Investigating Scientific Claims

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Lab 2: Follow the instructions and complete the assignment below. Submit your answers through the Lab 2 Assignment on Blackboard.

Lab 2 1

Lab 2: Investigating Scientific Claims

You may have noticed that the articles we evaluated in Lab 1 were written (and based on data from) a few years ago. Now, you have an opportunity to use your resources and scientific literacy skills to learn more about something important to you. Follow the steps and criteria outline below. A. Choose something that you’ve heard or seen recently that appears “scientific”.

 It can be an article, advertisement, commercial, a more recent news article, something someone once told you, something that you are curious about but just haven’t gotten around to looking up, etc…. as long you are basing your choice on a scientific claim that can be investigated.

 Remember that in order to be classified as “science”, the claim needs to be based on something that can be directly observed and measured (for example, how much mercury is really in vaccines?).

B. Your task for this lab is to evaluate the validity of the claim and come to a supported conclusion regarding the evidence behind the claim. To do this, you will need to critically assess the science (and the source(s)), using credible scientific evidence to support your decision.

 Tips: o If the topic is complex, choose 1 aspect; try to keep it as simple as possible. o Stay focused. These endeavors can easily turn into a rabbit hole of tangential

questions which can be a really quick way to lose direction. Make notes about things you want to look up later, and come back to them another time.

o Take some time, and dig – really dig, and read carefully. Unfortunately, more often than not, the accurate “science” is harder to find and read than it should be. Feel free to reach out and ask for help if you need it.

C. In your evaluation, you will need to consider each of the following:

 The scientific process: What information do you need to assess the validity of the claim(s)? How will you go about finding this information? How will you determine if the sources you use in your evaluation are reputable?

 Data. Find both qualitative and quantitative evidence to support your conclusions.

 Keep an open mind: Make sure to take both sides/all possibilities into account before arriving at your conclusion.

 Red Flags: Keep an eye out! Look for everything we’ve talked about this week in terms of trustworthy sources. o Clickbait? Underreporting? Echo Chambers? o Misleading Graphs or Data presentation? o Bias, Anecdotal evidence, pseudoscience? o Author credibility? Citations?

 Other things of interest to keep an eye out for:

Lab 2: Follow the instructions and complete the assignment below. Submit your answers through the Lab 2 Assignment on Blackboard.

Lab 2 2

o Make notes of anything else that you see that seems questionable/suspicious/scientifically inaccurate?

o Make notes of anything that you found interesting/that you didn’t already know.

 References: Keep track of all your resources as you work.

When you are finished, answer the following questions:

1. Summarize the “claim” that you chose to investigate and state your general conclusions. Include in your answer, why you wanted to investigate this (what seemed questionable about it) with as much description as possible here (if possible include a link or attach an image as well). Also discuss your determination as to whether the item was representing valid scientific claims or if it was fake. Include in your answer the most convincing evidence that you found that helped you make this decision. Be sure to include any references that apply to this answer as well.

2. Summarize your scientific process. What information did you determine that you needed to find in order to assess the validity of the claim? How did you go about finding this information? How did you determine if the sources you use in your evaluation are reputable? Be sure to include any references that apply to this answer as well.

3. Discuss the main evidence/data that you found during your investigation that helped you to reach your conclusions. Explain why you found this evidence valid and also why you are able to conclude that the source of this evidence trustworthy (provide evidence for this evidence, if you will). Be sure to include any references that apply to this answer as well.

4. Discuss any sources or evidence that you found that conflicted with your final conclusions. Explain why you found this evidence or source invalid or untrustworthy (provide evidence against this evidence, if you will). Why did you disregard this? Be sure to include any references that apply to this answer as well.

5. Discuss any red flags that you noticed during your investigation. How did the red flags that you found impact your analysis and decisions? Be sure to include any references that apply to this answer as well.

6. Discuss anything that you noticed during your search, (this doesn’t have to be related to your main topic, this can be something else you found) that seemed questionable or suspicious or scientifically inaccurate. How did this (or how will this) impact your analysis and decisions? Be sure to include any references that apply to this answer as well.

7. Discuss anything that you noticed during your search, (this doesn’t have to be related to your main topic, this can be something else you found) that you found interesting/that you didn’t already know. How did this (or how will this) impact your analysis and decisions? Be sure to include any references that apply to this answer as well.

Lab 2: Follow the instructions and complete the assignment below. Submit your answers through the Lab 2 Assignment on Blackboard.

Lab 2 3

Now that you completed this lab, return to Blackboard and select Lab 2 Assignment. You will see that Blackboard randomly selected 4 of the 7 questions above for you to answer, from the pool of all 7 questions. Copy-paste your answers for the 4 questions that Blackboard selected into Blackboard. Note that as this is a random selection, sometimes the questions will all be next to each other, sometimes they will be the hard ones, sometimes the easy ones, sometimes a true mix, and each student gets a slightly different selection. Each question is worth 2.5 points, for a total of 10 points for the lab.

What do you think would happen to the behavior of the animal you watched if the environment has (1) less cover; (2) more cover; (3) more humans; (4) taller grass.

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Lab 11: Follow the instructions and complete the assignment below. Submit your answers through the Lab 10 Assignment on Blackboard.

Lab 11 1

Lab 11 In this homework, you will practice watching a wild species of your choice while recording behaviors in a systematic manner. You’ll also learn what an ethogram is and build one for the species you chose to observe. A. Watch a species of your choice in the wild.

The only key restrictions is that it has to be a non-domesticated animal (so you can’t watch your pet dog/cat or the cows in the field next door), and the species has to be in its natural habitat (so you can’t go to a zoo). Here are some options for: you can watch any bird feeders, or go to any city parks and watch squirrels, chipmunks, ducks, the song birds around, or even maybe the fish in the creeks.

If you don’t like to be outside, or want to do this lab at night, , another amazing resource is webcams located in national parks or refuges around the world. You can pick the webcam of your choice, as long as, again, the species you’re watching is in the wild and not domesticated. Make sure the webcam you are usually is giving you live feedback, not the highlights of previous sessions. I have a few favorite webcams, although activity levels vary widely based on time of day and time zones.

Water holes in Africa: http://www.africam.com/wildlife/

Bald eagles in California: https://www.explore.org/livecams/currently-live/bald-eagle-west- end-catalina

Sea otters in California: https://explore.org/livecams/sea-otter/sea-otter-cam

Bird feeders at Cornell: http://cams.allaboutbirds.org/channel/40/Cornell_Lab_FeederWatch_Cam/

Or you can do what I always do: check the following link, which allows you to see what’s happening at a bunch (50+) live webcams at any given time: www.explore.org/livecams/currently-live Regardless of what you end up picking, make sure it’s an animal that you enjoy watching, and that the animal is actually doing something (if you pick a lion that’s sleeping for the whole lab, you’re not going to have a whole of of fun doing this…). Have fun looking for a fun webcam!

B. Once you’ve picked a species/webcam, develop an ethogram for the species you picked for question To sample behaviors reliably, we first need to describe how we define what we call specific behaviors, such as “sit” or “feed”. An ethogram is a list of the full suite of behaviors

http://www.africam.com/wildlife/
https://www.explore.org/livecams/currently-live/bald-eagle-west-end-catalina
https://www.explore.org/livecams/currently-live/bald-eagle-west-end-catalina
https://explore.org/livecams/sea-otter/sea-otter-cam
http://cams.allaboutbirds.org/channel/40/Cornell_Lab_FeederWatch_Cam/
http://www.explore.org/livecams/currently-live

Lab 11: Follow the instructions and complete the assignment below. Submit your answers through the Lab 10 Assignment on Blackboard.

Lab 11 2

characteristic of an individual for a specific species, and provides a mechanism for standardizing the study of behavior. One of the most important, and difficult, steps in constructing an ethogram is naming and defining behavior patterns. Each behavior must be given a descriptive name without any implication of its possible cause or motivation and without any anthropomorphic comparisons. “Grooming”, “feeding”, “running” and “resting” are all descriptive references, whereas “jealous behavior” denotes a judgment from the observer. The descriptive name should also be as precise as you can make it; for instance, something like “foraging” is too broad, since foraging could include chewing, pecking, looking for food, hoping, moving, etc.

For this lab, build an ethogram for the species you picked that includes from 5 to 10 different descriptive names. Your ethogram should consist of a 2-column table, with one column containing the descriptive name of each behavior, and the next column describing what was included for each descriptive name. C. Conduct a 10-minute Focal Animal Survey

A focal animal survey (or FAS) is the most common type of sampling method used in animal behavior. It consists of picking one individual for the species you’ve been watching, and recording all behavior of that one specific individual for a predetermined sample period (e.g., one hour). This method can provide unbiased data relevant to a wide variety of questions, particularly if animals remain in the field of view. A standard way of recording an animal includes keeping a minute-to-minute account of the animal’s activity. At the onset of each minute, record the animal’s behavior and any other behavior observed during this minute.

For example: 9:00 feed, rest, groom 9:01 feed (animal feeds during entire minute)

9:02 feed, approached and threatened by animal B, move 2m west, sit

9:03 sit

For your homework, conduct a 10-minute FAS on one individual. If your one individual goes out of your field of view before the end of your 10 minute, make a note of it, pick another individual, and complete the rest of the 10 minutes on the new individual. Once you’re done, answer the following questions: 1. What species did you pick? Why did you pick it (justify briefly), and how did you watch it (live/webcam, etc). 2. Present your complete ethogram that you built in part B. What did you learn by building an ethogram? What is a useful tool for part C (the FAS)? 3. Present your complete FAS that you did for part C. Did you find running a FAS more/less difficult than you expected?

Lab 11: Follow the instructions and complete the assignment below. Submit your answers through the Lab 10 Assignment on Blackboard.

Lab 11 3

4. Describe the environment of the animal you watched. What do you think would happen to the behavior of the animal you watched if the environment has (1) less cover; (2) more cover; (3) more humans; (4) taller grass. Answer any of the scenarios above that make sense for your species  5. Did you enjoy watching the species you picked? Did you learn anything that surprised you? Develop.

imagine that you work for the maker of a leading brand of low-calorie microwavable food that estimates the following demand equation for its product using data from 26 supermarkets around the country for the month of April

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imagine that you work for the maker of a leading brand of low-calorie microwavable food that estimates the following demand equation for its product using data from 26 supermarkets around the country for the month of April.

For a refresher on independent and dependent variables, please go to Sophia’s Website and review the Independent and Dependent Variables tutorial, located at http://www.sophia.org/tutorials/independent-and-dependent-variables–3.

Note: Your professor will provide you with the equation and data necessary for you to complete this assignment. You will find this information attached to Assignment 1 within the course shell.

Write a four to six (4-6) page paper in which you:

Compute the elasticities for each independent variable. Note: Write down all of your calculations.
Determine the implications for each of the computed elasticities for the business in terms of short-term and long-term pricing strategies. Provide a rationale in which you cite your results.
Recommend whether you believe that this firm should or should not cut its price to increase its market share. Provide support for your recommendation.
Assume that all the factors affecting demand in this model remain the same, but that the price has changed. Further assume that the price changes are 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600 dollars.
Plot the demand curve for the firm.
Plot the corresponding supply curve on the same graph using the supply function Q = 5200 + 45P with the same prices.
Determine the equilibrium price and quantity.
Outline the significant factors that could cause changes in supply and demand for the product. Determine the primary manner in which both the short-term and the long-term changes in market conditions could impact the demand for, and the supply, of the product.
Indicate the crucial factors that could cause rightward shifts and leftward shifts of the demand and supply curves.
The following is a regression equation. Standard errors are in parentheses for the demand for widgets.
QD = 20,000 – 10P + 1500A + 5PX + 10Y
(5.234) (2.29) (525) (1.75) (1.5)
R2 = 0.85, n = 120, F = 35.25
Your supervisor has asked you to compute the elasticities for each independent variable. Assume the following values for the independent variables:
Q = Quantity demanded
P (in cents) = Price of the product = 8,000
PX (in cents) = Price of leading competitor’s product = 9,000
I (in dollars) = Per capita income of the standard metropolitan statistical area (SMSA) in which the supermarkets are located = 5,000
A (in dollars) = Monthly advertising expenditures = 64

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Virtual Microscopy

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Virtual Lab 1:            Virtual Microscopy

A. Gauge the size of various biological components and organisms. The Virtual Microscope can be used to make these observations. Estimate the size (length and width in microns) of
•  1. An E. Coli cell
•  2. A mitochondrion.
•  3. A Red blood cell
•  4. A virus.
•  5. A water molecule

B. Observe the various Cell types and learn to distinguish between Bacterial cells, Plant cells (1, 2), and Animal cells (1, 2, 3)
•  1. Observe and describe three differences between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells.
•  2. Observe and describe three differences and three similarities between plant and animal cells.

C. Form a hypothesis
•  1. Hypothesize about how you might be able to sort a mixed population of cells into prokaryotes and
eukaryotes. Try to be practical, build on your understanding of the differences between the two cell classes.
•  2. Hypothesize about a means to separate out plant cells from a mixed population of eukaryotic cells.
Supplemental:
Cell structures and functions
Virtual Optical Microscope.
Virtual Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM).
Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) images.
Virtual Lab 2:           Cellular Processes

A. Bacterial Growth. Observing the growth of the bacteria Streptococcus pneumoniae
These Streptococcus bacteria have been placed on a nutrient rich agar medium and their growth visualized. You can monitor their growth by watching the middle frame and moving through time with the time step buttons.
•   Estimate how long it takes for this population of bacteria to double. Hint- this population doubles multiple times during the duration of this recording.

B. Cellular Reproduction : The Cell Cycle (1 , 2 , 3), Mitosis (1 , 2), Meiosis (1 , 2), and Binary fission (1 , 2).
•  1. Estimate the percentage of time that a constantly developing cell spends in interphase.
•  2. In a random selection of 100 such cells, estimate the number that would be undergoing mitosis at any given time.
•  3. Understand the basic differences between mitosis, meiosis, and binary fission.  Is mitosis
more similar to meiosis or to binary fission? Explain your reasoning.

C. Cellular Metabolism: Cellular Respiration (1 , 2), Photosynthesis (1 , 2), and The Carbon Cycle (1 , 2 , 3)
•  1. In a paragraph or two compare and contrast  photosynthesis and cellular respiration.
•  2. Describe the ecological relationship between photosynthesis and cellular respiration.
•  3. Hypothesize about what might happen if a large number of producers were suddenly removed from the biosphere. Where might carbon accumulate if the ratio of number of producers to consumers was markedly reduced?
Virtual Lab 3:           Genetics I
  A. Phenotype and genotype of Dragons For fun, you can use this web lab to answer these questions: What genotype(s) result in wings? What genotype(s) result about a brown skinned Dragon? If necessary use your own research to answer the following questions.
•  Define genotype and phenotype.
•  What is an allele?

B. Drosophila Lab Enter the lab as a guest. You need to purchase a breeding pair of  flies. Purchase a female mutant that has a small (vestigial) wing size and a male wild type fly. Breed them and notice the resulting distribution of phenotypes.
•   Describe and explain the characteristic of the first generation (F1) of flies. Is the vestigial wing characteristic dominant or recessive?
•   What percentage of the F1 generation would show the recessive characteristic phenotypically according to your table?  Are your experimental breeding results consistent with what you expect from this assumption and the logic of the Punnet square?
•   Breed two of these F1 flies. To do this select a male and a female from the results of your first cross and put them in the breeding jar. Describe and explain the characteristics of the second generation (F2) flies.

C.  Genetic Disorders Library Describe the three main classes of genetic disorders and give an example of each.

Supplemental:
Genetic Terminology Glossary
Punnett squares: an introduction
Alternative Drosophila lab
Genetics
Virtual Lab 4:           Genetics II

A. Learn how electrophoresis works and answer these questions:
•    On what basis is electrophoresis able to separate molecules? What are the lengths of the three DNA bands that you produce in this lab?

B.  Electrophoresis. Select the pBR322 plasmid (a circular piece of DNA used as a cloning vector) to analyze (menu in upper left hand corner of the simulator). You will then see a diagram of the circular plasmid DNA along with the points along the length of the plasmid where the various restriction enzymes (EcoR I, Ple I, Hinc II, and Bgl I) will cut the DNA. For instance notice that the enzyme EcoR 1 only cuts the plasmid at one location at the top of the diagram, whereas the other enzymes cut the plasmid at other places. To analyzes the DNA we cut it up with different enzymes and slowly piece together an understanding of the entire sequence.
•    Load each lane as follows: lane 1 with Bgl 1; lane 2 with EcoR 1; lane 3 with Hinc II; lane 4 with Ple I; lane 5 with predetermined molecular weight markers.
•    Run the gel and describe and explain the number of bands in lanes 2 and 4.

C. Human blood types and the immune system: Emergency Transfusion!
You can skip the video introduction, but will probably want to read the guide before you attempt the emergency simulation. Repeat the simulation until you can get hired on by the virtual hospital staff. Use your mouse to: 1. Take a blood sample from the patient. 2. Place the blood sample in the antibody solutions. 3. Hang the correct blood transfusion bags, so as to start a blood transfusion. Perhaps play the blood type donor game.
•   Identify the different blood types, the antibodies associated with each, and the types of blood that each type can receive and donate too.

Supplemental:
Electrophoresis Alternative
Genes and blood types