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Eating PCBs from Lake Ontario - The Clicker Version

A Clicker Case on Science and the Media

By Eric Ribbens

Eating PCBs from Lake Ontario - The Clicker Version


 

Abstract

This is a “clicker” adaptation of another case in our collection, “Eating PCBs from Lake Ontario: Is There an Effect or Not?” (2001), written by the same author. It encourages students to examine how scientific results get presented and interpreted for the public as well as how experiments are planned, carried out, and analyzed. Students read three different news reports about the same scientific study, then sort through the different accounts to determine for themselves what happened in these studies and what the findings were. The case illustrates the complexities of scientific reporting and challenges students to figure out the original research design and data. It was designed for an introductory biology course for majors that uses personal response systems, or “clickers.” The story is presented in class using a PowerPoint (~1MB) presentation punctuated by multiple-choice questions that students answer using their clickers.

   

Date Posted

03/12/2010

Overview

Objectives

  • Understand that news stories about science should not be accepted unconditionally.
  • Understand that the scientific method drives all of science, so it should be discernable from news stories about science.
  • Understand that pieces of the scientific methodology can be reconstructed from a news story.

Keywords

Science news reporting; news media; experimental design; biostatistics; polychlorinated biphenyl; PCB; reproductive health; Lake Ontario; Great Lakes

  

Subject Headings

Biology (General)
Environmental Science
Epidemiology
Journalism
Public Health
Statistics

EDUCATIONAL LEVEL

High school, Undergraduate lower division

  

FORMAT

PDF, PowerPoint

   

TOPICAL AREAS

Scientific argumentation, Scientific method, Science and the media

   

LANGUAGE

English

   

TYPE/METHODS

Clicker, Interrupted

 

 

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