S&E #8 Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information

An astronomer uses spectral analysis to determine the composition of a distant planet’s atmosphere.  He finds that 65.6% of the atmosphere is Methane, 24.4% is Carbon Dioxide, and 10.0% is Sulfur Dioxide.  Which type of graph should the astronomer use to better communicate the composition of this planet’s atmosphere?

• Line Graph
• Scatter Plot
• Circle Graph
• Bar Graph

While researching on the internet for his project on water pollution, Ethan found the following quote:
“50 years ago, water pollution was a serious problem.  Today, we have no evidence of water pollution because of the millions of dollars we spend each year.  The Environmental Protection Agency should immediately stop its supervision of our companies because it is not needed.”  
-Nancy Hawkins President of the Mississippi River Power Plant
Why shouldn’t Ethan use this quote in his project? 

• Because it is too short and doesn’t give enough information
• Because it is a quote and quotes are never accurate
• Because it only presents facts and doesn’t show the bias of the author
• Because it is biased and may not present actual facts

Which conclusion statement below about a study that surveyed parents about when they would best like to start the school year (before or after Labor Day) is BEST?

• Parents do not like starting school before Labor Day because they do not want their children worrying about homework over the holiday weekend 
• Based on my personal belief, more parents would want school to start before Labor Day so that their children could get out of school in early June
• Based on the data from the study, more parents preferred school starting after Labor Day
• There is no way to gather a conclusion on this issue because surveying parents is too difficult 

A group of students wanted to see which areas of the school have the most bacteria.  They wrote and then performed the following procedure:  
1)  Pour 10 mL of AGAR solution into 5 different Petri dishes       2)  Use a different Q-Tip to swab 5 different areas in the school       3)  Label the 5 Petri dishes and then put the Q-Tips in their labeled dish       4)  Cover the Petri dishes and let them stand for 5 days       5)  Write down the percentage of the dish covered by bacteria after this time  
Why would it be difficult for other students to replicate this experiment?

• They did not share how long to run the experiment
• They did not tell how much AGAR to place in each Petri dish
• They did not share how to gather results for the experiment
• They did not tell which areas in the school to swab

Biologists have been watching the growth of mold on bread in different locations over a week.  They hope to show that growth rate is influenced by environment.  What would be the best way to graph the growth of mold in mm to show their findings?

• Scatter Plot
• Bar Graph
• Line Graph
• Circle Graph

You come across the following news report about acne medicine:
"Although resorcinol can irritate skin, there was no connection to thyroid dysfunction in lab rats.  1ml of acne medicine with resorcinol was given to rats while another medicine without resorcinol was give to a control group.  After 1 week of washing with the treatments, the experimental group had a skin rash but showed no difference in thyroid function.   And all rats were free of acne."
Why should a consumer question the conclusions presented in this news release?

• The researchers tested rats, they should have tested mice
• Since the rats were all acne free, resorcinol is not the active ingredient 
• They only tested for a week; not long enough to see if there were any long-term health effects.
• It is widely known that resorcinol causes thyroid dysfunction, the article did not mention any mice tests

Which conclusion statement about the ratios of sodium bicarbonate and citric acid is the best for the Unit 2 performance test

• According to the formula, a 1:3 should give us the lowest temperature.
• The class results indicate that a 1:1 ratio will result in the largest drop in temperature
• We got a 1:1 ratio as the best in our experiment, this does not match our hypothesis
• Our hypothesis was wrong because we thought 1:3 would have been the best

When evaluating the conclusions of a scientific investigation, you should do which of the following?

• Include your personal bias when making decisions.

• Be objective and only base it on facts.

• Validate their conclusions only if they lead to a lot of money being made.

• Leave it only to a scientist, because only they can evaluate conclusions from science experiments.

Suppose a consumer reads the following news release regarding the safety of a genetically modified (GM) food:

Why should a consumer question the conclusions presented in this news release?

• The researchers only tested on mice and not humans.

• They only conducted two trials and should have conducted several more to make sure they are safe.

• They only tested for three weeks; not long enough to see if there were any long-term health effects.

• All the above.

NASA records the amount of radiation emitted from the Sun over the course of 10 days. Which would be the BEST way to communicate this data visually?

• Line Graph

• Data Table

• Circle Graph

• Bar Graph