Assignment #2: Sixth-Grade Lecture and Follow-Up Reading

Due: Monday, Feb. 7th

Format: typed, single-spaced, using 12-pt serif font like Times New Roman. Do not use a font like Courier or a sans serif font like Arial or Helvetica.

1. As a distinguished science scholar, you have been invited by Fghklalx Memorial Elementary School to present a brief lecture to the sixth grade class on "the biggest news in your field of research."

You will need to determine what the biggest (or at least some interesting) news is: a discovery, theory, research, invention.

You will need to explain what it is in language a sixth-grader can understand.

You will need to make it clear to them why this big news is big news (or interesting, important).

Finally, you need to keep it exciting. So have a catchy opening and an ending that ties it all together.

Your lecture should be about three paragraphs (news-brief length). Also: you will need to base your lecture on an actual research report (so that essentially you'll be translating the findings of this report into language a sixth-grader can follow with interest).

Please include author(s), article title, journal title, volume, year, and page numbers for article (in MLA format).

2. You have also been asked by the school to prepare a one-page handout identifying and introducing some "further reading" (at least three sources) – preferably of online material.

This handout should be for both the students and their parents together, that is, it should briefly introduce the parents to some (online) sources where they and their children can learn more about the topic of your talk.

For each source, supply the URL and a brief (3-5 sentence) review of the source, directing parents interesting features, suggesting the value of the source.