will be one of the most important assignments of your high school career, not to mention the fact that it will take up much of your time in the coming months, you need to consider your choice for the product very carefully.
Think about all of the things you are interested in—things you would like to fix, do, learn, understand, see, improve, create, experience, or own. Brainstorm your ideas as they come to you: do not limit yourself at this point. If you are into sailing and want to sail solo to Hawaii, write it down. You can always eliminate ideas later if they turn out to be impractical or too expensive. Narrow your ideas down to three or four which are “do-able” and prioritize them. In deciding whether or not a particular product idea will work, take into consideration whether or not research information will be available and whether the Product is one which you can financially afford to undertake. Also, consider if it will maintain your interest for eight months, take you at least 20 hours to complete, stretch your abilities, challenge your limitations, and stretch your learning.
The Essential Question: Because a successful and meaningful Fire Project necessarily involves genuine inquiry around a topic of your choosing, you will focus your work around a complex, interesting, and sustainable essential question.
When you have chosen your topic, you must develop a research question that will focus your research. How do you develop a usable research question?
List all of the questions that you yourself would like answered. Choose the best question, one that is neither too broad nor too narrow. Sometimes the number of sources you find will help you determine whether your research question is too broad, too narrow, or okay.