biol101 all week discussions

11 Jun biol101 all week discussions

Question
Week 1 discussion

The Scientific Method Tutorial

Course Outcomes:

recognize and explain how the scientific method is used to solve problems

make observations and discriminate between scientific and pseudoscientific explanations

Click on Course Content, Science Learning Center, The Scientific Method Tutorial, Button 4: The Scientific Method

Work through the entire Scientific Method Tutorial, then pick one (1) of the following 3 options:

Option 1: Stating a Good Hypothesis

Read step 2: The hypothesis

Answer the following questions:

What is a hypothesis?

How is a hypothesis different from a theory in science?

Describe an example of how you may use the scientific method in your daily life and state a good hypothesis for that example.

Which hypothesis did you first pick in the “Recognizing a good hypothesis” activity in the scientific method tutorial? Why? If any, which mistake(s) did you make when picking a hypothesis?

Include “Hypothesis” in the title of your post.

Option 2: Designing a Good Experiment

Read Step 3: Testing a Hypothesis

Answer the following questions:

What is a control and why is it an important part of an experiment? Provide an example of a control.

What is the difference between the control and controlled variables?

Why is it important that scientists are aware of the controlled variables in an experiment?

What are independent and dependent variables? Provide an example of each.

What did you learn from the “jelly bean” activity about sample size in experiments?

Include “Experimental Design” in the title of your post.

Option 3: Writing a Good Conclusion

Read Step 5: Stating Conclusions

Answer the following questions about the “E.coli kills cancer” article:

Which conclusions did the scientists make from the described experiments?

Which information about the experiments do you believe is missing in the article?

Where would you look to find this missing information?

Is the title of the article accurate? Why or why not?

Do you believe this is science or pseudoscience? Explain your answer.

Include “Conclusion” in the title of your post.

Week 2 discussion

Molecules of Life in Food

Course Outcome:

use knowledge of biological principles and the scientific method to ask relevant questions, develop hypotheses, design and conduct experiments, interpret results, and draw conclusions

Let us take a closer look at what we eat! Pick one food (or drink) and think about it in terms of molecules and atoms by answering the following questions:

Which plant and/or animal species is this food item made of? (if might be more than one for processed food items, check the list of ingredients).

State a hypothesis about which micro (vitamins and minerals) and macromolecules (proteins, carbohydrates, fats) this item contain. Remember, a hypothesis is an educated guess or prediction of results.

After stating a hypothesis, do a web-search to find reliable scientific information about which nutrients this food item contains. Include a brief summary of your results.

Does your results support the hypothesis? Why or why not?

Pick one of the macromolecules (molecules of life) in this food and briefly describe the chemical structure. What are the building blocks? What is the role of this macromolecule in our body?

Pick one of the elements found in this macromolecule. Determine its atomic mass, atomic number, as well as number of protons, electrons and neutrons.

Include the name of the food you pick in the title of your post. You may need to use resources in addition to the course module and text book. Please ask if you need help with web and library search. Make sure you include references to your information resources. Give your answer a subject title that reflects the content.

Week 3 discussion

Science or Pseudoscience?

Use critical thinking, what you have learned in the OLI course modules, and a web-search to determine whether or not the following examples are Science or Pseudoscience.

Pick one of the examples below, try to locate a published peer-reviewed scholarly article that supports the claim, make a reference to something you read in the OLI course modules, and summarize your conclusion in 250- 400 words. Your conclusion must be supported by at least one reliable information source in addition to the OLI course material. Please cite this source at the end of your response.

If there are other examples you would like to investigate instead of the four provided, please send me a message so that I can approve it first.

You may find this article useful: Science and Pseudoscience in Adult Nutrition Research and Practice:http://www.csicop.org/si/show/science_and_pseudoscience_in_adult_nutrition_research_and_practice/

1. Green coffee supplements burn fat: http://www.greencoffeepremium.com/images/study1-greencoffee.pdf

2. The blood type diet improves your health: http://www.dadamo.com/program_welcome2.htm

3. The Atkins Diet will help you lose weight quickly: http://www.atkins.com/Program/Overview.aspx

4. Talking to your plants make them grow faster: http://organicgardening.about.com/b/2009/06/23/its-true-you-really-should-talk-to-your-plants-especially-if-youre-a-woman.htm

Give your post a title that describes your example

Week 4 discussion

Cancer Treatment

weigh evidence and make decisions based on strengths and limitations of scientific knowledge

use knowledge of biological principles to ask relevant questions and draw conclusions

Explain cancer based on what you have learned about mitosis.

Research one drug that is used to treat cancer and explain how this drug works. Does this drug’s mode of action and side effects have anything to do with mitosis? And if so, which phase of the cell cycle is affected? What specifically does this drug do inside the cell?

Include the name of the drug in the title of your post. Use a web search engine to find reliable information and as always include your references.

Fun Mitosis and Meiosis Video: Mitosis vs. Meiosis Rap Battle-ASAP Science

Week 5 discussion

Dominant and Recessive Traits

If you have not already done so, you may want to check out these videos about Punnett Squares:

Learn Biology: How to Draw a Punnett Square

Gregor Mendel’s Punnett Square

Complete this Mendelian Activity (click on “Go to Animation” and then the Play button for each step of the activity, you can skip the pea example with two traits) before preparing your response to this conference topic.

What are recessive traits?

What are dominant traits?

Describe one recessive OR one dominant human trait.

Do you, your (biological) parents, grandparents and/or kids have this recessive/dominant trait?

What is your phenotype for this trait? What is your likely genotype for this trait?

Show how you came to your conclusions using a Punnett Square (you can copy this table, or use the Insert table button in the text editor).

Include the trait in the title of your post. Use the text book and/or your favorite search engine/library to find information, include references.

Optional: Still struggling to understand Punnett Squares? Try these:

Chicken and lemming breeding: http://www2.edc.org/weblabs/Punnett/punnettsquares.html (I needed to open this in Internet Explorer-did not work in Chrome).

Detached and attached earlobes: http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/earth/Life/genetics_puzzle.html

Week 6 discussion

Tree of Life

Course Outcomes:

make observations and discriminate between scientific and pseudoscientific explanations

weigh evidence and make decisions based on strengths and limitations of scientific knowledge

use knowledge of biological principles to ask relevant questions, interpret results, and draw conclusions

Go to the Tree of Life web-site. Look around and pick one species that you find interesting (living or extinct). Consider watching the “Tree of Life Web Project” video (11 min) at www.esciencelabs.com under Kingdoms of Life

Write 1-2 paragraphs about this species answering the following questions:

Try your best to find out which kingdom, phylum, class, order, family and/or genus this species belong to.

Who is this species closely related to? Ancestors? Were you surprised by any of its evolutionary relationships?

Which features does this species share with closely related species? What makes it unique?

Which environmental factors do you think have been important in the evolution of this species?

Is this information based on scientific evidence or pseudoscience?

Depending on the species you chose you may find information directly in the Tree of life web-page, from a list of links to information about this species, or you may have to do a web-search yourself. As always, include references.

Week 7 discussion

The Web of Life

Course Objective:

use knowledge of biological principles to ask relevant questions and draw conclusions

Search the web to find a specific example that illustrates how changes in the population of one species affects populations of other species in the same ecosystem.

Discuss the cause(s) for change in populations (human activities involved?), label the species involved (producers, herbivores etc) and describe their interspecific interactions.

As always, include references.