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The Arizona Hedgehog
Cactus:
Endangered Species or not?
Lesson 9: "Publication"
of Scientific Papers and Posters
Purpose:
This activity will model the scientific process
of documenting and sharing information with other scientists. It will
be a summative evaluative tool for the teacher to determine how well
each student mastered the content. This activity will also provide much
needed practice in writing skills, promoting students to think through
what they did, what it meant and how to communicate effectively.
Time:
One 50-60 minute class period for discussion;
one week to prepare written assignment.
Materials Preparation:
- Student copies of "Publication of Procedure and Results"
- Student copies of "Evaluating the Relationship of Autumn Buttercup
to Some Close Congeners Using Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA"
Student Objectives:
- Describe and explain the content of each section in the format
of a scientific paper or poster: title, authors, abstract, introduction,
materials and methods, results, discussion and bibliographic references.
- Reach a conclusion about the classification of the Arizona Hedgehog
cactus.
- Make a recommendation about whether to continue to protect the
Arizona Hedgehog.
Lesson Plan:
- Hand out reading material "Publication of Procedure and Results"
and "Evaluating the Relationship of Autumn Buttercup to Some Close
Congeners Using Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA." The first reading
is to be used as a reference in defining the parts of a scientific
paper or poster and that the second reading is an example of a real
paper published by a group of researchers using exactly the same
techniques on a similar question about a different rare plant. This
paper is to be used as an example for formatting the students' scientific
papers.
- Discuss the purpose of each section of the scientific paper or
poster and what is to be included.
- Allow students some time at the end of class to ask questions
about what to include in their papers. Students should prepare some
pictorial way to present their data and check this with the teacher.
Each student should form a conclusion about the taxonomic standing
of the cactus populations in question and make a recommendation
about the protective status of the Arizona Hedgehog.
Supplemental Materials:
- "Publication
of Procedure and Results" - Handout
- "Evaluating the Relationship of Autumn Buttercup to Some Close
Congeners Using Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA" by R. Van Buren,
K.T. Harper, W.R. Andersen, D.J. Stanton, S. Seyoum, and J.L. England.
published in the American Journal of Botany 81(4):514-519.
1994.
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