Extra Credit Opportunities
Current Event Synopsis 2/quarter (up to 20 points each)
The purpose of this extra credit opportunity is to keep you current on recent developments in science and to hone your research, reading comprehension and writing skills.
Guidelines:
All sources used for this synopsis should be peer reviewed. Some great places to find current happenings might include:
-Science News (subscribe to e-mail list serve!): http://www.sciencenews.org/
-National Science Foundation: http://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/
-American Association for the Advancement of Science (science mobile AAAS app): http://www.aaas.org/
-National Geographic Society: National Geographic - Inspiring People to Care About the Planet Since 1888
-New Scientist (free smartphone app!) facebook: Today on New Scientist: 11 July 2011 | Facebook
1. Review the rubric below to see what criteria will be used to evaluate your synopsis. Use the rubric as a check list to make sure that your synopsis paper is complete.
2. Locate an appropriate article, i.e. it should be >2 pages in length and it should be a peer reviewed scientific paper that has been published within the last year.
3. Read the article.
4. Write an authentic and accurate summary (in your own words of course!). Your synopsis should be at least a paragraph (4 well developed sentenced).
In your summary try to answer the following questions in your summary:
-why was the study undertaken?
-what specific question or problem was addressed?
-how were these questions addressed?
-what evidence supports the conclusions drawn?
5. The last paragraph of your synopsis needs to demonstrate evidence of higher level thinking.
Did the student provide a thorough critique? Did they analyze or evaluate the article and explain why it may (or may not) constitute “good science”. What assumptions did the author make. Might any of these assumptions been wrong. Are the explanations testable? How might they be tested? What was particularly interesting about the article, questions asked, methodology, results and conclusions drawn? Did the author explain the potential effect of this event/discovery on a larger scale- the environment? The economy? Our community/society? Did the author recommend any practical applications of this new idea or technology? Can you think of any practicle applications of this knowledge or technology. Are there unanswered questions you still have for the author? etc.
For full credit this synopsis needs to address each of the following elements:
Required elements:
1. Student properly cited the article in MLA form? How do I do this?- go here (___/2)
2. Did they write up a concise one paragraph summary? (i.e. a brief description of what the article is about. Does not just repeat the first few lines or a caption to the article). If the article was too long, then they selected out the part or parts they thought were the most important or interesting. (___/3)
3. Is there a separate sentence/paragraph at the very end that demonstrates higher level thinking? See attribites in part 5 above. (__3)
4. Did they use proper writing skills (Spelling errors, bad grammar, punctuation, etc., are counted off from the three, one point per error.) (____/1)
5. Did they include an accurate url link to the abstract actual article (____/1).
Total: _______/10
The purpose of this extra credit opportunity is to keep you current on recent developments in science and to hone your research, reading comprehension and writing skills.
Guidelines:
All sources used for this synopsis should be peer reviewed. Some great places to find current happenings might include:
-Science News (subscribe to e-mail list serve!): http://www.sciencenews.org/
-National Science Foundation: http://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/
-American Association for the Advancement of Science (science mobile AAAS app): http://www.aaas.org/
-National Geographic Society: National Geographic - Inspiring People to Care About the Planet Since 1888
-New Scientist (free smartphone app!) facebook: Today on New Scientist: 11 July 2011 | Facebook
1. Review the rubric below to see what criteria will be used to evaluate your synopsis. Use the rubric as a check list to make sure that your synopsis paper is complete.
2. Locate an appropriate article, i.e. it should be >2 pages in length and it should be a peer reviewed scientific paper that has been published within the last year.
3. Read the article.
4. Write an authentic and accurate summary (in your own words of course!). Your synopsis should be at least a paragraph (4 well developed sentenced).
In your summary try to answer the following questions in your summary:
-why was the study undertaken?
-what specific question or problem was addressed?
-how were these questions addressed?
-what evidence supports the conclusions drawn?
5. The last paragraph of your synopsis needs to demonstrate evidence of higher level thinking.
Did the student provide a thorough critique? Did they analyze or evaluate the article and explain why it may (or may not) constitute “good science”. What assumptions did the author make. Might any of these assumptions been wrong. Are the explanations testable? How might they be tested? What was particularly interesting about the article, questions asked, methodology, results and conclusions drawn? Did the author explain the potential effect of this event/discovery on a larger scale- the environment? The economy? Our community/society? Did the author recommend any practical applications of this new idea or technology? Can you think of any practicle applications of this knowledge or technology. Are there unanswered questions you still have for the author? etc.
For full credit this synopsis needs to address each of the following elements:
Required elements:
1. Student properly cited the article in MLA form? How do I do this?- go here (___/2)
2. Did they write up a concise one paragraph summary? (i.e. a brief description of what the article is about. Does not just repeat the first few lines or a caption to the article). If the article was too long, then they selected out the part or parts they thought were the most important or interesting. (___/3)
3. Is there a separate sentence/paragraph at the very end that demonstrates higher level thinking? See attribites in part 5 above. (__3)
4. Did they use proper writing skills (Spelling errors, bad grammar, punctuation, etc., are counted off from the three, one point per error.) (____/1)
5. Did they include an accurate url link to the abstract actual article (____/1).
Total: _______/10