Students will be assigned an experimental scenario; they will design a controlled experiment to test their hypothesis. Students will evaluate different experimental layouts and possible experimental outcomes.
Objective:
- To stimulate students’ collaboration with team members on a project and to facilitate discussion relevant to the practical applications of the scientific method via the discussion board.
Instructions:
- For your group’s experimental scenario, identify the critical components: hypothesis, control group, experimental group(s), independent variable(s) and dependent variable(s) by discussing the topic with your group, and write them down.
- Decide on the procedure of your experiment that you would set up to test your hypothesis and write it down.
- Provide possible outcomes of your experiment.
- Do not forget to provide literature references where appropriate.
- Post your answers and ideas to the discussion board; submit your group’s work to the Assignment dropbox (online campus) as a docx, rtf or pdf document.
Experimental Scenarios:
2. As an agricultural scientist you are interested in finding new techniques that can be used to increase crop heath and production. Mycorrhizal fungi have been implemented in a significant number of symbiotic relationships with plants and shown to contribute to the overall health of these organisms. Since there is a close evolutionary relationship between these fungi and their hosts, it’s been suggested these types of fungi might not have the same effects on crop plants, since many of these have been domesticated for food production.