July 19, 2005

The day began with guest lecture from Roger Harris, a Biologist with American Scientist magazine. Biodiversity was the theme of his presentation. After explaining the basic idea of biodiversity, he showed the class different pictures of animal species in the Galapagos Islands, all of which were endangered. He went on to explain how we are on the verge of the next mass extinction. Using a series of graphs he continued to explain the process of animal extinction. Eventually he transitioned into human energy consumption. He then distributed a worksheet that asked the students to study online maps and answer related questions. Once everyone had completed the questions they reviewed their answers together.

After a short break the students observed Bob2's Power Point presentation. He covered different aspects of professional presentations, such as expectations for scientific presentations. The discussion also covered tailoring your presentation to your audience, using all of the time allotted, and several smaller details of public speaking.

The remainder of the class was reserved for the students to begin working on their final projects. They broke up into groups with other students interested in similar topics and researched the science behind their topic. A number of Shodor interns lent their time to coach, guide, and encourage the various groups as they continued working on their research and presentations.