A poster that I really liked explained all of this very thoroughly. It first caught my attention through the color and organization. The poster had an interesting layout; it followed the measles virus, step by step. It showed how the virus infects someone, what it does to his or her body and cells, what symptoms occur, and how it spreads to another person.
The poster explained how measles causes fever and headaches at first, until white spots become visible throughout the body. Other complications, such as blindness and pneumonia, can occur as well.
The virus is also very contagious; one of the researchers said, “If someone who has measles walks into a room and coughs, there is a good chance that everyone else in that room gets measles too.”
The pitch was very detailed, yet understandable by those who don’t know much about the topic. The poster board was easy to follow, and was also a very innovative attempt at a poster design too. My only criticism is that the researchers didn’t really pose a question, like many of the other posters did.
I like your observations on this poster! I felt the same way as you did when I was looking at it and talking with the group. The girls by the poster did a phenomenal job of presenting their poster. I was impressed by how well thought out their pitch was; it was formulaic and easy to follow.
I also liked that it was a very informational type of poster as opposed to it showing us an experiment they conducted. I do believe that they probably had it a bit easier than those who conducted their own research, but I don’t want to take away from their poster because it was really good and interesting. The group made me feel like I knew everything that they did when I walked away. It was all there to read and it was all discussed in the pitch.
It made me think of measles and how bad an illness it is. The super-contagious part of it is a bit scary, but I have my vaccine, so it’s ok!
I left a comment on Elisabeth’s contribution on the Ebola poster. Similar thoughts, so I won’t repeat them here. But have a look. What do you think I should do next year? Require students use original data (and maybe start earlier than this year), or let the class just present a science topic of interest and focus on poster design and pitch?
I think you should let the class present a science topic of interest, just to try it out and see how it goes. You can also work with the class on developing a good pitch as well, because I think that is one of the more crucial aspects about the poster presentations. Many posters looked great and had tons of information, but once you ask questions to the students who designed the poster, they didn’t have much to say. I noticed that I lost interest in many posters because of this. If this doesn’t go well next year, you can always revert back to what we did this year.
I also noticed how this poster, and some others, did not pose a scientific question that they would answer through experimentation and data analysis but rather just a question about a certain concept, like measles. This poster was very well organized and easy to follow, but personally, I enjoy posters that pose a question. Our class did a pretty good job on that front.