At a glance
Individual · three submissions across the semester — one in September, one in November, one in the final weeks · each written in class, in the period it is handed in · Format: one page each, five questions answered
Finding the article is the part that is yours to do between classes. Taking it apart happens here, with me in the room.
The task
Find a news article making a scientific claim, and take it apart.
Every submission answers these
- The claim. In one sentence, in your own words.
- The source of the evidence. Is there a study behind it? Who paid for it? Can you find the study itself, or only reporting about it?
- The sample. How many? Of what? Over how long?
- The gap. What does the headline say that the study does not?
- Your verdict. Believable, overstated, or wrong — and what would change your mind.
Where headlines usually go wrong
- Correlation reported as cause. “Coffee drinkers live longer” — or do people who can afford coffee have better health care?
- Sample too small to matter. Twelve participants is a pilot study.
- Relative risk without absolute risk. “Doubles your risk” means little if the risk was 1 in 2 million.
- A single study treated as settled. One result is a hypothesis with evidence, not a conclusion.
One of the three has to matter to somebody
At least one of your submissions must take on a social or environmental issue — something with a consequence for people, here or elsewhere: air quality, a drug trial, a fishery, a heat wave, a landfill. Pick that one deliberately rather than hoping it happens. Taking apart a claim about a distant galaxy is good practice; taking apart a claim that changes what somebody does next is the skill this course is actually after.
For the third submission
Choose an article about artificial intelligence in science, and additionally address: what work is the AI actually doing, and what claim is being made about it that the evidence does not support? See what this course asks about emerging technologies.
Success criteria
The same five rows all three times, so that the third submission can be laid beside the first and the difference read straight off. Use them with Judging Your Own Work while there is still time in the period.
| Quality | What it looks like on your page |
|---|---|
| The claim, stated fairly | One sentence in your own words that the article’s author would recognise as theirs — not the version that is easiest to knock down |
| The evidence tracked down | The study named, or the plain statement that there is no study to name; who paid for it, where that is findable |
| The sample described | How many, of what, over how long — in numbers, not “a lot of people” |
| The gap made specific | The words the headline uses set beside the words the study uses, both quoted |
| A verdict you could defend | Believable, overstated, or wrong, with the one thing that would change your mind named |
Curriculum connection
A1.1
apply a scientific research process and associated skills to conduct investigations, making connections between their research and the scientific concepts they are learning
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A2.2
describe how scientific innovations and emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence systems, impact society and careers
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A2.4
apply scientific literacy skills when investigating social and environmental issues that have personal, local, and/or global impacts
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