As you read in Chapter 8, researchers will often graph their data to show trends or correlations etc…

To get an even better feel for important graph types, how they are used, and how they are interpreted please go to the following site:

http://stattrek.com/statistics/charts/data-patterns.aspx?Tutorial=AP

On the left side you will see 8 subtopics under ‘Charts and graphs’.  The first is ‘Patterns in data’ and the last is ‘Comparing data sets’.  Work through all 8 of these topics.  There are videos associated with each topic if that is helpful to you, but you do not have to watch each one if you are understanding the reading, examples and practice problems.  But remember that they are there to help you if you need it.

We will be applying all of this information (descriptive statistics, graphs, and eventually inferential statistics) to experiments throughout the rest of the course, so it is very important that you understand these things now!!

Complete by Wednesday, 3/4/15

You should complete the following for homework:

1. Finish the Descriptive Statistics Walk-through in Google Sheets if you didn’t finish it in class.
2. Read Chapter 8 in your STEM book (Graphing) and answer the questions on the homework sheet given in class.  The handout is also in the ISR 2014b ‘Class View’ folder in your Google Drive.
3. If I share another Google Sheet with you about graphing, you do not have to complete it yet.  You should wait until we do it in class.

You will have time next class (Thursday, 2/26/15) to work on this also.

Due: Sunday, 3/1/15 11:59:59pm

You have already read chapter 7 in your STEM book on descriptive statistics.  Soon we will learn how to take advantage of computer programs to quickly calculate various statistics for us.  But first you must be sure you understand what the statistics actually mean when you are trying to interpret them.  To further help your understanding of some of these descriptive statistics, you should complete the following:

• Go to this page: http://www.mathsisfun.com/data/central-measures.html  to read more about ‘central tendency’.
  • at the bottom of that page answer questions 4, 5, and 6.
• Go to this page: http://www.mathsisfun.com/data/quartiles.html to read more aboutquartiles and theinterquartile range.
  • answer questions 1, 3, 4, and 6 at the bottom of that page
• Go to this page: http://www.mathsisfun.com/data/standard-deviation.html to read more about ‘standard deviation’.
  • answer questions 1 and 3 at the bottom of that page
  • You do not need to memorize the equations for standard deviation or variance but you do need to understand what they mean.

You will have a test on the material covered thus far this semester in class.  This mostly includes the notes and associated readings or activities regarding the ‘nature of science’ and any associated terminology.  This test will NOT include the chapter 7 material from your STEM book.

Test: Wednesday, 2/18/15

Read chapter 7 in your STEM book and complete the associated Google Doc in your Google Drive.  You should type your answers into the yellow box underneath each question.

Due: Wednesday, 2/18/15

1. Read the following website regarding the ‘Nature of Science’
   1. http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evosite/nature/index.shtml
   2. Be sure to take notes and take the ‘quick quiz’ at the end of the reading.
2. Read the Attenborough handout about Dinosaur National Monument and answer the questions regarding data, inferences and prior knowledge/beliefs.

Due: Thursday, 1/29/15

In light of our discussion about the pace of new data and knowledge, read the New Scientist article below and then comment (in the ‘Leave a Reply’ section below) on whether you think having computers search through data like this is a good thing or a bad thing and why.  In your post, you should also write one thing you think the idea behind this technology could be used for beyond the medical/health field.  What else could someone do with this type of analysis of data sets for good or evil?

You must also reply to at least one other post with a thoughtful comment on that person’s post.  For your posts, just put your first name, the first initial of your last name, and your email so I know you did it.

Supercomputers make discoveries that scientists can’t – tech – 27 August 2014 – New Scientist.

Due: Monday, 1/26/15 by 11:59:59pm

Use the image in your Google Drive (our ‘class view’ folder) to learn the parts of a microscope.

Due: 12/8/14