TZHS Science Research is a three year course that provides students in their sophomore through senior years with the opportunity to conduct original science research.
Students in this course pursue their scientific interests through professional level research. This research can be anything from physical science, life science, computer science, mathematics, or social science. It is not essential for an incoming sophomore to know the exact area they want to focus on. The teachers work with them to help them narrow down their area(s) of interest.
A student’s sophomore year typically consists of them finding their topic of research and honing their research skills. Students are taught the process of online bibliographic researching and how to access professional scientific databases. Students use library and Internet research tools to identify specific subjects currently being studied within their chosen area of interest.
Once an extensive amount of background material is acquired and a strong sense of understanding is gained, students make contact with research scientists within their field of interest. Often these are the authors of the articles they have read. At this time, the students ask the scientists to serve as mentors, assisting in carrying out a research project in the area of interest over the upcoming summers and following school years, or to help find appropriate scientists to do so.
During the student’s junior and senior years, a student creates a research plan and subsequently conducts their experiment. The research is completed by the fall of the senior year, at which time, the student writes a detailed research paper and submits to a variety of competitions. In addition to the competitions, the student must present the research to a variety of venues and science fairs.
All Science Research seniors will be responsible to organizing and running the TZHS high school’s annual science symposium.