Ryan Harris

 

Capstone Process Paper

 

For my capstone, I decided to work closely with 7^th and 8^th graders at Independence Charter School to help them create better National History Day Projects. Originally this was not my idea. My first idea was to create a class/club centered on what the children wanted to learn. I thought that this idea was perfect since it fitted perfect with what I wanted to be when I was older: a teacher. Here I could put myself into a position much like a teacher, while also engages the kids I worked with because they would learning about things they enjoyed like: sports, videos games, books, etc. After discussing the original idea with my mentor, we realized how cumbersome of a project that would be. With a project like that, I’d completely dependent on what the students wanted to learn. If they weren’t putting in any effort, I’d be out of a capstone. I would also be dedicating too much time to creating projects/lesson plans for the class every week. After discussing alternatives, we decided that I would help on existing process going on at the school: National History Day. This was definitely a better idea for me because I still got to be in a teacher-like position while having a better focus on my capstone. During the process of about 3-4 months, I learned how my capstone relates to the five core values.

With inquiry the students and myself had two major questions above our heads: “How do our NHD topics relate to the current theme of 2013?” and “If not, how can change our ideas so that they fit into this year’s topic?” Before getting into any serious work with any of the students I’d ask the kids to explain their theme and overall project in a couple sentences. This way the students can see for themselves whether they have a good idea on their hands instead of just me telling them. For research, I would try to help the students by introducing resources that can possibly collect better sources for the kids. Being that they are 7^th and 8^th graders, they collect almost that looks like a credible source. That’s where collaboration comes in. I’d be there to help distinguish between what’s “good” source and what’s a “bad” source. How something from a random website on the Internet is definitely less effective source that a source from something like an accredited newspaper. In addition to that, I also helped by showing the differences between primary and secondary sources. For many of them, it’s their first introduction into dealing with primary and secondary sources. Using my four years at SLA, I tried to demonstrate more effective ways of presentation a final product. I tried to show the students I worked with the idea of CARP (Contrast-Alignment- Repetition-Proximity), something we always try to implement in our final products at SLA.

The process of my capstone first began when I pay visit to some the students while they were in school. As introduced myself as an alumni of Independence Charter School and that I was once in their position with NHD projects. I told them about my experiences with the National History Day competition and even how my years at SLA have made much more proficient in creating projects. I tried not to come off as too demanding and that I was resource that they had the choice of using. When my mentor compiled as list of groups that wanted to work with me, it then transformed to weekly sessions where I would work with the groups. Although I was very optimistic about the process, I began to notice major issues even after the first meeting. I was just one person in a room full of kids that wanted my help. I quickly realized that I had to divide my attention between six different groups in only a relative short amount of time. Thankfully, my mentor was there to help me out. After one our meetings we decided that I would only work groups who were really invested in the process, but even that had problems. Every week I’d be meeting with a new group so there would be a constant dialogue between the students and myself. Even when I could meet with a group on a consistent basis, these groups already knew what they were doing. I couldn’t really add anything to the overall project. Also a lot of the time, I felt that input wasn’t even being taken into account. I would suggest something to a group and they either completely ignored it or just do it without even considering how it might affect their project.

I’m certainly proud of the fact that I stay with something like this. I was always ready to work with the groups even when it hindered my normal senior workload (benchmarks, projects). I also got to experience what a lot of teachers deal with on a daily basis. Most teachers, especially ones that teach grade school work with kids that are scatterbrained and don’t necessarily pay attention all the time. It’s certainly a difficult thing to deal with that I have to take into consideration when I become a teacher. If I could do this capstone all over again, I’d certainly recruit other people to also work with me so I wouldn’t be dividing my attention amongst so many different groups. I believe that SLA is better place for letting me attend because this is where I got to use all the things I learned in middle school and actually apply them to tangible and worthwhile things. I also believed it’s a better place because I became more invested in global issues and SLA has motivated me to become a much more globally minded citizen. 

I knew exactly what the topic of my capstone would be by the time that I entered high school. I have had an interest in animals ever since my first pet dog named Rex. However, it did not stop with him. I was fascinated in animals of all sorts. I remember that my family would buy my books about animals. In particular, I would enjoy reading about reptiles. My interest in reptiles came about when I went on a kindergarten class trip to the Philadelphia Zoo, a place that would eventually become the headquarters of my capstone project.

After entering the Reptile and Amphibian House that first time, I noticed that it contained a variety of animals that were like nothing that I had ever seen before. All of its inhabitants were scaly. Some were legless, and others had shells. I had always seen pictures of reptiles, but finally being able to see how unique that they were in person gave me a lifelong curiosity. After leaving the zoo that first time, I was eager to go back and observe things that I was not able to notice the first time, given my young age. As such, when high school gave me the chance to volunteer at the zoo, I eagerly accepted it. This happened when I chose the zoo for my tenth grade Individualized Learning Plan (ILP). Being able to finally wear the zoo uniform to the zoo took my already present excitement about my internship over the top, as the animals would now look to me not as a visitor, but as a keeper.

After I had finished my internship, I felt emptiness in my body. I knew that for my life to once again be complete, I had to find a way that I could incorporate the zoo into my life. I quickly realized that the perfect idea was to have my capstone project have something to do with the zoo. Although I wanted to use it to learn more about what the zoo does behind the scenes, I knew that I could make a more productive use of my time with the zoo. Instead of being selfish, I thought that it would be a good idea to work with the zoo to make the already amazing experience that each zoo visitor has even better. While I was thinking about how to achieve this, I remembered what I did when I volunteered at the zoo in the tenth grade. Then, the idea came to me to improve the zoo’s already valuable education program in any way that I could. This one thought helped to shape how I was going to do my project.

I knew that although the zoo did educate its zoo visitors about the animals in its care, it did not really get the chance to take notes about how each zoo visitor responded to the information that was being presented to them. I knew at that point that it was my obligation to take observations on the engagement level of each zoo visitor that I came into contact with in locations throughout the zoo. This led my project to a halt, as I had to decide what my definition of engaged should be. However, after collaborating with the zoo, we decided that the best way to accurately judge the engagement level of a zoo visitor was by counting the number of questions that they asked. If they asked more than two questions, I would assume that they were engaged. If not, then I would assume vice-versa. To go with this, I would also record the expression on zoo visitors’ faces, the amount of time that they spent with a zoo presenter, and some of the questions that they asked. Taking the data was the activity that took the most of my time to do, as the zoo required for me to volunteer for at least eighty hours.

After I had taken data for months, I compiled it all together to come to a conclusion. I had originally planned to educate zoo visitors myself, but I ran out of time. However, I was pleased with the findings that I was able to gain. I concluded that the best way to present information to zoo visitors was by way of a visual presentation, as more questions were being asked under these conditions. I shared this information with the zoo in hopes that it would help them in any way possible.

Looking back, I am happy to have had the chance to work with my favorite place twice in my life to do something that I enjoy doing. Although doing a capstone may have seemed like work to some of my peers, for me it brought sheer enjoyment. This experience is something that I will carry with me for the rest of my life, proudly bringing it up when I feel the need to do so. It is my hope that next year’s seniors will have an experience as wonderful as mine.

 http://bitsofcaribbean.weebly.com/process-paper.html

            Medullary Thyroid Carcinoma (MTC) originates from mutations in calcitonin-producing parafollicular C cells of the thyroid, is a rare malignancy, accounting for 3-4% of all thyroid carcinomas. It occurs in a hereditary form (HMTC, 25%) or in a sporadic form (SMTC, 75%). The prognosis for patients with MTC is poor, as the tumor metastasizes at early stages; and the only curative therapeutic option so far is radical surgery. Genetic analysis helps identify inherited cases at a stage where prophylactic surgery can be offered to carriers of such mutations to prevent the disease. This approach may also be used to determine better treatment options for patients who are already diagnosed with MTC.

The goal of this project was to develop a comprehensive mutational panel for the detection of clinically relevant mutations in MTC samples. A total of 143 mutations (nucleic acid variations) in 8 human genes were selected from numerous papers and public databases and included into the MTC mutational panel. The selection criteria were based on the coding mutations (mutations that occur in the coding area of the genes) that were reported to occur in MTC patients and considered functionally relevant. Some of the mutations included into the MTC mutational panel (such as BRAF gene V600E mutation) were also described in other types of thyroid cancer, but most of the mutations were unique to MTC (such as all RET gene mutations). The entire assay design was carried out using Sequenom's online design tools (ProxSNP and PreXTEND (https://www.mysequenom.com/Tools) and Assay Design software (v. 3.1)).

The final file comprised from 115 assays corresponding to all 143 mutations included into the MTC panel. This file will be further processed using the SEQUENOM® Mass-ARRAY iPLEX® platform for DNA genotyping of clinical samples by the cancer research scientists at the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania

            Save for Anaplastic Thyroid Carcinoma (ATC), MTC is the second most aggressive type of thyroid cancer. Hereditary mutations that could lead to HMTC need to be found as rapidly as possible, as the onset age is only 5. This Mutational Panel is one of the best ways to diagnose any type of MTC, be it hereditary or sporadic, and give a small beam of hope to the poor person diagnosed with the mutation.

            The decision to make this panel was a hard one, as at the time that I started it, I was going to take pre-calculus in Drexel University. It was an insane amount of work, but I managed to compile the list of mutations over the summer, and continue the analysis during autumn. The actually write-up was finished much later, when I decided that I could use that project as my capstone.

            Simply put, the project was not easy. It took me a long time to understand the basics, and even a longer time to be able to manipulate small details, but in the end, the project was amazing. I have to say, that out of all the work I did while I was in SLA, this capstone project is the one I am proud of the most!

My process paper can be found at the bottom of this google doc!

To view my capstone, please click here.

Abstract: I have loved animals ever since I received my first pet, a dog named Rex. After going on a class trip to the zoo, my interest sprung beyond the point of return. I remember a zoo worker telling my first grade class about ways to help animals in the wild. At that young age, I never realized that certain animals species were in danger of going extinct. However, I did know that it was by obligation to spend my lifetime helping them. When I heard that we would be doing a capstone project, I senses that it would be the perfect opportunity to spread my conservation ideas to people that were willing to help. The obvious place to do this was at the place that I spent my tenth grade ILP, the Philadelphia Zoo. It was my hope that the zoo and I could work together to learn more about zoo visitor statistics and improve the experience of the zoo's educational program accordingly. Thus, I would record the amount of engaged zoo visitors (based on my definition of engaged) at select "exploration stations" scattered throughout the zoo. To compliment this, I took notes on the exploration stations themselves, recording whether information about the animal in discussion was presented in a visual, audio, or other type of format and how successful it seemed to be. After completing this project, I was able to share my useful data with the zoo, which allowed them to take advantage of it for future education methods.

http://www.joomag.com/magazine/slaq/0447023001368991221

Link to Process Paper: https://docs.google.com/a/scienceleadership.org/document/d/1pK_1awgAq83UI3TtxaSn639bqPHPGL5aLDAlYPUIlWc/edit?usp=sharing