1.3 Students are empowered to personalize and self-direct their STEM learning experiences supported by STEM educators who facilitate their learning.
Capstone & Internship Requirement
In an effort to provide all students with an education that leads them to being college and career ready, STEM students will participate in work-based learning and/or develop a career-related capstone project. With this in mind, all STEM students are required to complete a capstone project by the spring of their senior year. Students may complete their capstone their junior or senior year. These projects are a way to allow students to uniquely show their talents related to their pathway of interest. Reflecting on who they are, while showing what they want to do in the future, the project provides students with the opportunity to explore a career of personal or professional interest and to address the latest trends or issues through focused study and applied research. The project allows students to demonstrate their ability to synthesize and apply the knowledge and skills acquired in their academic program to real-world issues and problems. These final projects should affirm students' ability to think critically and creatively, to solve practical problems, to make reasoned and ethical decisions, and to communicate effectively. STEM students, in either the Biotechnology or Engineering pathway, endeavor to actively integrate and apply all they have learned as part of the FCHS STEM Academy in the development, implementation, and analysis of a practical, hands-on project that addresses a problem or issue encountered by the student during their program of study. Students seek a project that requires a creative solution and they have a personal interest in solving the problem.
The Senior Capstone Project at FCHS STEM Academy is a demonstration of knowledge in the student’s chosen field of interest which results in a product/ project, research data, research paper, portfolio of work, and a presentation. This experience encourages students to use a variety of skills in the areas of writing, speaking, research, and documentation. It should be noted that students are not bound by their pathway and may choose a project that is cross curricular in nature.
Student Capstone Guidelines
BD Timeline and Overview
BD Primer Development Capstone
BD Stream Water Quality
BD Stream Water Quality Proposal
BD Stream Water Quality Proposal
Developing a Rapid Assay for Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis.
"Determining the effect of RNA interference with the SERPINA1 gene on the lifespan of Caenorhabditis elegans."
Presentation of student 3D printing business partnership with DMI.
Developing a Rapid Assay for Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis.
Click Aeon Global Health Internship
White Fringeless Orchid Project
FCHS STEM Academy, Sawnee Mountain Preserve and the Atlanta Botanical Garden have partnered in a project in Sawnee Mountain Preserve. The project is an effort to help restore habitat and to propagate Platanthera integrilabia, the White Fringeless Orchis. Native to Georgia the last report siting of the orchid in around Sawnee Mountain park was in 1975. This joint effort is to help restore habitats to facilitate the growth of the orchid by removal of trash and debris from specific sites, removal of invasive and exotic species, thinning of the canopy and understory growth. Seeds obtained from the Atlanta Botanical Garden have been planted in the locations and there growth and development will be monitored on a regular basis.
On October 15, 2017, HOSA/BIOTECH students (the day after the HOSA Fall Rally) worked at Sawnee Mountain Preserve for most of the day, removing overgrowth, invasive plants, debris and trash from areas where the White Fringless Orchid grows. A few growths were spotted and check. This ongoing project will help the natural growth of this endangered plant.
DNA Barcoding Pollinator Biodiversity
FCHS STEM Biotechnology were one of three school invited to attend a workshop at the Atlanta Botanical Garden and work in their Molecular Biology Lab studying and DNA Barcoding pollinators collected from 2 Urban Parks located in Atlanta. Students visited each site, recorded pollinator activities for a specified time, and the collect various pollinators do perform genetic Barcoding. Results of their study will be determined at a later date. This workshop is in conjunction with the ongoing White Fringeless Orchid Project at Sawnee Mountain Preserve.
