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Your area of study is central to people’s lives and will thus be a regular topic of conversation and As a trained scientist, you will have knowledge and experience these people don’t. You must use it well for your own benefit and others’. We will talk today about how to read and assess news coverage of food and other scientific topics to learn new things, to read between the lines, and to offer educated commentary when needed. Scientific Method Question
Hypothesis Prediction Experiment Analysis Theory This Is how you will be taught, how your textbooks will read, and how you will ultimately construct arguments and others. Example: DNA • Question: DNA known to be made up of four nucleotides. How is information stored in it? • Hypothesized: Watson and Crick suggested DNA could be helical in structure • Experiment: Roseland Franklin measured diffraction of DNA • Theory: Watson saw Franklins results, knew it was from a helical structure, and he and Crick modeled DNA as a double helix “Inverted pyramid” of Journalism Most newsworthy info
Who? What? Where? When? Why? HOW? Important Details Background information This is how Journalists are taught to communicate. It is practical, flexible, and it works to capture our attention and make us read more. (It’s also how senior business people expect to be pitched… ) Example: Lincoln http://en. Wisped. Org/wick/ File:The_Assassination_of_President_Lincoln_Currier_and_elves_2. Pang Notice: you can stop reading at almost any time and walk away knowing the key information. You can’t do that with most scientific articles and textbooks. • … Cause you will see more on a daily basis room the latter than the former, even if you’re crazy into science. • … So that you know how to interpret what you read depending on the source. • … To enable you to choose how you communicate something to a peer, a boss, a reporter, or a student (of yours) • … And if you’re REALLY good you can switch as needed. Some questions to ask: Are you bringing an opinion to the assessment? Are numbers/percentages/statistics being selectively used? What is the article tone? Is there a more mundane result behind the headline? Any financial interests of the players?
We should still probably work to phase out the additive in the next few years. ” says… “Great, let’s increase the additive to a 10% level to improve performance and stay Just below the warning level. ” Concluding thoughts Science is about objective, rational, skepticism. Use your expertise to construct the missing parts of a story and then re-examine it to see how your perspective has changed. The value of your knowledge at work is often your ability to see something others miss, to develop a new approach, or to clarify. Everything you read or hear should be considered and evaluated.
Ask good questions of others’ work, but also of your own. Always try to understand the motivations of others, whether it be newspaper writers, industry technologists, or businesspeople you encounter. Note on individual assignment The above discussion is intended to help you become a more balanced consumer of information. An increased skepticism is good. Assessment can be good or bad, strive to improve Don’t become obsessed. Your assignment asks you to consider and evaluate a media topic. You are not required to find fault. There may not be a problem…