Presentation on Penny Weights

What would a penny weigh picked up from the sidewalk?

What would a 1908 penny weigh?

What would a 1793 penny weigh?

For our group presentation on the penny we chose to present our information in a power point. For our presentation we had slides on the present day penny, the history of the penny, and some specifics about the 1908 and 1793 pennies. Our group also had a "filler" video on how the present day penny is made.

Our presentation had some good information in it, however it was not the preferred information that was requested by the assignment at hand. We spent too much time on the history of the penny rather than actually answering the questions presented to us. We should of approached this project with more of a "science" prospective. In saying that I mean we should of went out and did more experiments with penny weights, had some figures, graphs, equations, probability charts, etc.

The other presentations were about the same, many groups focused on "filler" information that was not needed. No one really focused a lot on the science of the question: How much would the penny weigh. However the fun facts were rather entertaining. On the other hand, I liked how group members took turns presenting each slide and the energy some put into it.

The presentations could of been better if all the groups would of went out and added more scientific research into their presentations. Since everyone was doing the history of the penny-by the time the last group went (us) I was rather tired of hearing the same statistics over and over.  Also I would of loved to see other ways of presenting not just power points, ex. posters, drawing on board, or even acting out the presentation in a little skit.
**Approach the presentation with a different perspective: Don't think of it as "Okay we have a 7 minute presentation how will we fill that time" rather as "We have 7 minutes to show the class what we found"
Also, if you are bored of doing the research it's almost guaranteed that your presentation will be boring.  If your not interested why should the audience be?