Information in news reports is often about chemically related problems and issues of personal and, at times, global concern. Examples include nutrition and diet information, drug abuse, pollution of the environment, nuclear radiation, ozone depletion, toxic waste disposal, etc. Broad societal concerns, such as scientific, economic, social, political, religious, and ethical, must be taken into consideration in order to deal with such problems and issues in any realistic manner.

This trimester, therefore, the STS project will be for you to choose an issue of personal interest from the accompanying list of issues, and follow the outline given below. You must start with Part A, followed by Parts B and C. The remainder of the outline can be done in any order you please.

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Part A (10 Points):  Issues Introduction

Select an issue, indicate whether you are pro or con, then list (by enumerating) the reasons for your choice. Your reasons should be carefully thought out but do not need to involve any research at this time.

Part B (20 Points):  Chemical Background Information

Photocopy a minimum of five articles (or more if needed) with chemical (and/or scientific) information on your issue. Your sources of articles should be scientific journals such as Chemical and Engineering News, Science Digest, Discover, Journal of Chemical Education, or Environmental Science and Technology. Use the Education Index, Readers Guide to Periodical Literature, and other such indices for other sources of information.

Underline or highlight all of the scientific information in the articles that pertains to your issue, then staple each article separately to a one- to two-page summary of the chemical/scientific information on the issue in the article.

Part C (20 Points):  Debating the Opposite of the Issue

Prepare to debate the issue in one to two pages from the opposite viewpoint that you took in Part A. That is, if you first indicted you were pro on the issue, you will now debate con on the issue.

Prepare your debate by looking at a wide variety of perspectives on the issue such as scientific, economic, social, political, religious, and ethical aspects. Enumerate each point you wish to make in the debate, then indicate in parentheses at the end of each statement, the basis upon which it was made. Use (sci) for scientific, (eco) for economic, (soc) for social, etc. Remember that you are debating the opposite position from the one originally taken.

Part D (20 Points):  Interviews with the Experts

Conduct interviews on the issue with at least two people who uses chemistry in his or her profession or who have experience related to your issue and who are not members of the RVGS faculty or members of your immediate family. Prepare the questions you plan to ask prior to the interviews in order not to waste time. The questions should be first about each person's job, i.e., its connection to the issue, and then about the person's position on the issue in question.

Staple your notes, the person's name, job, time, date, and place of the interview to separate summaries of each interview.

You may do email interviews with people who live a distance. You must first introduce yourself and ask them if they will answer your questions, then you send them the questions. CC a copy of all emails you send asking for interviews to Mrs. Sibert.

Part E (20 Points):  A Survey on the Issue

Design a survey involving a minimum of 40 people concerning their position, pro or con, on the issue. To do this, you will need to compare two groups of people (experimental variable) such as college educated versus noncollege educated, or students in gifted or accelerated classes versus average students, and present reasons why you chose this comparison. Before beginning, state your hypothesis predicting a relationship between groups of people (the experimental variable and whether their position is pro or con (the dependent or outcome variable). For example: It is hypothesized that average students are more likely to be pro on the stated issue than gifted students. Or, there is no significant difference in the percentage of males who are con on this compared to the percentage of females who are con on the same issue.

the survey questions MUST be approved BEFORE you actually carry out the survey.

Give the hypothesis along with the questions to Mrs. Sibert for approval BEFORE you give the questions out to others.

Collect the respondents' reasons for being pro or con on the issue. Specifically, was their pro or con choice based on economic, social, religious, scientific, ethical, political, moral, etc., reasons. Staple together data tables, graphs, summary, conclusions, and explanations of the results. Include one copy of the survey.

Part F (10 Points):  Summary of the Issue

Based on all of your work in the project, indicate what your position is now on the issue and support this position by listing your reasons. Elaborate on each reason by means of a few short statements or a paragraph. Indicate also on what perspective each of your reasons is based, i.e., scientific, social, etc. considerations.

Part G (10 Points):  Recommendations for Further Study on the Issue

Consider all of the information acquired in the project on the issue, then recommend at least 10 sub-issues for further study. Each of the sub-issues should be a refinement of the issue that could be studied by a classmate in the future.