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HW 1112
Sept 12:
Read Pirsig1
1. Zoom in on Pirsig's description of the scientific method. Does it accord with your own.
2. Do you agree with Einstein about hypotheses?
3. Do you agree with Pirsig that there is a logical problem with how hypotheses are formed?
*4.What is your hypothesis about the acorns?*
Sept 14:
1. Formally state your hypothesis about the density of the acorns from the different sites. Then provide a sentence or two to explain your reasoning.
2. Write a protocol (methods section) for how you will test your hypothesis.
Read Tcellsremade.
Sept 19: Go to this link to enter acorn11 data:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AtGU4iV25bujdEktS29lQTYxRDB2ZEdONWFHSkwxRnc&;hl=en_US
Sept 21:
Read the following link on Type I, Type II and Type III errors in statistics:
http://www.experiment-resources.com/type-I-error.html
Briefly define Type I, II, and III errors.
If you wish, skim Stats for a refresher, or 9th graders can preview Standard deviation and T-tests.
Oct 3: Read Connell. 1. Briefly describe the methods he used to determine competitive superiority in these species.
2. What are Connell's conclusions?
3. Do you trust his conclusions. Why?
4. Explain what Table VII tells us. Oct 11: Read Stats. Be able to perform a t-test on Excel and to calculate Standard Deviations. Calculate ttest for this years red oak and white oak -- acorns10data.
Oct 13: Read pp. 672-678 of Meselson-Stahl Meselson and Stahl use an ingenious method to to figure out how DNA is replicated. Since DNA is constructed in "ladders" that split in half easily, and because the nitrogenous base on the ladder is always paired normally with only one, specific, complementary base, they surmised that DNA replication happens by splitting the ladder and letting new nucleotides come in to complement each ladder half. If that is true, and they had a way to differentiate the nucleotides in the original ladders from new nucleotides they supplied for replication, they should be able to see the differences in the new DNA ladders constructed. So they started with DNA in E. coli that was composed of heavy isotope nitrogen, and supplied the E. coli with lighter nitrogen for subsequent generations. They spun the DNA in a centrifuge, took pictures, and looked at the patterns they got. (FYI: In this article, "species" just means the different types of DNA. Cesium chloride has the density of normal DNA.)
Oct 26: Read Griffith middle of the first column of p. 375 (in the text, it begins with the heading "Passage experiments through mice") through 376. Note: This paper is very complicated. Griffith was culturing and innoculating different types of pneumonia and different strains within each type. But the section I am asking you to read is specifically turning one type into another. He does this through transformation. See if you can get it. He kills virulent strains with heat, then mixes them with nonvirulent strains in mice... Nov 28:
Read PCR for Wednesday.
Jan 4:
Read Jungreis2011
Discuss
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