Environmental Science Research Projects for High Schoolers: How to Get Started
As a high schooler, I know going into high school is itself a tough step. And as a researcher myself, I also know that conducting research is a time consuming job. But doing both gave me more benefits than you could imagine. Research isn't just about trying to solve an issue, it's about coming together as a group to discuss, engage, and use divergent thinking skills.
Research has helped me in more ways than it drained me. Research gave me the opportunity to engage with like minded individuals on a certain topic. It helped me learn ways to write professional papers, research in the right way, come up with new ideas, analyze data, and work in a group setting. By giving me all these skills, doing research made me who I am today. It built my character, my academic performance, my social skills, and more. However, that being said, research also did take quite a lot away from me. It took away my time and my school breaks. But to do well in something we need to be able to sacrifice things too. So I hope this blog can help you understand why doing research can improve your life, even though it does have some disadvantages.
What are the benefits of doing research projects in high school?
When it comes to various “benefits” for the student, that can be pretty subjective. It mainly depends on whether the student is doing this project for their own desire to learn the depths of a topic or due to an external incentive. Either way both can lead to a successful project.
Intrinsic Motivation
Intrinsic Motivation is when someone wants to do something due to internal desire.
If the student truly wants to collect, experiment, and analyze data, there is no need to explain the benefits of doing a research project–because doing it is itself the major benefit!
There are plenty of students out there who feel the need to approach their curiosities through experimentation/observation. Carrying out an individual research experiment might just be the best option for some students when it comes to learning.
Extrinsic Motivation
Extrinsic Motivation is when there are external rewards that drive a person to do something. Obviously some students are mandated or feel compelled to start a research project to make an impression on their college application. This type of external reward (having your application look better) may not seem as effective as intrinsic motivation, but it can also lead to success in a project. After all, that is what high schoolers are known for!
Doing a research project can:
Build credibility
Boost complexity in applications
Set as requirement for certain jobs
Could count towards volunteering
What are some cons of doing an Environmental Science Research Project?
When it comes to research projects in general, there are some problems that could arise. Especially when you are a high schooler, there problems can easily intensify since we are on such a tight schedule.
Research requires a lot of time. Obviously we can work around that and manage our time through good time management practices, but certain tasks in research cannot be controlled. For example in certain research topics, you can only collect data in a certain period of time, or you would need to observe the study during a certain time of day. These things we cannot control, and may not be the easiest schedule to work around for high schoolers.
Another con is funds. To conduct most research projects you need money. The money is used for the materials. It is hard to encourage people to donate funds because the cause isn't very tangible to them. Nevertheless, promoting the idea of your research can promote people to want to donate. In some cases you could get help from an institution or university. But that usually only works when a professor from that university is part of your research group. So you could try to appeal the research to a professor and try to get them on board.
What are examples of Environmental Science Research Projects?
Some great Environmental Science Research experiments according to homesciencetools.com are:
Investigate ways to improve home insulation.
Test the effectiveness of certain popularly used pesticides.
What type of roofing material is most energy efficient?
Experiment with design and function of wind turbines.
Explore methods of erosion prevention.
Explore methods of flood management in your city.
Where do I start?
What makes a great environmental science research project is the thought behind it. In fact, this goes with any research project. You first need to think of an issue that you are most interested in. Once you decide, then you need to do some of your own research and see what others have done so far. Once you understand the other research projects related to the topic, then you can decide one of two things. Either retest someone's hypothesis and conduct the same research they did to see if the test is reliable. Or you can come up with an alternative way of testing the hypothesis.
For example, let's say I want to research ways to improve home insulation. I would first do my own research on the topic. I would educate myself on how home insulation works, what factors go into it, what the problems are, and so on. Then I would see other studies on it. Now let's say one study tested a hypothesis by collecting the feedback of people in houses with different insulation techniques. I could do my research the same exact way, with the same operational definitions and factors, to see how reliable the first study was. Or I could conduct a totally different approach and instead measure home insulation based on mathematical techniques.
Like we discussed prior, having some type of motivation to continue the research is the only requirement to have a successful project. From there, you could use the tips listed above to conduct the research. Being a researcher is difficult, but doing research for what matters to you could be life changing. Taking the first step is the hardest part. And hopefully this blog was able to help you on your Environmental Science Research journey!
About Inspirit AI
AI Scholars Live Online is a 10 session (25-hour) program that exposes high school students to fundamental AI concepts and guides them to build a socially impactful project. Taught by our team of graduate students from Stanford, MIT, and more, students receive a personalized learning experience in small groups with a student-teacher ratio of 5:1.
