https://www.zooniverse.org/projects?
As students in Bio 132, you are all scientists in training. We have spent a lot of time in this class learning about concepts in biology and discussing the scientific method, but the best way to learn science is to do it! While we cant be in a research lab this semester, there are an abundance of citizen science projects looking for eager biologists like yourselves. Generally, these projects have a lot of data (pictures, videos, old data collection cards, etc) that need to be sorted through or identified. Each project provides you with instructions on how to do this.
Take part in the data gathering efforts for your project and then write a 2-4 page paper that does the following:
– Describe the project in which you took part. What questions are they asking? What hypothesis are they testing? What variables are involved?
– Explain your methods. How did you collect the data and why it was useful?
– Put this study into the context. What does the scientific community know about this topic and what questions remain to be answered?
– Why is this research interesting and/or important?
To properly put this study in context, you will have to review scientific literature and cite peer-reviewed journal articles. You must cite AT LEAST 2 peer-reviewed research articles in your paper. Be sure your citations are appropriate using MLA, APA, or one of the other major citation methods.
