All students have a regular high school classroom teacher, who maintains communication with the mentors of his or her students. They either experience several months of working in a lab or science facility with science or technology mentors who provide guidance and supervision as the student pursues his/her research or will choose to work in the high school laboratory closely monitored by the high school teacher.
The students prepare a research project poster for the District Science Fair in February, create a powerpoint/google slides presentation which is presented orally at the Boulder Valley Science Symposium in April, and write a scientific abstract and paper.
Typically, students spend 6-10 hours/week working on their research. The amount of time that the mentors spend with the student varies depending on the nature of the project.
During the initial interview, the student, mentor and classroom teacher clearly define what each person is able to contribute during the year. The classroom teacher is expected to make contact with the student weekly, to assure that the student is keeping up with the course work, and meeting the expectations defined during the initial interview.
