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Part 1: The Importance of Procedures
The purpose of a procedure in science is to allow other people to
recreate an experiment. Imagine a scientist at one laboratory comes
up with a remarkable result. Other scientists will need to see it
to believe it. Read the story of Cold Fusion, an example of unproven
experiment procedures led to great scientific controversy.
Go
to the article "What Ever Happened to Cold Fusion?"
Assignment
Think about the story of Cold Fusion that you read. Why was having
a clear, reproducable procedure important in the story of Cold Fusion?
Write a paragraph that answers that question and submit to me.
Part 2: Write Your Own Procedure
Think of something you know how to do well. It may be tuning your
guitar, putting on makeup, washing the dog, or making chocolate
chip cookies. Think carefully about each step that is necessary
to complete this activity. Then write a step-by-step procedure to
allow someone else to do exactly the same thing. Imagine this person
has never done the activity you are describing in any way. In fact,
imagine that they don't even know what you are talking about.
1. Once you have written your procedure,
post it to the discussion group.
2. Look at the discussion group and read
the procedures of other students. Look at the two submitted prior
to yours, read their procedures, and give them feedback. Were their
instructions clear to you? Did you know what to do every step of
the way?
Go to Lesson
4: Controls and Variables >>
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