Investigation Design

Investigation Design Instructions and Rubric Your Task: Design an investigation to collect appropriate evidence to answer the guiding question:Why does (or doesn’t)

the frequency of a physical trait change in a rabbit population in differentenvironments? You can approach this question

in many different ways. There are multiple rabbit traits to focus on (fur color, tail length, teeth length) and many different

types of environments you could test (e.g. environments with and without predators, environments with or without food

limitation, environments with predators at the equator or arctic,and many more!). It is your job to determine what would be

appropriate and sufficient evidence to collect to support your answer to the guiding questionabove.

During Labs #10 and #11 you will have time to brainstorm with a classmate about different elements of the investigation

design, but each student will write up the investigation design assignment individually. By the due date on the course

calendar, you will individually submit an assignment in your own words via the Turnitin link under “Investigation Design” on

the main menu. Features of your design may be similar to a classmate’s if you brainstormed together, but the entire

assignment must be written individually and in your own words. Do not write your assignment in the same room asa

classmate and do not share your written assignment witha classmate. Write your procedure where indicated in Lab 12of the

lab manual or bring a copy of your investigation design to lab so that you can conduct your investigation during Lab #12! This assignment is 10% of your grade.Your investigation design must include sufficient detail that your TA could conduct

the same investigation after reading your assignment. You will be graded based on the rubric below. Your investigation design assignment will consist of the four sections outlined below and each section should address the following questions:

1. Introduction

a) Did you brainstorm with a classmate? If yes, who did you brainstorm with? b) What is the provided guiding question you are trying to answer with this investigation(it’s the same for everyone)?

c) Why is this an important orinteresting question to investigate? (Think about how this investigation connects to the

predictions about traits you made on the field tripin Lab #10.) 2. Experimental Design

a) How will you determine if the frequency of a trait in the population changes over time in different environments? b) What trait will you investigate? (e.g. fur color, tail length, or teeth length?)Why are you interested in this trait?

c) What different environments will you include in your design? (e.g. environments with and without predators,

environments with or without food limitation, environments with predators at the equator or arctic, etc.)Why did you decide to design you investigation this way?

d) There are other variables you can manipulate in the simulation that might influenc the biotic interactions (e.g. Which

allele is inherited as the dominant allele? Where do the rabbits live? When isa selection pressure first introduced?).

How will these variables be controlled or manipulated in your investigationtrials? Why did you make those decisions?

e) How many trials (or replicates) will you conduct? Why is the number of trials important?

f) For how many generations will you need to run the simulation during each trail?How did you determine this# of

generations was appropriate? Why do you think # of generationsis a biologically important variable in this

investigation? 3. Data Collection

a) Will you collect data on a singleresponse variable or multiple response variables (e.g. Total rabbits in population, number of rabbits with white fur, number of rabbits with brown fur, etc)?. Why did you decide to design your

investigation this way?

b) How will you keep track ofand organize the data you collect? Look through your lab manual to review the types of data charts you have used in this class. Draft a data table on the “Data Collection” page of Lab 12 in your manual.

4. Data Analysis

a) How do you predict the frequency of the trait will change in the rabbit population in the different environments you are testing? Why do you think this?

b) Is your prediction grounded in biological concept that we have learned this semester? How so?

c) What type of calculations will you need to maketo summarize your data across multiple trials? Why are these necessary?

d) What type of graph could you createto help make sense of your data? Describe what the graph would look like,

including how you would label the axis, if applicable.

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Grading Rubric

 

 

Criteria Levels of Achievement Proficient Satisfactory Needs Improvement Unsatisfactory

Biology Content 20 Points 18 Points 15 Points 10 Points Use concepts All biological content 1 biology content 2-­­3 biology content 4 or more biology content correctly in Intro and was correct error errors errors Analysis sections

Biology reasoning 30 Points 27 Points 22 Points 15 Points Supported design All reasoning was 1 reasoning error 2-­­3 reasoning errors 4 or more reasoning errors with appropriate appropriate reasoning

Depth of response 20 points 18 points 15 points 10 points Fully explained all Vaguely explained Needed to elaborate Complete lack of depth; thinking thinking on 1 item more on several Answers are limited to bare responses minimum.

Completeness 20 Points 18 Points 15 Points 10 Points Complete all Completed all parts Answered all Completed all 4 Skipped several sub-­­parts or questions in the of all questions parts of all sections but skipped entire sections outline above sections, but 1 or 2 sub-­­parts missed 1 sub-­­ question within a part

Quality 10 Points 8 Points 6 Points 4 Points Creativity, No – or very minor, 1-­­2 noticeable Several noticeable Errors indicated lack of cohesiveness, word almost unnoticeable errors or average errors proofreading; errors made it choice, spelling, – errors; creative design difficult to understand grammar, correct use design of scientific terms

 

 

 

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