written assignment 1 interpreting science
Directions:
Visit the EurekAlert! Science News website at https://www.eurekalert.org. Choose an article of interest to you that was published within the last 6 months. Review the article and answer the following questions:
- Provide the hyperlink to your article and the title of the article here (4 points):
- In 3-5 sentences, explain what the article is about (e.g. piece of research, discovery, or a scientist’s statement). Also elaborate here if parts of the Scientific Method are outlined in the news article (e.g. independent variable, dependent variable, control, etc.) (6 points)
- Where did the story come from (which country and which sort of organization) (2 points)
- Who did the journalist quote (e.g. scientists or politicians), if anyone? Where are they from? (2 points)
- By examining the news’ report, is it possible to tell who funded the research? If this information cannot be found in the text, why do you think it is not there? Do you have any concerns about who funded the study? (4 points)
- Has the topic of the report been published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal? If so, which one? Do you think this information is important? Why or why not? (4 points)
- Were you familiar with the subject before reading the story? If you were, does the text contain new information for you? What, if anything, conflicts with what you knew or thought before? Please elaborate here with 3-5 sentences. (6 points)
- Who do you think this text was written for (e.g. students, teachers, researchers or the general public)? What makes you think that? (2 points)
- What was the journalist’s / newspaper’s aim in writing / publishing this article? Purely to provide information? Or is there an ulterior motive, such as scaremongering, a political aim, or trying to sell more newspapers? (4 points)
- What did you learn by completing this assignment regarding the interpretation of scientific concepts in news articles? Do you have concerns about what was written in the article you chose? (4 points)