Finalizing CO2 presentation

On Monday our group met with Professor Shultz to discuss how we were going to go about our argument for the legitimacy of the CO2 paper.  Professor Shultz gave us some ideas on how we should go about arguing our point.  The main things were to stay on task and know the criteria.  Then he advised us that we should know the other groups arguments and how we can refute them.  On Wednesday our group met out of class to finalize our presentation, and thought of ways the "no" team would argue against us.  We came up with some very good points and believe our presentation will be ready for Friday.

Classroom Discussion - Criteria for Scientific paper

Group 3 - Yes

Criteria -

1.  References / sources (credible)

2.  Science Methods valid (accurately repeatably)

 - Look at references and look to see how many times they have been referenced.
 - Look at methods data analysis, think of what the "no" teams are going to say.

CO2 debate

- Is paper legitimate ? Yes - make argument for its legitimacy

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Criteria for evaluating Scientific papers

-   Sufficient data to back up statements or theories being made.
-   Accurate refernces to related and reliable sources
-   Paper address other side of scientific arguement and tries to disprove their views
-  Objective material without obvious bias
-  Clarity of written information - can the reader understand what the author is conveying

Professional Development Plan - class discussion

- Define values/ interests
- Assess your own skills and talents
- Self-awarness
- Timeline for all goals long and short term
- Checkpoints throughout PDP for self-evaluation
- Corrective actions that can be taken if goals are not being reached or timeline is missed.
- Plans to reach goals(strategy)
- plans to overcome obstacle
- mission

Penny Presentation

Today in Issues for Science Professionals our group as well as the other groups in class presented our responses to the questions of how much does a penny weigh.  Most of the groups including my own did not answer the proposed question in a scientific manner.  Much of the information presented was based around the history of the penny rather than scientific data collected to answer the question in a experimental manner.  Our group ended up "winning" the penny question contest.  I believe what set us apart from the other presentations was that we actually did do some scientific sampling of pennies to determine our responses.  This including weighing different types of pennies, taking a sample of 100 pennies to find the probability of finding a certain penny, and a water displacement measurement which we ended up not being able to use due to low precision.

How much does a penny weigh?

On Friday the tenth of September a question was asked by Dr. Schultz to determine the weight of a penny that we had found on the ground.  To find the answer I simply googled the average weight of a penny, and found that a penny weighed 2.5 grams.  On Monday the 12th two more questions were asked.  One about the weight of a penny in the 1970's and the other about the weight of a penny in the early 1700's.  We then were split up into groups to come up with our best response to the questions.  First, to figure the weight of a average penny we weighed five on a scale and took the average.  To find the weight of a penny in the 1970's we found 5 pennies from that era and weighed and averaged their amounts.  The two answer varied, because of the composition of the penny from the two different time periods.  We then researched the composition of a penny from the 1700's, and found that they were made of pure copper.  With this information we were able to estimate its weight.  We also thought about the first question more indepth.  If we had picked up a random penny it could either way 2.5 grams if it was made after 1982, or 3.2 grams if it were made before 1982.  We then took a sample of 100 pennies to see how many were pre and post 1982 to find which penny you would have a greater chance of finding on the ground.

Professional Development Plan

A professional development plan is a tool for both indivduals as well as business or larger groups to use to plan for the future.  It allows the user to direct their future in a way that will increase their chances for success.  A professional development plan will incorporate what the user's main goal or asperations are.  From here this main goal is broken down into even smaller goals, and set up a plan or strategy as to how these goals will allow the user to reach their main goal.  During this process the professional development plan also incorporates the users beleifs, and values which he or she would not like to break in the process of ataining their goals.  These steps will also be linked along with a time table to assure the user stays on the right path to attain their ultimate goal.  Throughout this process self and or outside evaluations can be setup along the way to look back and ensure that the users professional development plan is being followed.  As with any plan problems will come about, so the professional developement plan should incorporate solutions to those problesm when they arise.  A simple template of the professional development plan may look something like this.

 - Ultimate Goal or overal mission -
 - Goals to accomplished to acieve mission -
 - Steps to achieve goals or strategy -
 - Values to be followed -
 - Time table for goals each goal or subgoals -
 - Self and peer evaulations to be made at specific time intervals -
 - Problems that may come up or disrupt goal achievement -
 - Steps to overcome problems when they arise -