As a group working to a strict time limit, you are going to attempt to tackle all aspects of the unit. The depth to which you will go will depend on the number in the group and time allowed. No-one can ever complete it all to great depth. That is impossible. This is something which will plague you for the rest for your life - you have to make choices about what you can do within the time available.

Are there areas in which members of the group have particular skills and interest? Science? Business? Finances? Legal issues? Art? Writing? Data collection? Exploring ethical issues? Psychology? Medicine?

Choosing people to work with: If you have the chance to choose the group members, there is something to think about very carefully. Your instinct may be to choose friends - people you enjoy being with. That is often because you have the same interests. Sporty kids often wouldn't spend time with geeky kids, or if you are the geeky one, you wouldn't spend time with the sporty one ... and so on. Rash generalisations, of course, but you get the idea. In the real world of business, there are huge advantages in working with people who have different skills to you. The combination will be far more valuable than a group of people who can all do the same things well and have no-one who can do the other aspects.

You will find that whatever aspect you work on, you will need to stay in close contact with those working on the other aspects. Which ever aspect you take, you will need a good feel for the background science.

Dividing up the task.

Read the Letter to Consultants from Ms Kamillion and all the aspects she wants to know about. Have all members of the group think through their skills and interests and what appeals to them. Then choose a Manager and assign tasks according to the skills and interests of each member of the group. Write a brief note to your teacher explaining what each of you are going to specialise in and why. Your consulting company needs a name. Get imaginative!

Set the completion date and format and commit to that in writing.

Ms Kamillion is going to run a Launch of her new company to try to raise finance and interest in the media. She cannot delay that launch. The completion date is fixed in concrete and you must deliver on that date. Negotiate the date with your teacher and commit to it in writing. You will need to do some form of presentation accompanied by a written report containing the details of your findings. Negotiate a time limit for the presentation and work out what formats you might use for both the presentation and written report. Now you know what each of you needs to do and how long you have to do it so we are ready for ...

Plan your time, final product and approach to the task.

Read through Ms Kamillion's Letter to Consultants carefully, and plan how you want to present your report. You need to plan your time from now until then. Set expectations of what needs to be done each day or week. Also have a quick look at the self-evaluation you will each be expected to complete at the end. You might like to keep records for this as you go. Then start the research and get to work!

This is not saying you shouldn't. It is saying you can't. You may get help from anyone, copy things from anywhere. You must stay legal, of course, so acknowledge your sources in your report. Ms Kamillion does not care how you get the information. She just wants it for herself and to know your sources are reliable, so tell her who they are. Does someone the group have an uncle who is knows about ethics? A cousin who is into accounting? A mother who is a legal guru? Can you get on the phone or email and ask companies or individuals for help? Even if you are doing one section of the assignment, you can use the resources of other group members. And you can offer contacts within your circle, or useful information you come across, to the group member doing other sections. That is all part of team thinking.

Learning to use contacts and sources respectfully to get information and advice is an invaluable skill which will translate into the real world. Real business people, real scientists, real writers, real anythings ... use every resource available to them. They will all be busy people, so make sure you are asking specific questions and will not take too much of their time. Unless they offer more!

Time to see just how broad your resources are!

- this will be done alone - not as part of the group:

You need to also submit a report for your teacher for this unit, who is interested in the way you think and approach large and complex tasks.  This will help you become aware of your thought processes over an extended assignment. You will be asked to observe the impact of mood, location, concentration and work practice at times of achievement and times when things don't go as well. So you will need to remain conscious of thinking skills and processes throughout the task.

At the end of the task is the time to reflect back on all that you did. This will be done through the Self-evaluation.