Middle School Content Guidelines

Component One: Investigating the Problem

Task One: Describe in detail the problem your team selected and explain why it is important for your team to investigate the problem. 
Task Two: Describe how your team decided on the problem you are investigating and explain what steps you took to narrow the focus of your investigation.

Task Three: Locate and document (using facts and figures) and describe how:

  • two geographic sites or two population groups have been affected by the problem your team identified.
    OR
  • two organizations, educational institutions or research facilities are doing significant research to solve the problem your team identified. 
Task Four: Document (using two different sources based on facts and figures) what effect this problem has on people's lives.
Task Five: Document (using two different sources based on facts and figures) the impact the problem has on the economy of our nation or on your community.

Component Two: Understanding existing science and technology

Task One: Provide a history of the National Critical Technology (NCT) technical application your team is researching. Include at least three significant scientific discoveries, advances and milestones using documented facts and figures. 
Task Two: Identify two scientists or engineers who have made major contributions to the development of the technical application your team selected and explain how their work is related.
Task Three: Explain how the technical application your team is researching is currently being used to solve the problem in Component One. Include documentation regarding at least two benefits and two limitations.
Task Four: Based on what you have learned in Component Two, explain how science has advanced technology regarding the technical application your team has researched.

Component Three: Innovating an improvement or new use

Task One: Propose an original improvement or new use regarding your team's technical application. Explain in detail how it works and provide a link to your design requirement.
Task Two: Explain what economic impact your team's proposed improvement or new use would have as it relates to the problem you identified in Component One.
Task Three: Three Identify and describe a company, federal agency or academic research laboratory that could carry out your team's proposed new improvement or new use.
Task Four: Using e-mail, obtain the opinion of a scientist or engineer about your team's proposed improvement or new use for the technical application. Add this information to your website by including the individual's name, organization, copies of the e-mail the team sent and the reply it received from its inquiry.
If your team is not able to obtain a response to your inquiry, provide an example of the e-mail request you sent and the names of those whom you sent the request.