Outside Reading -
Article Review
Science Autobiography
Interview Assignment
Consumer Product Testing
Long Term Research Project
(LTRP)
Outside Reading - Article Review
Lots of people like science even though they are not professional scientists. They read magazines, go to museums, and have science related hobbies. My goal with this assignment is to encourage you to be more attentive and interested in the science around you. I am asking you to model things done by people who like science. Someday soon you will be the model for a group of children. You can show them you like science by doing these kinds of activities, and then telling them about your "adventures".
Four times during the semester you are required to summarize something related to science. These will take the form of short reviews . These entries should include a reference so that I, or another class member, could easily find the article, etc.
The majority of the reviews you hand in can--and should--be based on things people who like science might do frequently. Only a few times during the semester does this assignment require much extra effort on your part to find material to discuss. Do you regularly read a newspaper? If so, simply write about a science article that caught your attention. Do you ever look through science magazines? Write about something you read. Did you watch a science related program on TV, have a science story on the news catch your attention, listen to an iTunes/mp3 of a science program, or attend an AFSE event? These are all things you can write about for this assignment.
Your reviews will have two parts. First, you should provide a reference and then summarize your article, TV show, etc. in three sentences. Second, discuss how the article connects to content from BIOL 200, GEOL 102/104/106, or PHSC 112. This should be about a paragraph. The entire assignment should be equivalent to around 1/2 a typed page in length.
Each assignment should be sent via e-mail. Clearly label which of the assignments you are fulfilling, as well as the source you are using. Also be sure that your name is within the body of the e-mail.
Here are the four review assignments:
Save my replies, and keep track of what you have handed in. This assignment makes up 10% of your total grade.
Science Autobiography Assignment
Write a two to four page paper (typed, double spaced) about your personal experiences with science through teachers, friends, parents museums, magazines, and other sources. After writing this section, write another section where you tell me how you would distinguish science (as a method, or way people understand the world) from other ways that people understand the world (personal experience, religion, art, humanities, etc.). I want your thoughts, not something copied from a book or dictionary. This assignment does not have "right" and "wrong" answers. Students who show me they've thought about their experiences, and write about them clearly and succinctly, will receive a high grade on this assignment. I'm not looking for any particular kinds of responses.
Rationale
Before you complete your science requirement, it is worthwhile for you to consider your science experiences and what science means to you. Thinking about where you have been and where you are now will help you synthesize what you have learned. Being conscious of your science background and its effects on you will help you make decisions about how to teach science when it is your classroom.
Getting Started
Think about your experiences with school science, scientists, science in the media, and science teachers. It doesn't matter how limited or extensive your experiences are, or how positive or negative they are. It only matters that you describe them honestly and thoughtfully.
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In this assignment you will apply the skills and methods scientists use, in this case, to test a consumer product. You will choose a product to test, decide which qualities to test, and test different brands to see how they measure up on these qualities. In selecting a product, you should be sure that it has qualities that can be tested experimentally. You will not be given credit for a report that depends on information found on labels, for example. [ Here are some ideas to start yout thinking ] Discuss your preliminary plans with me.
Unless approved by me ahead of time, another student in the class must be testing the same product as you--the same four brands of the same item. Of the two product qualities you'll test, one must be a quality you and only you test, and the other quality must be something the other student also tests. You must ceate and perform all your tests separately from the other student. In other words, you're not really partners; you talk to each other, briefly, early in the process and again at the end. I'll give you some class time to talk to each other, though you may spend time outside of class together as well.
Here's an example: Students A and B are testing paper towels. A tests how fast each towel brand will absorb liquid. B tests how strong each towel is (how long you can scrub before the paper towel disintegrates). Both students test how much liquid each brand will soak up.
The following steps may help you plan your work:
While determining the product you will test, find someone else in the class testing the same product. Each of you will complete your own, unique assignment, working individually.
1. List the important characteristics of the product.
2. Think about how you could test those
characteristics to see what makes for the "best" product. You must
choose a product for which you can determine at least three criteria
you could test. That's difficult, if not impossible, for some products.
For example, when considering soda pops, once you get past testing for
best taste, it'd difficult to find other criteria worth examining. You
must test at least two broad characteristics, and at least one of the
tests must involve manipulating and controlling variables. Tests should
be repeated multiple times to increase confidence in the findings. A
taste test or survey must be completed by at least 30 people.
If you and your partner cannot find three broad characteristics to
test, and you really want to be testing some particular product, come talk to me--early in the process.
3. Meet with me to discuss your preliminary plans for the procedures you'll follow. This is important.
4. Select at least four different brands of the product.
5. Test each brand for each characteristic. Record your raw data.
6. Record the results of each test in an easily readable table (or graph).
7. Meet with your partner. Bring him/her a copy of your data. Discuss your tentative conclusions, if you like.
8. Prepare a written report of three to five pages in which you:
9. Illustrate your results and conclusions in a poster or overhead for others to see and you to explain to the class.
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Long Term Research Project (LTRP)
In this assignment you will apply the experimental and observational skills used by all scientists as you attempt to answer a question while doing an investigation. You will devise a question which you would like to know more about. Note that this is to be a question that you can research doing real-world investigation, or analyzing real data, as opposed to doing library research. You will then design and implement investigations to find the answer(s) to your questions(s). Finally, you will analyze and interpret what you have found and create a way to communicate your findings.
This assignment takes longer than most. You must begin several weeks before it's due. This assignment counts more than any other toward your final course grade.
The following steps will help you plan your work:
1. Brainstorm a list of topic related questions you could investigate. Want some ideas, just to get you started? Here are some questions students investigated for this assignment. The papers that resulted did not necessarily receive "A" grades. In general, you want to aim for questions that involve comparing or investigating potential links between variables. A question like "Do CSULB students favor building a new student union?" would probably not be a good choice. Beside being similar to questions investigated in the Math capstone class, the question doesn't really involve comparing variables and wouldn't really lead anywhere in terms of potential future investigations.
2. Narrow the list to those questions which you are going to explore. As you refine your question, be sure you can explain what it is you want to find out and why that is important. Avoid getting too complex—try to focus on two variables and look for a correlation or connection between them.
3. Design an effective test that will address your question. Be sure to consider sample size, as well as what data you will actually be measuring/collecting. For this project, CSULB student surveys are not permitted.
4. Design an investigation to address your question.
5. (opt.) Meet me to discuss your progress so far. Often when students talk to me early in this process, they have no more (or less) than a general or vague idea about what they want to investigate. When we chat about their thoughts, I find I often end up asking similar questions. As such, perhaps you would find it helpful in refining your question or procedures to think about questions like these:
6. Consider conducting a pilot test. A pilot test is a way to check out your experimental ideas before investing large amounts of time and energy. Students often make small changes at this point that make their project a little easier or better. Think of this as an opportunity to refine your question(s) or procedure. Record your raw data, and briefly describe what this “pre-test” tells you.
7. Carry out your investigation. Record your data. Begin interpreting your results, trying to understand what they mean--what tentative conclusions you can begin to draw at that point.
8. As you interpret your results, consider what the next step should be in answering your original question(s) and extending your investigation. Think in terms of what you still need to find out, or how you could go about knowing with more confidence whether your tentative conclusions are accurate. This would usually involve (a) testing the validity of a pattern you observed, or (b) testing tentative explanations for your results by making & testing a prediction based on one or more explanations. Alternatively, consider new questions to investigate that hadn't occurred to you before doing your study. Feel free to discuss this step with me; you may also wish to keep me informed of your work through periodic e-mail messages. I can help.
9. Summarize your data in an easily read table or graph. You must prepare this using a spreadsheet program, like Microsoft Excel, or a graphing program.
10. This assignment involves a written report and an in-class presentation. The written report should include:The report must by typed (double spaced, 12 pt. type, 1 inch margins) and approximately six pages in length. Click here for more information about what I will look for when grading this paper.
It's important for you, as a teacher, to realize that children think differently than you do. You probably recognize this, at least in theory, but this assignment will help to really drive the point home. And because children see the world differently from you, instructional approaches that you like-methods that have traditionally helped you-may not necessarily be what is best for them.
1. Before you begin, review the article Assessing Children's Ideas about Animals that I will tell you about in class. It'll get you started in understanding the assignment and how to collect data when you interview children to find out how they understand the concept of an "animal." Basically, however, you will be asking children to sort some drawings into those they consider animals and those they do not, and then you will ask them to explain their thinking.
2. The procedure you will follow is straightforward, but you will want to create a short script to guide you. The script helps assure you will ask the same questions the same way each time, decreasing the chance you unconsciously hint at particular respones. Practice the script with the materials. Feel free to practice with adults or someone who will not be part of the assignment.
3. Interview at least three children between the ages of 5 and 12 on an individual basis, according to the script. You may not interview your own children, siblings, or other relatives. (It's very difficult to be objective interviewing people to whom you are close!) Prepare a form ahead of time to record the children's responses. I suugest you show me the form before you begin. (This helps assure that you will do the interviews properly.)
4. Prepare a written, typed (double spaced, 12 pt type, 1 inch margins) report of at least two pages plus the interview questions and responses. Your report should contain the following sections:
