04/16/2017
I can't believe that my BASIS Scottsdale career has come to a close. After a little bit of reflecting, I have come to realize that I am thrilled with all that I have accomplished, and I know that my time at BASIS has adequately prepared me to take Colorado School of Mines by storm this fall.
The AP Capstone program and Ms. Haag's guidance through the past couple years has truly been one of the most (if not the most) enriching pieces of my education. The course, having taken me through the research process five times, has made me a much stronger thinker, writer, and presenter. Not only have I further come to love questioning and finding answers, but I have learned how to approach each question with an open mind. Every time I chose a research topic and answered my question, it was an organic process -- entering the course, I thought that a research project would have clear direction from the beginning, but every question I answered didn't even come about until I conducted preliminary research and discovered a unique aspect of a problem I didn't even know was there. Take, for example, my AP Research topic. Originally, I was going to look at the ingredients of natural and unnatural makeup to determine why natural makeup was superior to unnatural makeup from a chemical perspective; however, during the initial research phase, I found that the social influences that had led me to believe natural makeup was superior were largely unwarranted, so, instead, I ended up pursuing a consumer study to determine which makeup was actually superior, natural or unnatural. I am beyond excited to apply this new open-minded approach to research during my time at Mines in order to answer big questions in engineering and hopefully solve some key issues.
The course has also made me feel so much more confident presenting my ideas in front of an audience. Before seminar, I would have never thought I could memorize a 15 minute presentation, let alone a 10 minute one, to where I could deliver a complex yet convincing argument without even glancing at bullet points on a slide. Especially during my final research presentation, I truly felt like a professional talking about the cosmetics industry. Undoubtedly, learning how to create effective slides and gaining the confidence to completely own the verbal aspect of the presentation will give me a huge advantage in my future education and career.
Lastly, Ms. Haag's unwavering efforts to transform each of us into the best, most capable individuals we can be have probably made the greatest impact. Her constant encouragement and belief that we can do better, her many hours spent carefully editing our work (especially last year -- I really don't have any clue how she got through last year!), her devotion to each of our projects like it was her own... honestly, there is no way I would be the person I am today without her. Her emotional investment in my education has been such a gift to me -- it has enriched my life more than I could ever adequately express.
Here's to the class of 2017 going off and achieving great things, both this coming fall in college and throughout our future careers. We did it! Now it's our time to shine in new places while accomplishing new feats. :)
(561)
Sunday, April 16, 2017
Sunday, April 9, 2017
Practice Presentations: A Reflection
04/09/2017
After doing two practice presentations (one last Monday and one on Saturday), I am feeling pretty confident about my presentation and excited to share my findings with the BASIS community.
Last Monday, I went into my practice presentation uneasy about the slides actually explaining my research methods and results. My feelings were justified, as many of the guest teachers watching the practice presentation couldn't follow exactly what I did and how I quantified the findings from the blind consumption test and the exit survey. After discussing with Ms. Haag and the teachers, I created more slides, some with pretty heavy animations (one slide took about 25 minutes to make!), in order to better explain the process of my method, the design of my exit survey, and the conclusions I reached from all the data I collected.
On Saturday, Mr. Molk, who was completely lost watching my first presentation, said that he totally understood my methods and conclusions the second time. The other guest teacher, Dr. Helmers, although he didn't see my presentation the first time, said that he followed the whole thing and was really impressed. Ms. Haag also thought my slides had improved and commented that my verbal presentation was pretty strong (although I know that I can still improve that and there are some awkward spots, especially in the parts of the methods and results where I have added additional explanation). So, overall, I am feeling pretty good about the whole presentation.
What I have left to do is fix some slides that still have general pictures, lack of animation, or poor visual appeal (on Saturday, we all found that some slides would be more effective if they included bullet points explaining key points in conjunction with pictures). Also, I need to work on a couple transitions/explanations in my verbal script to ensure that the audience follows my thought process when I analyze my results and reach conclusions. As far as practicing, I will continue to go through it a few times a day, at least once with an audience and with either reviewing or practicing answering oral defense questions. I have my final practice presentation tomorrow, so I am sure I will find more places where I can improve my slides/explanation, and I will implement them into the rest of my practice before finishing AP Research this Friday at 8am! :D
We are almost there! Good luck to everyone with finishing and practicing their presentations!
(408)
After doing two practice presentations (one last Monday and one on Saturday), I am feeling pretty confident about my presentation and excited to share my findings with the BASIS community.
Last Monday, I went into my practice presentation uneasy about the slides actually explaining my research methods and results. My feelings were justified, as many of the guest teachers watching the practice presentation couldn't follow exactly what I did and how I quantified the findings from the blind consumption test and the exit survey. After discussing with Ms. Haag and the teachers, I created more slides, some with pretty heavy animations (one slide took about 25 minutes to make!), in order to better explain the process of my method, the design of my exit survey, and the conclusions I reached from all the data I collected.
On Saturday, Mr. Molk, who was completely lost watching my first presentation, said that he totally understood my methods and conclusions the second time. The other guest teacher, Dr. Helmers, although he didn't see my presentation the first time, said that he followed the whole thing and was really impressed. Ms. Haag also thought my slides had improved and commented that my verbal presentation was pretty strong (although I know that I can still improve that and there are some awkward spots, especially in the parts of the methods and results where I have added additional explanation). So, overall, I am feeling pretty good about the whole presentation.
What I have left to do is fix some slides that still have general pictures, lack of animation, or poor visual appeal (on Saturday, we all found that some slides would be more effective if they included bullet points explaining key points in conjunction with pictures). Also, I need to work on a couple transitions/explanations in my verbal script to ensure that the audience follows my thought process when I analyze my results and reach conclusions. As far as practicing, I will continue to go through it a few times a day, at least once with an audience and with either reviewing or practicing answering oral defense questions. I have my final practice presentation tomorrow, so I am sure I will find more places where I can improve my slides/explanation, and I will implement them into the rest of my practice before finishing AP Research this Friday at 8am! :D
We are almost there! Good luck to everyone with finishing and practicing their presentations!
(408)
Sunday, April 2, 2017
Crafting the Ideal Research Presentation
04/02/2017
After meeting with Ms. Haag last Monday and discussing how to improve my presentation, I am feeling a lot more confident about my understanding of what it takes to successfully convey all the information from a complex research project to an audience.
An AP Research presentation has a completely different purpose from a Seminar presentation. In Seminar, we were building an argument based off of general information from many other sources. Any explanation/justification of a method or how an author came to conclusions was brief -- we were mainly just stringing together the conclusions themselves in order to support a thesis statement. Research, on the other hand, is breaking down, explaining, and justifying the conclusion of ONE argument, our argument. It is a justification of our question (a brief explanation of the lit review, just enough information to show the significance and gap in the field), an in depth justification and explanation of our method, a detailed analysis of how the results from that method answer our question, and an insightful description of the future directions and implications that our research uncovers.
As such, the content of an ideal Research presentation should efficiently convey just enough information from the lit review to show the significance and gap in the field, and then it should transition into a detailed justification and explanation of the method and the results it uncovers, along with an analysis of the ultimate answer to the question and what it means for society.
While I think that a lot of us have a good understanding of what content is necessary to include in a script, a lot of us are still struggling with creating the optimal PowerPoint. In Seminar, we could get away with generic pictures since we were conveying a bunch of simple ideas. However, now, in Research, we are responsible for explaining complex and very specific research. Every picture, diagram, or bullet point needs to be tailored specifically to explaining OUR research. Otherwise, the presentation is completely useless in helping the audience understand what we are saying. For example, in my PowerPoint, for the slide accompanying my discussion of the participants, I had a general picture of a few girls testing makeup.This generic picture did not convey that I had 50 participants or that they were the clientele from a local makeup store, the main points that I am trying to make. Thus, I changed the slide to be a diagram of 50 female bathroom silhouettes (to represent the 50 female participants) and used a smart art shape to label them as a sample of the clientele from a local makeup store. Ultimately, if there is no clear answer to the question "How does this picture/bullet point/diagram/graph help the audience visually understand the point that I am verbally conveying?" then that element of the presentation needs to be altered so that it can achieve that purpose.
Improving my presentation has been a lot of swapping generic pictures for more specific diagrams, inserting actual charts/examples from my results section, and adding visual interest/drawing attention to key points through animations and introducing bullet points/visual elements one at a time (as opposed to having all the slide's content come up at once). I have also condensed my script by cutting even more technical/specific information out of the lit review and synthesizing the results and discussion sections more so that each conclusion leads directly into how it answers the question and its implications.
Going forward practicing my presentation, I plan on delivering it to my parents at least once per day while playing the PowerPoint on the TV beside me, and I will practice reciting the script with my slides up on my computer at least another two times per day. Every time, I will update the script and presentation if I discover a way to more naturally or effectively convey the information, and I will take advice from my parents and ensure that they understand all the points I am making. Also, I will give the oral defense questions to my parents and have them ask me a few at the end of each practice presentation so that I get used to answering questions at the end of a long presentation.
Overall, I am excited to present all the hard work I have done throughout the year and end high school by finishing a large project that I can be proud of! Good luck to everyone else on practicing and finishing their presentations. The finish line is truly in sight!
(752)
After meeting with Ms. Haag last Monday and discussing how to improve my presentation, I am feeling a lot more confident about my understanding of what it takes to successfully convey all the information from a complex research project to an audience.
An AP Research presentation has a completely different purpose from a Seminar presentation. In Seminar, we were building an argument based off of general information from many other sources. Any explanation/justification of a method or how an author came to conclusions was brief -- we were mainly just stringing together the conclusions themselves in order to support a thesis statement. Research, on the other hand, is breaking down, explaining, and justifying the conclusion of ONE argument, our argument. It is a justification of our question (a brief explanation of the lit review, just enough information to show the significance and gap in the field), an in depth justification and explanation of our method, a detailed analysis of how the results from that method answer our question, and an insightful description of the future directions and implications that our research uncovers.
As such, the content of an ideal Research presentation should efficiently convey just enough information from the lit review to show the significance and gap in the field, and then it should transition into a detailed justification and explanation of the method and the results it uncovers, along with an analysis of the ultimate answer to the question and what it means for society.
While I think that a lot of us have a good understanding of what content is necessary to include in a script, a lot of us are still struggling with creating the optimal PowerPoint. In Seminar, we could get away with generic pictures since we were conveying a bunch of simple ideas. However, now, in Research, we are responsible for explaining complex and very specific research. Every picture, diagram, or bullet point needs to be tailored specifically to explaining OUR research. Otherwise, the presentation is completely useless in helping the audience understand what we are saying. For example, in my PowerPoint, for the slide accompanying my discussion of the participants, I had a general picture of a few girls testing makeup.This generic picture did not convey that I had 50 participants or that they were the clientele from a local makeup store, the main points that I am trying to make. Thus, I changed the slide to be a diagram of 50 female bathroom silhouettes (to represent the 50 female participants) and used a smart art shape to label them as a sample of the clientele from a local makeup store. Ultimately, if there is no clear answer to the question "How does this picture/bullet point/diagram/graph help the audience visually understand the point that I am verbally conveying?" then that element of the presentation needs to be altered so that it can achieve that purpose.
Improving my presentation has been a lot of swapping generic pictures for more specific diagrams, inserting actual charts/examples from my results section, and adding visual interest/drawing attention to key points through animations and introducing bullet points/visual elements one at a time (as opposed to having all the slide's content come up at once). I have also condensed my script by cutting even more technical/specific information out of the lit review and synthesizing the results and discussion sections more so that each conclusion leads directly into how it answers the question and its implications.
Going forward practicing my presentation, I plan on delivering it to my parents at least once per day while playing the PowerPoint on the TV beside me, and I will practice reciting the script with my slides up on my computer at least another two times per day. Every time, I will update the script and presentation if I discover a way to more naturally or effectively convey the information, and I will take advice from my parents and ensure that they understand all the points I am making. Also, I will give the oral defense questions to my parents and have them ask me a few at the end of each practice presentation so that I get used to answering questions at the end of a long presentation.
Overall, I am excited to present all the hard work I have done throughout the year and end high school by finishing a large project that I can be proud of! Good luck to everyone else on practicing and finishing their presentations. The finish line is truly in sight!
(752)
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