This year the student makes four time lines, one for each quarter. The student may elect to gain university credit for the junior-senior summer and for the senior year. Students work on problems they identify and on hypotheses they develop. The resourcefulness and imagination shown by students in the identification of practical research problems is truly impressive. Science Research students learn that scientific research often requires a great deal of tedious work, but that the end result can be glorious, namely, the acquisition of new knowledge for which they have shared responsibility.
Students come to take enormous pride of ownership in their work.
The teacher is the facilitator, and not the supervisor of research. The teacher also helps the student obtain research scientists as mentors, and helps the student identify resources that will be needed for the conduct of research. The teacher monitors the student's progress through biweekly conferences and through examining the detailed records the student keeps concerning all aspects of the research experience. The teacher coaches the student in methods of both oral and written communication of scientific results. These responsibilities require considerable skills on the part of the teacher, but they do not require that the teacher be present in a laboratory supervising research at all hours including evenings and weekends.