Data Interpretation Worksheet With the guidance of your mentor, chapter coordinator, and/or teacher, use this worksheet to guide you through developing your Discussion section and drawing your Conclusion. Discussion How did you conduct your experiment? What observations and data did you need to collect to answer your research question and evaluate your hypothesis? Refer to your experimental procedure, but focus on explaining why you designed your experiment the way you did. __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________
What did you find out? What did your data tell you? Refer to your graphs and charts from your Data Analysis, but remember to pretend you are trying to describe your data to someone who isn’t looking at your graphs. __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________
Can you identify any sources of experimental error in your original procedure or in the actual data collection that may have affected your results? How would such error have affected your data? How can such sources of experimental error be avoided in the future? __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________
Conclusion Do your data support or disprove your hypothesis? Explain. __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________
How well do your results address your original research question? Has your research question been fully answered? Explain why or why not. __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ Based on what you learned, what additional research do you think should be conducted in order to advance the understanding of your project topic? __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ Finally, discuss some ideas for how your community can use what you’ve learned to help make a cleaner environment or conserve natural resources. __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________
Discussion & Conclusion – Assignment Using your answers from the worksheet on the preceding pages, develop the Discussion & Conclusion section of your final research paper. It should be approximately 2-3 pages in length. Upload it to your Student page on your Chapter EnvironMentors Portal turn it in to your teacher or chapter coordinator. You have completed Step 6 of the Scientific Method: Draw a Conclusion.
EnvironMentors – Explore Your World
High School Student Career Planning Orientation College, Career & Life Planning
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Questions for Students 1. How many hours have you invested in school between grades 1-12? 2. Why do you go to school? 3. Is it smart to select a HS extracurricular activity at random? A career? 4. What is the best career in the world? 5. When are you required to decide on your career? College, Career & Life Planning
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Think About It People Often Invest More Time Planning Their Vacation Than Planning Their Career.
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Career Decision Determines 1. How you spend most of your "awake" hours for the next 40 years? 2. Your opportunities for personal satisfaction and growth? 3. Your ability to meet your family's needs (e.g. housing, medical, college)? 4. Your ability to eventually retire with the financial resources to enjoy it? College, Career & Life Planning
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Career Planning Dilemma The Stakes Have Never Been Higher The Tools are Available The Challenge is to Inform & Motivate
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Lifetime Value of Education $3,000,000
$2,500,000
$2,000,000
$1,500,000
$1,000,000
$500,000
$0 Less than High School Diploma
High School Diploma
College, Career & Life Planning
Some College w /o Degree
Associates 2 yrs.
Bachelors 4 yrs.
Masters 6 yrs.
Professional 7+ yrs.
Doctoral 8 yrs.
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Hours Invested 90000 80000 70000 60000 50000 40000 30000 20000 10000 0 Grades 1-12
College, Career & Life Planning
College
Working
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How Much Income Do I Need? Annual Income Required (Given Various Interest Rates)
House Price $100,000 $150,000 $200,000 $250,000 $300,000 $400,000
6.0% $32,857 $49,286 $65,714 $82,143 $98,571 $131,429
6.5% $34,229 $51,343 $68,457 $85,571 $102,686 $136,914
7.0% $35,643 $53,464 $71,286 $89,107 $106,929 $142,571
7.5% $37,143 $55,714 $74,286 $92,857 $111,429 $148,571
8.0% $38,600 $57,900 $77,200 $96,500 $115,800 $154,400
Assumptions o 30 yr. fixed rate mortgage. Property tax & Insurance is 2% of market value. o No downpayment.
100% of house price is financed to simplify analysis.
o Principal, Interest, Prop Tax & Insurance will be 28% of Gross Income o House is a family's biggest expense and a reasonable indication of lifestyle.
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How Much Will A House Cost? Median Price of Existing Single Family Homes (Select U.S. Cities) 2004
$700,000
$600,000
$500,000
$400,000
$300,000
$200,000
$100,000
$0
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Why Motivating Youth is Difficult • Easy to procrastinate. • Parents “fell into their jobs”. • Too scary to think about. • Too busy. No more homework! • Don’t know where to begin. • Don’t see the value. College, Career & Life Planning
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Result: Poor Choices, Waste and Frustration • “My son just graduated from college. He doesn’t have a clue what he wants to do. Maybe forensics. Maybe art.” • “My daughter is a sophomore in college and she hates her major (accounting). She is changing majors, but doesn’t know what to choose. That means at least one more year of college that we cannot afford. • “Now that I have a college degree, I need to think about a career. I majored in Marketing, but I’m not sure that’s what I want to do.” • “I hate my major, but switching involves two more years of college. My parents would kill me. I’ll gut it out. Maybe I’ll learn to like it.” • “I wish I had known four years ago what I know now. I would have taken career and college planning more seriously. My major was easy and fun, but now I cannot get a decent job.” College, Career & Life Planning
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“Typical” Resources Used to Pick a Career 1. TV => There is a big difference between TV drama and “real life”. 2. Friends => They’ll know what sounds “cool”, but unless they have proactively used the career /college tools available, they are probably not a knowledgeable source of information. 3. Life’s Interactions => OK, you have used the services of Dentists, Pharmacists, Teachers, etc. but… Do you really know what it is like to do their job? 4. Parent => A great source, if your parent’s career happens to be “the right one” out of several hundred possibilities for you.
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Better Resources to Pick a Career “Free� on-line resources 1. To clarify your interest/fit with various careers 2. To compare your personal skills/strengths against those required by various careers 3. To determine which careers offer the most opportunity 4. To develop your list of careers for consideration 5. To learn about the nature of work, education requirements, job outlook, earnings, etc. College, Career & Life Planning
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Better Resources to Pick a Career Talk to People in Careers of Interest 1. Parent’s Friends 2. Friend’s Parents 3. Acquaintances from “Life’s Interactions” (e.g. teachers, dentists, store managers) 4. Career Day Presenters 5. Volunteering, Internships, Job Shadowing College, Career & Life Planning
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Suggestions Before Starting 1. Don't select a career based solely on $$$. 2. Do pick a career for which jobs are available with income levels adequate to meet your family's financial needs. 3. Don't expect a quick, easy answer. The career planning process requires time and effort. Invest the time to identify/evaluate careers that "fit" your needs, interests and abilities. 4. Do use a variety of tools and talk to several people in each career of interest. 5. Don't get discouraged or discredit the process when some “obviously� unacceptable careers appear on a list generated by an interest assessment tool (they will). Career planning is not a precise science. Reason and judgment must be applied. College, Career & Life Planning
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Suggestions Before Starting •
Do think about the process as a way to significantly improve your odds (with no guarantee) of selecting a great career. The following table is my rough estimate of how your odds for choosing a great or "perfect" career improve by making an informed decision. Random Gut Informed Feel Decision Decision Perfect Career 1% 5% 20% Great Career 4% 20% 50% Acceptable Career 60% 50% 20% Terrible Career 35% 25% 10% For example, I estimate that your probability of selecting a "perfect career“ is about 1% if you make a random decision vs. 20% if you make an informed decision.
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Career Planning Process Your Strengths (e.g., creativity, leadership, writing)
Your Interests (e.g., people, math, science)
Your Needs (e.g., income, growth, personal fulfillment)
Identify Career Possibilities
Occupational Outlook Summaries
Networking, Internships, Job Shadowing, Volunteering
CareerOneStop Job Summaries & Videos
Evaluate/Select a Career College, Career & Life Planning
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Career Planning Process 1. Get motivated 2. Self Analysis 3. Develop a list of jobs to consider 4. Get on-line information for evaluation 5. Evaluate job options 6. Prepare a job comparison summary 7. Talk to people in occupations of strong interest. 8. Choose the “right� industry and company. College, Career & Life Planning
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Web Site Tool Demo www.collegecareerlifeplanning.com Tools • College Planning Tools (Selecting, Applying & Financing) • Career Planning Tools (Self-assessment, Identify Careers Prospects, Retrieve Required Information, Evaluate Careers, Company/Industry Information, Evaluate Companies/Industries, Job Basics)
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The Door is Open. Will You Enter? • Invest time to review/use the tools to make informed decisions. • Tell others who might benefit (friends, cousins, neighbors, siblings) Your Future Depends On It College, Career & Life Planning
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