Overview

Basic scientific literacy is essential for understanding real-world applications of the natural sciences. As a consumer and voter, you will be faced with issues that require a basic understanding of science. For example, you might ask yourself the following questions: How can genetically modified foods affect my health? Should scientists be held liable for not predicting earthquakes that led to human casualties, as they were in Italy in 2012? Is anthropogenic climate change real? Is fracking a concern where I live? Because of the prevalence of natural science issues such as these, it is important to understand basic natural science concepts and how they impact our daily lives.

The project for this course has two parts. In part one, you conducted a research investigation that examined an issue in the natural sciences. You identified appropriate resources for investigating the issue you selected, used these resources to develop a question related to the issue, and applied natural science principles to the issue and question. In addition, you identified an audience who would be interested in the selected issue. In Part Two, you will develop a presentation for the audience you identified in Part One. In your presentation, you will explain how scientific thinking has impacted you and your audience, supporting your claims with evidence.

Part Two of this project addresses the following course outcomes:

• Illustrate the impact of scientific thinking on personal and professional experiences
• Communicate effectively to specific audiences in examining fundamental aspects of the natural world
• Utilize empirical evidence in drawing conclusions about the impact of contemporary scientific issues on individuals and society

Prompt

Referring to your research investigation, create a presentation that explains how scientific thinking has impacted you and discusses the impact of your selected issue on your audience.

Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed:

1. Provide a brief overview of the scientific background of your issue and question. How does the issue relate to the natural sciences?
2. Explain how the issue impacts the audience. In other words, how is the issue relevant to members of the audience? Why should the audience care about the response to your question or the outcome of your hypothesis? Support your response with specific examples from your research investigation.
3. Describe the empirical evidence you have to support your conclusions about the impact of the issue on you personally and on your audience. Support your response with specific examples from your research investigation.
4. Explain why this issue is important to you personally. In other words, why did you select this issue to investigate?
5. Illustrate how your investigation of the issue impacted the way you thought about the issue. In other words, how did thinking like a scientist to research, develop a question, and formulate a hypothesis affect what you thought about the issue you selected? How did scientific thinking change the lens through which you viewed the issue? Support your response with specific examples from your research investigation.
6. Communicate your message in a way that is tailored to your specific audience. For instance, you could consider your vocabulary, your audience’s potential knowledge of current natural science (or lack thereof), and what is specifically important to the audience.

What to Submit

Your presentation should have approximately 5–7 slides in Prezi, PowerPoint, or another comparable presentation tool. Make sure to include your speaker notes so that your instructor knows what you would say if you were actually giving the presentation. Note: If using Prezi, include a separate Word document with notes. If using PowerPoint, include speaker notes.