STEM Capstone

Naperville North High School

“The mission of Naperville School District 203 is to produce students who are: self-directed learners,
collaborative workers, complex thinkers, quality producers, and community contributors.”

Teacher: Mr. Rowzee

Room: 142

Duration of course: 1 or 2 semesters

Credit: 0.5 credit per semester for this one semester course. The course can be taken for Science,
Math, or CTE credit (please see your counselor with questions about course credit). Weighted credit
is not an option for this course.

Teacher contact information: [email protected].

Additional help: Please find me in either room 144, my office 150, or in room 142, for additional
help before school, during lunches, or after school. E-mail and Google Chat are also acceptable.

Course Description:

The STEM Capstone course offers students a unique opportunity to investigate, in-depth, a Science,
Technology, Engineering, or Math (STEM) topic of interest. The design of the course is to afford
students a unique learning opportunity that exceeds that of other NNHS courses. The learning
theme of the course is “active producers of Knowledge and understanding.” The course structure
focuses as much on the process of learning as it does the content of learning. Because of the
personalized and unique nature of this STEM Capstone course, I will be more closely aligned as
your learning partner and classroom facilitator, rather than a content expert. Yes, that’s right, I
intend to learn with you, and help when guidance is needed.

Generally speaking, students in the course will be directed toward one of two pathways. One
pathway is designed for those students interested in research - including planning the
research/experiment, gathering data, organizing and analyzing data, and communicating the
analyzed data, supported conclusions, and ideas for future study. The second pathway is designed
for students interested in researching, designing, constructing, and testing a project of their choice.
Both STEM pathways are equally acceptable and important in the STEM community. Students will
choose the pathway that best aligns to their course and project goal(s).
The course will begin with students identifying a research topic (pathway 1) or a
technology/engineering challenge (pathway 2). Students will be provided instruction and resources
on effective research strategies. If needed, students will be paired with a mentor-style teacher (not
your teacher of this course) or an industry expert who will serve as a content advisor to the student.
If so desired, you will need to help identify your own mentor(s). Preferably, the mentor will be a
“community mentor” (i.e. not a relative). At the conclusion of the course, students will be expected to
have a completed capstone project. Presentation opportunities will be provided for students to
showcase their capstone projects.

Course Targets:

● Engage in a sustained research project to answer self-generated questions or solve a problem.

● Synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under
investigation.
● Ask relevant questions that provide an emergent and deeper understanding of the subject of
choice.
● Build experiences based on an area of interest that cannot be fulfilled within the existing district
curriculum.
● Demonstrate autonomy and ownership of learning.
● Demonstrate safe working habits and ethical research skills.

Course Safety and Ethical Issues:

Student safety is the primary concern of every school activity. Ethical research is an additional
concern in this capstone-level course. Demonstrating safe working habits and ethical research skills
are critically important targets of the course. The best suggestion for practicing safe working habits
and ethical research skills is to know your working conditions/risks and to know the acceptable
behaviors for ethical issues in your field of research. As part of this course, you may find yourself in
various learning environments, both inside and outside of the classroom. Please always remain
mindful of the following safety and ethical concerns of this course:

● Special safety considerations must be made anytime there is a risk of physical injury,
including, but not limited to, working around electricity, chemicals, power tools,
microorganisms, radiation, and other potentially harmful lab scenarios. All safety rules
for a given environment must be followed, and all personal protective gear (PPG) must
be worn at all times.
● Ethics, in the context of research, is also an important concern. At the university level,
most research efforts must first be approved by an Internal Review Board (IRB).
Humane treatment of animals and humans must be assured before any capstone project
 will be allowed to move to the research stage. Depending on your research topic,
special approval(s) may be needed.
● Ethics or Safety concerns can become the one thing that can drastically modify your
project goal from some original idea, but these issues must be discussed very candidly
with your teacher. Ethics and Safety concerns will be addressed on an as-needed basis.

Required materials and supplies:

● Chromebook - we will access Canvas, Google Drive, research documents, etc on a daily
basis.
● Students will be required to provide any and all materials needed to build their capstone
project.

Grade Computation

Assignments and Progress Checks will be graded throughout the course. The assignments will be
focused on planning and THEN implementing your plan (i.e. building or gathering data for your
project). Most of these grades will be formative - meaning that the grades are more like a
checkpoint along the way to make sure you are progressing through the course you have designed
for yourself, as mutually agreed upon with me. Your final project documentation and submission will
be summative - meaning the assignment is designed to be a final summary of your project.
However, even with this final project document, you will have peer review opportunities before
submitting your final work.

100 – 90 = A 79 – 70 = C <59 = F

89 – 80 = B 69 – 60 = D

Assignments

● Formulating/Refining research idea (50 pts)

● Project design discussion(s)/documentation (100 pts)
● Background research (100 pts)
● Finalized Proposal (20 pts)
● Daily/weekly documentation (15 pts)
● Peer editing (10 pts)
● Final project submittal (50 pts)
● Progress Checks/Trello Updates (25 pts)
Final Exam: This course does not have a final exam. Final project status/presentation/update will
serve as a final exam grade.

General Policies: Be here on time. Let me know if you will need to go somewhere else in the
building in-person, or in advance. Do not abuse the freedoms afforded you during this self-directed
class. Abuses of privileges will result in revoked privileges.

Treat our group as a “learning community” by listening to your peers, working together as necessary,
asking for advice/help from your peers, mentor, or teacher.

Absence: I allow a reasonable amount of time to submit missing work after an absence. Please see
me upon returning from an absence so that we can discuss a timeframe for you to submit any
missing work.

Late Work: Assignments will have a deadline, do not fall behind. Dates are set in advance to
ensure students stay on target, and that students are able to produce a final capstone project in
eighteen weeks. Please do your best to meet these deadlines. With that said, this course does
have an increased element of self-directedness and ownership of learning. Please see your teacher
if you believe you need a reasonable amount of additional time on a particular assignment phase.

Classroom Expectations/Behavior Expectations: My goal is to provide a challenging, nurturing,

collaborative, and exciting learning environment for all students. Thus, you may expect a focused
learning experience with a relaxed, respectful learning climate.

Chromebooks: Students will use their Chromebooks on a daily basis or near daily basis. Please
bring your Chromebook to class daily, charged, and ready to use. Trello is used extensively in the
class.

Academic Honesty and Integrity: Violation of NNHS’s policies regarding academic honesty and/or
integrity will be referred automatically to your Dean for disposition. See appropriate pages in your
Student Handbook for school rules if needed.

Project Changes: Changes to your project are allowed (and often necessary) as the semester
progresses. Changes may NOT be made without first consulting with me about the problems/issues
being encountered. Communication is paramount in this class.

Additional Grading Notes

· No extra credit will be issued.

 · In Infinite Campus, a score of “Missing” (M) will indicate an assessment has not been turned in
and the comments section will include a specific date by which students can still submit. After that
date, a zero (0) will be recorded.

· Summative work submitted after the original due date cannot be penalized more than a total of
10% and must be submitted no later than two weeks after the original due date.

· If a legitimate attempt is made on a graded item before the elapsed time frame in which it is due,
a score of 50% will be the lowest possible grade.

· Violations of the academic integrity policy will be consequenced by the administration in

collaboration with the department chair/teacher.

Approximate Course Flow:

Week Task

1 Intro and Generating research ideas

2 Research design, Background research, Content advisor

3 Hypothesis, Proposal doc, Content advisor

4 Proposal revision and approval, Content advisor

5 Project research/construction

6 Project research/construction

7 Project research/construction

8 Project research/construction

9 Project research/construction

10 Project research/construction

11 Project research/construction

12 Project research/construction

13 Project research/construction

14 Project research/construction

15 Writing final documentation/research paper

 16 Writing final documentation/research paper/peer editing

17 Peer editing

18 Capstone project presentations

Schedule subject to change.