 discussing and presenting your research results in this unit students will learn how to produce meaningful posters and make oral presentations to communicate the results of their research project scientists need not only do research but also present the results of that research to the scientific community the public and policymakers there are several means of scientific communication journal articles oral presentations and posters here students communicate the results of their work in the form of a poster which they will present to a larger group of students parents the public or scientists toward the end of the school year if students have kept good notes and saved the results from each of the previous units making the poster will mostly be about summarizing and communicating that information and thinking a bit more about what it means the poster will include all the stages of the research project from gathering the background information to designing the project to data analysis and drawing conclusions from the work this last stage is key and allows the students to see the transition from data which are facts or hard numbers to interpretation which can be more subjective and bring in scientific reasoning judgment and thinking about tradeoffs for example for fishbased research did the research provide any insight as to whether the health benefits of omega3s from fish offset the potential health risk of mercury toxicity do students feel the current fish consumption advisory is adequate based on their data what would they do differently or what would they investigate next time the assessment piece allows students to become peer reviewers for others posters teaching them the skills of constructive criticism  mercury in watersheds background for teachers presentation  