School Project Help

Well a USB ideally. I can get an SD card if needed.

You need to.

So shielding with an SD card will basically give me more space to store data?

Yes a shield with an SD card reader/writer will give you space to store more data - a lot more data.

Does the arduino board have a slot for the card?

Did you see one on your Arduino?

Also, is the arduino software compatible with newer OS's? like windows 7 or vista??

Yes.