Capstone Project
The primary project for the later part of the course is a creative project concerning dinosaurs and dinosaur research which you develop. The possible type of project is very broad: indeed, part of the assignment is coming up with not only the topic but the presentation format you will use. Just to give you a sense of possible project formats, here are some possibilities:

• A mock-up of a possible museum exhibit
• A faux-scientific paper describing an imagined discovery (a new dinosaur species, tracksite, etc.) consistent with current knowledge but revealing information not currently known
• An illustrated children's book
• A short YouTube video
• A card game or other table-top game

1. Capstone Proposal: Due Oct. 23, identify both the particular topic of dinosaur research you wish to present, and the medium in which you would present it. Consider what you are interested in, and what you are interested in doing. Submit your proposal in ELMS, and Dr. Holtz will get back to you with potential sources and/or modifications.
2. Capstone One-Slide Proposal Peer Review: On Nov. 6 you will present in Discussion section a single PowerPoint slide giving a brief overview of your revised proposal. The slide should include both the topic and the medium. Your fellow students will evaluate your concept and give you feedback.
3. Capstone Draft: On Nov. 20 you will submit a draft version of your project onto ELMS. The details might not be finalized, but it should be well on the way towards a completed version. For instance, your drawings (if any) might be sketches, but you should have sketches rather than a blank space saying "picture to come".
4. Capstone Draft Peer Review: Two randomly-assigned students will provide their own evaluations of your draft independent of the instructor. These are due on Dec. 4.
5. Capstone Final: On Tuesday Dec. 22 instead of a final exam there will be a showcase of presentations of your work. please make sure to document them visually (photographs, videos, put it in front of your webcam, etc.) that you can share on Zoom. You will be given a 5-minute block in which to show your work, and 1 minute for questions. The order of presentation will be randomly determined. Additionally, you will need to submit documentation about the final project on ELMS, although the style of documentary will vary by medium (pdf; URL to Youtube video; photographs; etc.)
6. Capstone Final Peer Review: In addition to Dr. Holtz's grade, each capstone project will have a grade based on the averaged evaluation by the rest of the students.

Last modified: 25 August 2020