6.2 Activity

4 Corners

Human Impact

• Residents

• City officials

• Government employees – schools, hospitals , ss,

• Business owners

• Restaurants, car dealers, stores

Social

• How do humans impact our city socially?• Are people healthy?• Do they have health care?• Eat healthy?• Does our city officials support healthy

environment?• Is there a healthy economy?• Do the people care about the environement?• Is there public transportation? Sidewalks, bike

paths?

Biological

• How do humans impact our living plants and animals?

• Do we take care of our creatures?

• Do they have homes and adequate food?

• Do we plant gardens?

• Are trees and grass and plants healthy?

• Do you notice animals? What kind?

Physical

• How do humans impact our physical city?

• Are there a lot of buildings?

• Are the buildings maintained?

• Are the roads maintained?

• Is our town pretty?• What is the quality of our roads?• Where is there vegetation?• Are our parks maintained?

Chemical

• How do humans impact our city chemically?• What is our air quality?• Do we have safe drinking water?• What is our soil quality? Will plants grow?• Is there pollution from sewage, factories, or

littering?

Journal 18

• Choose one aspect of our city• Biological• Physical • Social• Chemical• Write a 5 sentence paragraph reflecting on what

you learned, what surprised you, or made you mad

• What can we do to change things?

Journal 19

• What are the characteristics of a good research questions?

• Describe a good question

• Provide 2 examples:

• one good questions

• and one bad question

• Be prepared to share your examples!!!

Journal 20

• Notes on a good research question

What makes a good research question?

• It cannot be answered “yes” or “no”

• Testable

• Includes dependant and independent variables

• Be specific

Variable

• Cause and effect – Look for changes

• Variables: Changing quantities

• Independent

• Dependent

• Controlled.

independent variable

• CAUSE

• The one that is tested by the scientist.

• Only one independent variable

• Observe changes the independent variable and record changes

dependent variable

• EFFECT

• Responds to the independent variable

• Measurable and recordable data

Example

• If you open a faucet (the independent variable),

• the quantity of water flowing (dependent variable)

• .

controlled variables

• Quantities that remain constant

• Observed carefully as the dependent variables change

• "constant variables."

Question Independent Variable

(What I change)

Dependent Variables

(What I observe)

Controlled Variables

(What I keep the same)

Does heating a cup of water allow it to dissolve more sugar?

Temperature of the water measured in degrees Centigrade

Amount of sugar that dissolves completely measured in grams

Stirring Type of sugar"More stirring might also increase the amount of sugar that dissolves and different sugars might dissolve in different amounts, so to insure a fair test I want to keep these variables the same for each cup of water."

Question Independent Variable

(What I change)

Dependent Variables

(What I observe)

Controlled Variables

(What I keep the same)

Does fertilizer make a plant grow bigger?

Amount of fertilizer measured in grams

Growth of the plant measured by its height Growth of the plant measured by the number of leaves See Measuring Plant Growth for more ways to measure plant growth

Same size pot for each plant Same type of plant in each pot Same type and amount of soil in each pot Same amount of water and light Make measurements of growth for each plant at the same time "The many variables above can each change how fast a plant grows, so to insure a fair test of the fertilizer, each of them must be kept the same for every pot."

Question Independent Variable

(What I change)

Dependent Variables

(What I observe)

Controlled Variables

(What I keep the same)

Does an electric motor turn faster if you increase the voltage?

Voltage of the electricity measured in volts

Speed of rotation measured in revolutions per minute (RPMs)

Same motor for every test The motor should be doing the same work for each test (turning the same wheel, propeller or whatever) "The work that a motor performs has a big impact on its speed, so to insure a fair test I must keep that variable the same."

If…Then statement

• Hypothesis

• If, is the Independent variable; it is testable; an experiment could be set up to test the validity of the statement.

• Then, is the dependent variable; your predicted response

Bias

• When the experiment lacks the proper amount of controls which can cause some outcomes to be favored over others

• Do NOT be biased

Lenses

• The different ways to look at urban ecology

Activity

• You will each get 1 lens card

• You will go out to your site

• At the site you will develop your own research questions

• You need 3 questions

Biodiversity Lens

• Plants

• Animals

• humans

Soil Quality

• What is in the soil

• Can it grow plants

• Is there weeds

• Does it hold water

Energy

Political Lens

• Decisions made by the city

• Mayor, alderman, police, fire chief

• Park district

Environmental Justice

Public Health