AP Biology Practice 3 - Formulate Questions
Summary
TLDRIn this AP Biology Science Practice video, Mr. Andersen emphasizes the importance of formulating effective scientific questions in the era of accessible data. He illustrates how to refine questions for deeper investigation, using examples like Google search queries and scientific experiments. The video guides students to ask higher-level questions that lead to discussions and further research, ultimately building a foundation for scientific inquiry and understanding.
Takeaways
- 🔍 The importance of formulating good questions in science has increased due to the abundance of information now easily accessible.
- 📚 In the past, being a good scientist often meant having a lot of knowledge, which was typically stored in libraries.
- 🚀 Students' ability to ask higher-level questions improves as they gain a deeper understanding of the subject matter.
- 🤔 The inability to formulate a good question can sometimes indicate a lack of understanding of the topic.
- 🔬 Questions like 'What scientific experiments allow us to know DNA is the genetic material?' help in understanding the basis of scientific knowledge.
- 🌐 Google searches are a form of asking questions, which can be used as an analogy to teach students how to ask better scientific questions.
- 🐦 Simple factual questions like 'What's the world's smallest living bird?' do not promote further discussion or investigation.
- 🌌 Unanswerable questions with current technology, such as 'Are we alone in the universe?', are not considered good scientific questions.
- 🍽 Value-laden questions like 'Are genetically modified foods good or bad?' are not suitable for scientific inquiry as they cannot be empirically measured.
- 🌱 Refining questions to focus on specific variables, such as 'What's the optimum carbon dioxide concentration for brassica rapa growth?', makes them more scientific and investigable.
- 🌡️ Good scientific questions involve clear independent and dependent variables, like 'What happens to photosynthesis at very high non-biological temperatures?'
- 🔬 AP Biology encourages students to ask, refine, and evaluate questions within the four big ideas of biology: evolution, free energy, information, and systems.
- 🌳 A phylogenetic tree is a tool that can be used to ask and answer questions about the relationships and characteristics of different species.
- 🧬 Questions about scientific experiments, such as Miller-Urey's, help in evaluating students' ability to understand and pose scientific inquiries.
- 📈 The ability to ask good questions is foundational for developing experimentation, data analysis, and using explanations and theories in scientific practice.
Q & A
What is the significance of formulating good questions in the field of science according to Mr. Andersen?
-Formulating good questions is significant because it leads to further discussion and investigation, which is crucial in the sciences, especially now that data is readily available.
How has the accessibility of information changed over time according to the transcript?
-In the past, information was primarily housed in libraries and required physical access. Nowadays, data is readily available at our fingertips, making the ability to ask good questions even more important.
What is the difference between a good scientific question and a simple fact-finding question?
-A good scientific question leads to further discussion and investigation, whereas a simple fact-finding question often results in a quick factual answer without prompting further exploration.
Why is the question 'What's the world's smallest living bird?' not considered a great scientific question?
-It's not a great scientific question because it seeks a quick factual answer and does not lead to further discussion or investigation.
What makes the question 'Are we alone in the universe?' not a good scientific question?
-It's not a good scientific question because it is unanswerable with current technology, and it doesn't lead to empirical investigation or measurable outcomes.
Why is the question 'Are genetically modified foods good or bad?' not considered a good scientific question?
-This question is not good because it adds value judgments ('good' or 'bad') which are subjective and cannot be measured empirically.
What is an example of a refined scientific question according to the transcript?
-A refined scientific question from the transcript is 'What's the optimum carbon dioxide concentration for brassica rapa growth?' as it focuses on specific variables.
What is the importance of having both an independent and dependent variable in a scientific question?
-Having both variables allows for a controlled experiment where the effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable can be measured and analyzed.
How does the transcript suggest using Google searches to improve question-asking skills?
-The transcript suggests that since we often use Google to ask questions in our daily lives, we can reflect on how we phrase those questions to make them more scientific and investigative.
What is the role of a good question in the context of the four big ideas in AP Biology?
-A good question in the context of the four big ideas in AP Biology should lead to further discussion and investigation, allowing students to delve deeper into topics such as evolution, free energy, information, and systems.
How does the transcript describe the process of refining a question in the context of a scientific experiment?
-The transcript describes the process by using an example of algal growth in sterilized pond water, where the question is refined to understand the effect of adding different nutrients and how it relates to the concept of a limiting nutrient.
What is the purpose of evaluating scientific questions in the context of the Miller-Urey experiment as described in the transcript?
-Evaluating scientific questions in the context of the Miller-Urey experiment helps to understand the original intent of the experiment, which was to show that molecules essential to life could have formed under early earth conditions.
Outlines
🔍 The Importance of Asking Good Scientific Questions
In this paragraph, Mr. Andersen introduces the concept of formulating questions that not only seek answers but also stimulate discussion and further investigation. He contrasts the old method of gathering knowledge from libraries with the modern ease of accessing data online, emphasizing the necessity of asking good questions in the sciences. He notes a transition in his students' abilities to ask higher-level questions as they gain understanding. The paragraph also explores the idea of refining questions to make them more scientifically valuable, using examples of Google searches to illustrate the difference between good and not-so-good questions. Mr. Andersen suggests that a good scientific question should lead to measurable outcomes and further exploration, rather than just a quick fact.
🌿 Developing and Evaluating Scientific Questions
This paragraph delves deeper into the process of developing scientific questions, using a phylogenetic tree of life as an example. Mr. Andersen encourages the viewer to pose questions that can be answered based on the tree or related knowledge. He then discusses the refinement of questions, using an example from an AP practice test that involves predicting algal growth in response to the addition of different nutrients. The paragraph concludes with the evaluation of scientific questions, exemplified by the Miller-Urey experiment, which aimed to demonstrate the formation of life's essential molecules under early Earth conditions. Mr. Andersen stresses the importance of questions in the scientific process, as they lead to experimentation, data analysis, and the development of explanations and theories.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Scientific Questions
💡Data Availability
💡Genetic Material
💡Google Search
💡GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms)
💡Plant Growth Factors
💡Optimum Conditions
💡Photosynthesis
💡Phylogenetic Tree
💡Limiting Nutrient
💡Scientific Evaluation
Highlights
The importance of formulating good questions in the era of easily accessible information.
The transition in students' abilities to ask higher level questions as they gain understanding.
The analogy of Google searches to the process of asking scientific questions.
The distinction between factual questions and those that lead to further discussion or investigation.
The example of an unanswerable question: 'Are we alone in the universe?'
The critique of value-laden questions in scientific inquiry, such as 'Are genetically modified foods good or bad?'
The process of refining scientific questions to focus on measurable variables.
The example of a refined question: 'What's the optimum carbon dioxide concentration for brassica rapa growth?'
The role of literature searches in understanding what has been done before in scientific research.
The example of a good AP Biology question: 'What happens to photosynthesis at very high non-biological temperatures?'
The importance of identifying independent and dependent variables in scientific questions.
The application of the ability to ask questions to the four big ideas in AP Biology.
Examples of questions that can be derived from a phylogenetic tree.
The necessity to refine questions to improve the chances of correct predictions in scientific experiments.
The use of a hypothetical scenario to explain the concept of a limiting nutrient in scientific inquiry.
Evaluating scientific questions based on historical experiments, such as the Miller-Urey experiment.
The domino effect of good questioning leading to further scientific practices like experimentation and data analysis.
Transcripts
Hi. It's Mr. Andersen and welcome to AP Biology Science Practice 3. This is
on formulating questions that guide both discussion and further investigations. It used to be
if you were a good scientist it meant that you had a lot of knowledge because there wasn't
a lot of knowledge out there available to everyone. It was housed in libraries. And
even when I was a little kid, if I wanted to find an answer to a question, I literally
had to drive to the library. Get a book. And then look it up in a book. But now since we
have data really available at our fingertips, our ability to formulate and ask good questions
is super important. Especially in the sciences. And I find a transition in my students. Once
they really start to get it, they start to ask higher and higher level questions. And
if you really don't understand it, sometimes you can't even formulate a good question to
ask. And so what kind of questions am I talking about? You should be able to answer questions
when I say, how do we know what we know? In other words I could say, "What scientific
experiments allow us to know that DNA rather than proteins is the genetic material?" And
then you should be able to answer, this is how we know what we know. And so I was trying
to think about how do I get students to get better and better at asking questions? When
do they do that in their lives? And then it came to me that we constantly do that. Because
if you ever type something in Google, you're really asking a question. And so let's look
at a few questions and then we'll kind of judge which ones are good and which ones are
not so good. So let's say you were to type this in. What's the world's smallest living
bird? Well that's an okay question. And Google is going to give you a quick response. I think
it's some form of humming bird. But it's not a great scientific AP Biology question. Because
you quickly get a fact right back to you. It doesn't lead to further discussion or investigation.
Well let's try this one. "Are we alone in the universe?" Well that's a pretty profound
question. If you were to Google that I would imagine you would get lots of answers but
none of them are really going to be right. It's an unanswerable question with the technology
that we have today. So that's not a great question. What about this one. "Are genetically
modified foods good or bad?" Well we're adding value at this point. So what does it mean
to be good? Or what does it mean to be bad? And so that's not really a good scientific
question as well. Once we started adding value to it we can't measure that empirically. So
it's not a great question. Let's go to another one. What about this. "What factors effect
plant growth?" Well now we're getting closer. This is really something that we can measure.
But since I just said factors in there, there's so many things that could effect plant growth.
Number one what type of plant are we really talking about? How will we measuring that
plant growth? And so I could refine that question. What's the optimum carbon dioxide concentration
for brassica rapa growth? And now really I'm paring it down to one independent variable
and then one dependent variable. And so we're getting to a good question that could lead
to fact finding. It could lead to future investigations. And so here's a good example of a question
that AP suggests. "What happens to photosynthesis at vary high non-biological temperatures?"
And so what are we looking at here? We're looking at two things. We've got an independent
variable which is clearly the temperature that we could change. And then we're looking
at a dependent variable which is photosynthesis. And so we do a photosynthesis lab, remember,
where we're looking at the leaf chads float. And so we could change the temperature and
see how that effects it. Before that though we could look at a literature search. We could
actually get through some of the scientific journals and see what, you know, has this
been done before? And what did they find? We could go on a fact finding mission. Google
searches where we find more information and it could lead to experimental design. And
so a good question is going to lead to further discussion and then further investigation.
And they want you to be able to do that in each of the four big ideas. And so here's
some examples they give. So let's say we're looking at evolution. If I were to give you
a phylogenetic tree, you should be able to be able to ask and answer a bunch of questions
based on that. Or what about free energy? You could say, you know, where are the molecules
going to move? This looks like facilitated diffusion. Or we could even pose questions
about, you know, what happens if I change one of these proteins and the function of
a protein? As we get to information there's lots of questions that could be posed about,
you know, genetic problems. So in this pedigree you could try to determine what the inheritance
pattern is. And then we could get even to ethical questions when we're saying if you
know that you have the gene, are you likely to have kids or would you have kids? And then
when we get to systems, interactive systems like, this is a food web. You could ask questions
about, you know, what happens if we change one part of this food web? Or if we were to
decrease the amount of producers, how's that going to effect the consumers? And so you
really have to be able to do three things. You have to be able to come up with questions
or pose questions. You have to be able to refine those questions. And then you have
to be able to evaluate questions that are asked. And you're going to do this on a test
which is asking you questions. And so it's kind of tricky to ask your, to judge your
questioning ability using questions. But this is kind of how they'll get at it. And so first
of all you have to be able to pose scientific questions. And so if I were to give you this,
which is a phylogenetic tree of life. You can see you have the three domains. Eukarya,
Archaea and Bacteria. Could you come up with three good questions that you could answer
either from this tree or from information you know about this tree. So what are some
questions? With each of these remember you can phase the video and take a shot at this.
Well I might ask this question right away. Which of these are more related to eukarya?
Is it the archaea or the bacteria? That would be an okay question. Another question might
be, "What characteristics of archaea and bacteria and eukarya allowed scientists to produce
such a tree?" And then remember this implies that we had one last universal common ancestor
that would be right down here. So what are some shared characteristics of that? And so
those are pretty good questions. Kind of questions at getting how do we know what we know? In
other words how did we come up with a phylogenetic tree like this? The next thing you need to
be able to do is refine questions. So this is a question from a practice test from the
AP College Board that gets at this. And so let me kind of talk you through it. Basically
we have figure 1 up here which shows algal growth of a species in sterilized pond water
over time. So you can see it's increasing and stabilizing. If phosphate is added right
here, then we see the following growth. And so we see an increase in algal growth as well.
And so the question they're asking is, which of the following would be the best prediction
of algal growth if nitrate, rather than phosphate is added? And then they give you four tries
at this. Or four different guesses that you could make. And trust me, when I looked at
this question the first time, I missed this question as well. So take a second to lock
in your answer. And the right question or the right answer is C, right here. Nothing
should happen when you add nitrate. And so when I thought, Oh, I thought this was going
to be it right away. And then as I thought about it a little more deeply, I realized
what we were looking at here is a limiting nutrient. And so basically what happened is
when you added phosphate, that was the one nutrient that these algae were needing. And
so they took off. They didn't need nitrate at this point. So if you would have given
them nitrate, it wouldn't have helped them. Let me put that in context that might help
you. So let's say you're going to the movies. Now I've changed the question. So through
time this is your ability to go watch a movie. If I were to say I gave you your car keys
at point A, we'll say right here. That allowed you to go see the movies. Which of the following
would be the best prediction with, if instead of me giving you car keys, I would have given
you additional money. Well the right answer would be this one, the same one as here. Because
you really didn't need the money to get to the movies. What you needed was to have your
car keys so you could drive to the movies. And so again we're looking at a question that
is then being refined. So they're asking you a question and then you're actually having
to say, let's take that to another level. And finally you have to be able to evaluate
scientific questions. And so this is Stanley Miller. Miller-Urey's famous experiment. They
were attempting to model early earth conditions. Remember they put all of the gases and added
some energy that kind of simulated what early life on our planet was. And we could make
some of the building blocks of life. And so here, in order for them to test your ability
to evaluate scientific questions, they're saying which of these are the questions, or
was the question, that Miller was trying to answer. So you could pause and take a stab
at this one. There right answer is C. He was trying to show that the molecules essential
to life today could have formed under early earth conditions. And so this is how they're
going to get at your ability to ask questions on the AP exam. But questions are very important.
It's almost like dominoes. Because, if you're good at asking questions, that's going to
directly lead to practice 4 which is developing experimentation, then data analysis, then
using explanations and theories. And so the next three science practices are built on
your ability to ask questions. And so I hope that was helpful.
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