Research Project

USC students, who generally undertake the Research Project in Year 11, received truly excellent results when the subject was resulted in July this year.  A total of 189 students were enrolled and 57.4% of them achieved in the A band. A+ was awarded to 21% of students who demonstrated a particularly high level of self-directed and thoughtful research. In addition, four students were awarded a ‘perfect’ score, namely Amelie Ballestrin, Teresa Bueti, Artemis Bishop and Vraj Petal.

As ever, the research questions were diverse and often very challenging. Topics varied tremendously, ranging from an investigation into attempts to preserve of the Dunnart kangaroo on Kangaroo Island to how best to support women suffering from domestic violence. Students drew upon inspiration from all academic Faculties. The study of Music, for example, inspired one student to examination the key features in traditional music from around the world and their application to modern compositional contexts whilst Science inspired a report regarding the applications and limitations regarding the development of iPSCs. Other pathways were inspired by personal interests such as the influences behind different terrorist groups, the mastery of coding to produce a Physics engine and a comparative analysis of Benito Mussolini and Donald Trump.

The point is that Research Project are as diverse as the students themselves and many young people take tentative steps towards their future direction and use this subject to explore opportunities.