Graphic Organizer
SCI 100 Project 1 Guidelines
Overview Natural science does not simply describe and explain nature; it is part of the interplay between nature and ourselves.
—Werner Heisenberg
Studying the natural sciences allows us to explore both the physical and biological aspects of the natural world as well as how those aspects affect us. As a consumer and voter, you will be exposed to news stories that discuss scientific concepts as diverse as pharmaceuticals, environmental management, nanotechnology, and plastics.
Because of the prevalence of natural science concepts in our daily lives, it is important to develop perspectives in the natural sciences and to have a basic understanding of natural science principles.
There are three projects for this course. In Project 1, you will select a news story and explore the natural science topic of the news story using the Topic
Exploration Graphic Organizer Template. Your exploration of the topic will include a description of the evidence surrounding the topic, potential questions that a natural scientist might ask related to the topic, and a discussion of where you can find more information about your topic.
The work you do on this project will directly support your work on Project 2 (a question development worksheet) and Project 3 (a presentation). These projects are due later in the course.
Project 1 will assess the following course outcome:
Determine fundamental approaches to scientific research in addressing questions related to the natural world
Prompt
Review the graphic organizer template and the graphic organizer sample found in the module prompt. Your graphic organizer should address the following
prompt:
Visit the ScienceDaily website and select a news story that interests you and has been published within the past six months. Answer the questions in the graphic organizer template, based on your chosen news story.
Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed and will be graded using the Project 1 Rubric:
I. Describe the science topic discussed in your news story. Be detailed in your description, providing scientific background about the topic.
II. Identify the main idea in the news story you selected. In other words, what is the key concept being expressed or examined in the news story?
III. Describe the evidence that supports the main idea of the news story. For example, if the main idea of your news story is that volcanoes can cause massive amounts of damage, your supporting evidence should consist of examples of volcanoes and the damage they caused.
IV. Pose questions that a natural scientist might be interested in, based on the main idea and supporting evidence that you identified. For instance, you might ask questions about volcano prediction or the causes of volcanic eruptions.
V. Where could you look for more information about the science topic discussed in the news story and the questions that you posed? You do not need to list specific sources, but your response should focus on the types of sources you could use to research the topic and questions. Supporting Work and Resources
Throughout Module One and Module Two, you will have these opportunities to work directly on different elements of this project:
1. In Module One, you will
• Find a news story on a subject that is interesting to you and then answer a few questions related to that story. The news story must be related to the natural sciences, should be chosen from the ScienceDaily website, and should have been published within the past six months. You will use this same news story throughout the project.
• Summarize the news story that you chose. You will also begin to search various sources to start to learn more about the science topic you identified.
• Ask some scientific questions of your own.
2. In Module Two, you will
• Turn your attention back to your own news story and considering the data or evidence that is provided in support of the research that is being reported.
• Answer the question “Do you feel that the information presented in your news story is valid and reliable?
Last Completed Projects
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