Personal+Exploration+Unit

An important part of Sociology at KIS is promoting **individual exploration** as well as **lifelong learning**. The "personal exploration" unit is designed to do just that. In addition, this unit gives students opportunities to **challenge themselves through academic risk-taking** and to **develop a skill or skills** that can help them in life and/or as students in high school, university, and as lifelong learners.

//**Scoring:**// The INDIVIDUAL EXPLORATION unit is worth 20 of the 100 'Semester Studies' points though students may earn up to 35 points for this section.
 * //Due Dates://** The specific due dates and requirements will vary from person to person, but all personal explorations must be completed by early May (specific time TBA)
 * //Work Time://** Students will have 5 class days completely dedicated to work on their personal exploration options with the possibility of 3 additional days to be used for the same purpose. All other work must be completed outside of class.


 * Personal Exploration Options (__You__ Decide) ** ...with teacher approval!
 * (15 pts max for each book, up to 2 possible) **Reading/reflecting on a book**dealing with some aspect of Sociology
 * Students may read one or two books, write reflections, and discuss the books with Mr. Duncan and others. For more information and for the book journal template, [|click here]. For a list of suggested books, [|click here].
 * (10 pts max) **Study a selected chapter in-depth** from the textbook. [|Chapters 9-22] are all fair game. Students must complete several phases (e.g. reading the chapter, creating open-ended questions, creating a mini-presentation) to earn the full 10 points. See the "Sociology In-Depth Chapter Study" wiki page to learn more.
 * (5 pts max for standard UA, 10pts+ available for amazing UA) **Meet with a 'Unique Audience' and get feedback about your research paper.** Talk to someone who knows more about your major research topic than you do! For more info, go to the [|Unique Audience/Feedback Google Doc].
 * This experience comes highly recommended by Mr. Duncan!
 * (5 pts max) **Develop a new skill or improve upon an existing skill** that can help you in life and/or academics. Examples include (a) becoming more organized, (b) developing a personal brand, (c) analyzing graphs/statistics better, (d) greatly improving upon public speaking skills and/or developing "impromptu" speaking skills, (e) working on a particular weakness in writing, etc. Students are free to suggest any skill, but developing [|skills like these] will likely not be approved! Students will write a teacher-approved action plan that details what steps they will take to achieve their goal and later will show evidence that the goal has been achieved.
 * (5 pts max) **Watch** a series of approx. 5 TED Talks or iTunes U lectures (or something similar) related to the subject. After watching, each student will **reflect** on each video by (a) writing a brief summary and reflection of each and then (b) discussing them with the teacher and a few other students. If a student has an alternative way to reflect upon/analyze the videos, he/she may suggest it.
 * (5-10 pts max) **Expand upon the research from your major research project** in a meaningful way. Enjoy "digging deeper" by challenging yourself to add more data, interviews, studies, and/or critical analysis. These "expansion" points are not intended for someone whose original research was significantly lacking.
 * (0-25 pts max) **Go in a new direction.** Suggest a completely different way to earn your "personal exploration" points that Mr. Duncan has not considered.

Reminder: Mr. Duncan wants you to challenge yourself and to enjoy learning in this unit! Having said that, he also wants to make sure whatever idea(s) you have are __pre-approved__ to make sure you are headed on the right track in your //personal exploration//.