Friday, February 21

This week, we spent the classroom time re-centering on the project. The last few times I have come, we spent most of the time outside, which is fun, but I wanted to make sure you all understand that what we do in the field is related to a scientific project. We went over the scientific process in class and talked about how all scientists follow these same steps to complete their research. We talked about different types of studies - ones that have a clear question to ask, and ones like the coverboard project, that are more about looking for more information on the topic. With this in mind, here are the steps to a scientific method we talked about:

1. Chose a topic: with our coverboard project, our topic would be a survey of animals found under coverboards on the Woodlawn campus.

2. Chose a hypothesis or objectives: sometimes it makes sense to think of a hypothesis, and sometimes it makes more sense to just chose objectives. With a survey of the animals under coverboards, we aren't really asking a testable question, so we can't guess what the answer might be. Our objectives might include finding out what animals live on the Woodlawn campus that use the coverboards as well to learning more about the scientific process.

3. Decide on methods: same thing as experiment design. It's important to make a plan of how you are going to learn more about the topic you have selected. Our plan is to check the coverboards weekly and record what we find.

4. Data collection: Once you have a set of methods, you follow them. We have the plan to check the coverboards, and next week we will start collecting data by seeing what we find under them.

5. Data analysis: Once you have your data, you have to figure out what it means. You organize it and sometimes run statistical tests to see if your hypothesis is right or wrong. For our survey with the coverboards, we will mainly organize our data, but we will talk about other ways to analyze data later.

6. Presentation: Presenting your findings is the most important step of the process. Scientists share their information so that other people can learn from what other people have done and think of new studies.

After talking about the scientific process, you all started on your field guides. Remember to e-mail me your file when you have it done, and I'll post it on the site. Here are the categories I asked you to find out about for your species:

1. Scientific name

2. Description: enough so you can tell your species apart from other similar ones.

3. Habitat: where it lives

4. Feeding: what it eats

5. Predation: what eats it

6. Reproduction: how it reproduces (does it lay eggs? live birth? how long does it take for eggs to hatch? what time of year does it reproduce?)

7. Any other interesting facts.

By the time I come back on Wednesday, you all should have this information ready to present to the rest of the class.