Final Project Guidelines

Objective

The objective of the project is to engage in deeper learning of fluid dynamics principles by exploring an area of interest, and to enable deeper learning for others by creating an effective and engaging learning tool.

Topic

You may select any topic within the umbrella of fluid dynamics. Some wide ranging examples include: frisbee aerodynamics, fluid dynamics of blood flow, supercavitating submarines, etc.

Team

You will work on a team of 2 people. If you have an idea of larger scope (or if we have an odd number of students) you may work on a team of size 3. You will self-select your own teams. You may want to use Piazza to discuss ideas and find team members.

Exploration

You will work with your team to learn about and explore your topic in depth. This may include, but is not limited to, reading research articles, developing new or using existing simulation capabilities, performing design and analysis studies, conducting experiments, and building prototypes.

Final Deliverable

The final deliverable will be a creation to teach others about your area/application of interest. The medium of this creation is up to you. Some examples include: a report, a presentation, a blog, a website, a video, a series of interactive quizzes, a podcast, a simulation tutorial, a set of analysis tools, an app, etc. Choose a medium that you think will be effective and engaging for your topic.

Stand-alone slides are usually not the most effective choice for facilitating learning. The challenge with slides is that they are designed to accompany an actual presentation, and so don’t work as well on their own. Recall that your audience will not be viewing your brief in-class presentation. Slides can, however, be quite helpful as a supplement to something else (like a recorded voice-over/video).

You do not need to limit yourself to one output. For example your main learning tool might be a video, but you might also include analysis code for visitors who want to engage in deeper learning. Keep in mind the main objective is creating an effective learning tool.

The final deliverable should be publicly available unless extenuating circumstances apply (e.g., working on research that is pending publication, in which case we can post it with a timed embargo). Why? You tend to produce higher quality work with a public audience, and you will be able to make a more significant impact for good. Find an appropriate public venue to share your project (e.g., YouTube, GitHub, WordPress, figshare, zenodo, SlideShare, prezi, etc.). Come discuss with me if you need some input on where to host your project.

Guidelines

Some important guidelines for this project are:

• Choose something you are interested in and excited about!
• Plan an appropriate scope and division of activities so that each member of your team can contribute effectively.
• Remember the audience for your project is not our class, but rather someone outside of our class. Be sure to provide enough context to make your project accessible.
• Think about the medium early, otherwise you’ll end up throwing some slides together and it won’t be as effective as it could be.
• Create! This must be a creative work. It is not sufficient to simply summarize existing knowledge like a book report. On the other hand, you don’t need to create new knowledge like you would in a research project, although those types of activities would certainly qualify. For example, suppose you chose to explore hand-launched gliders. You might study existing glider designs and relevant aerodynamic principles, develop a simulation tool to help you design an aircraft that can glide as far as possible, and build a glider or two to test your design. You would not be creating new knowledge about the physics of gliding, but your creation would be a design process and simulation tool that would allow kids to follow along and build their own gliders at home.

Deadlines

• In HW 2, you will be asked to submit a list of your team members and the project topic. Start thinking about what you’d like to work on.

• In the last week we will have group demonstrations. You will have 5 minutes to showcase your project to the rest of the class, with 2 minute for questions. All members of your team should participate. You don’t necessarily need slides, unless slides is the medium of your project. You will not be graded on your demo (other than getting credit for doing it). Your project grade will be solely based on the final deliverable. The goal of the demo is just to have fun learning about a wide variety of concepts from others in the class.

• The final deliverable will be due by midnight on the the last day of the semester via Learning Suite. In your submission include all of the following elements: a title, a brief but clear description of your project (1–3 sentences), your names, and link(s) to the relevant files. Look at our course website for examples from past classes. In addition please upload the raw files to Learning Suite as well. I will store these as backup.

Grading Criteria

I will judge your submission on three criteria:

• Quality: Is your project clear, well-organized, and accurate?
• Impact: Is your medium and presentation style likely to enable effective learning for your users?
• Depth: Do the explanations and visuals lead to real insight or only superficial information exchange?