CHEM 131L Principles of Chemistry I Laboratory
Final Project Capstone
Introduction
In your final capstone for the CHEM 131 laboratory, you will give a ten-minute presentation to your
classmates during one of the final two lab sessions. Your presentation can be in whatever form you’d
like – you can create a video, Powerpoint or Prezi slideshow, show a website through screen sharing, or
more, but it should have some form of visual component.
You will have a choice of two topics for your capstone presentation. Choose from the following:
Option 1: Biography of a Scientist
Throughout this semester, you have learned the names of several famous scientists who have
contributed greatly to our understanding of chemistry. Dalton proposed the idea of atoms, while
Rutherford deduced the presence of the nucleus in an atom by bombarding gold foil with alpha
particles. Millikan determined the charge of an electron. Mendeleev created the first Periodic Table.
Bohr, Heisenberg, de Broglie, and Einstein made tremendous contributions to quantum theory.
Looking at this list, you may notice that they share some commonalities, other than their contribution to
science. That is, they are all white, and they are all male. Historically, white males have had greater
access and opportunity. But modern science wouldn’t be where it is today without the contributions of
countless nonwhite, nonmale scientists.
For your capstone, present a biography of a scientist that has contributed to our understanding of
modern science, but who may not have received the appropriate recognition either because of race or
gender. Your chosen scientist may be someone alive and working today, or may be someone whose
contributions came long ago. You may want to consider the following questions in your presentation:
1. What is the name of your scientist?
2. What was their up
inging like?
3. What were some of their major contributions?
4. What was their legacy?
Option 2: Citizen Science
Scientific research takes many forms. Some smaller-scale projects may only require a single scientist
with limited resources, while others demand large teams and multi-million dollar equipment. Still others
might need a vast amount of data to be examined and sorted. Such projects may have more work than
can reasonably be completed by even a large team of researchers. In these cases, researchers can seek
help from individuals outside their fields. This is the basis of citizen science – scientific research
conducted by nonscientists.
Such projects have the potential to be wide-ranging and cutting-edge, with the nonscientist participants
playing a key role in the research. For examples of the cu
ent and future capabilities of citizen science,
see Aisling Irwin’s article “No PhDs Needed: How Citizen Science is Transforming Research” in the
journal Nature (https:
www.nature.com/articles/d XXXXXXXXXX).
https:
www.nature.com/articles/d XXXXXXXXXX
2
There are a number of repositories of active citizen science projects. Review the projects at the
following sites and select a project you would like to contribute to:
https:
scistarter.org/finder
https:
science.nasa.gov/citizenscience
https:
www.zooniverse.org/projects
Connection to chemistry and/or the topics you have learned or are learning about in the lecture portion
of the class is encouraged but not required. You should select a project that you could contribute at
least five hours to over the next several weeks. Some suggestions for topics you can cover in your final
presentation:
1. What is the title of the project?
2. Who are the lead researchers (name and laboratory)?
3. What is the website for the project?
4. What tasks did you complete as part of this project?
5. Why did you choose this project?
6. What connections, if any, are there with the CHEM 131 cu
iculum?
7. What did you learn?
8. Did you feel as though you contributed to the research effort?
9. What might you have changed about the project or its approach?
10. Was the effort worthwhile?
11. Are you likely to continue with either this project or future citizen science projects?
12. How has this experience changed your view of academic research?
https:
scistarter.org/finde
https:
science.nasa.gov/citizenscience
https:
www.zooniverse.org/projects