HW - 5/29/13

Tonight's homework is to simply to be ready for tomorrow's Data Analysis PBAT. To be ready you should:

1. review (and possibly revise) your hypothesis
2. analyze your data - make inferences, draw conclusions, and think about how you would support those conclusions
3. brainstorm sources of error that arose during the experiment and think about how they affected your data

HW - 5/28/13

There is no formal homework. However, please be ready to continue your experiments tomorrow and write extensively about the results on Thursday.

HW - 5/22/13

Tonight's homework is to complete Part 1 of the new experiment. See below.

On Cooking: How Does It Affect Food?

Aim: Scholars develop hypotheses regarding how cooking affects the nutrient content of foods in order to understand how we change food

Introduction

Previously we discussed the merits of cooking and why humans have adopted it so readily. However, it is worth investigating if there are any potential drawbacks to cooking our food. Could the heat applied to food during cooking somehow change the components of food and their qualities? Let’s see.

As we should already know, vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is an important micronutrient and foods high in it should be part of our daily diet. But what if the methods we use to prepare (or preserve our food) affect vitamin C in foods in a negative way? Oh no! This begs the question: how does cooking affect the vitamin content of the foods we at?

Your task is to get to the bottom of this question and determine the effect of cooking on the vitamin C content in foods. Below are your parameters.

Parameters

1. You will (and can only) investigate among the following vegetables: tomatoes, broccoli, green peppers, and potatoes.

2. Your in-class cooking options are the following: simmering (heating the sample in water to below boiling (to about ~180°F)), boiling (heating the sample in water to 212°F), and roasting (heating the sample over an open flame). Outside of class, you can cook the sample as you please if your parents allow.

3. In order to determine how much vitamin C is in your raw/cooked food samples you are going to perform a titration. Remember, a titration is a method of analysis that allows you to determine precise quantity of a reactant by observing the precise endpoint of a reaction.

4. The reactions that you will be observing are the reaction between iodine and starch (which produces a blue-black color) and the reaction between iodine and vitamin C (which interferes and stops the reaction between iodine and starch). Basically, you will add an iodine solution drop by drop to a mixture of starch and your liquefied samples until you notice a color change. This color change means that all of the vitamin C has been used up reacting with the iodine you were adding in the following reaction: ascorbic acid + I₂ --> 2 I^- + dehydroascorbic acid. So what is the relationship between the amount of iodine used and the amount of vitamin C in the sample?

Procedure

Today’s tasks are: 1. to conduct background research in order to inform possible hypotheses 2. to develop and submit a quality hypothesis and 3. to begin planning your experiment so that you can test your hypotheses.

For your planning…

Hypothesis:

IV:

DV:

Controlled variables:

Control group(s):

Experimental group(s):

Observation/data table:

Procedure:

HW - 5/21/13

Tonight's homework is to simply finish the lab report so that it can be submitted in class tomorrow for full credit. Good luck and see the previous postings for assistance.

Why Cook? - PBS Nova video from today's class

Spice Lab Report Overview

Your lab report should consist of the following:

Introduction

• Relevant background information
• Whatever material is necessary to introduce the topic to an unfamiliar reader 
• Whatever information/research led you from your investigative question to your hypothesis 
• The relevance of your topic 
• Vegetarian recipes tend to contain fewer spices than those that contain meat. Why might that be? Think about what you learned this week as well as the last few weeks (i.e. where does our meat come from?) 
• Your investigative question
• Your hypothesis with a rationale

Methods - The following should be discussed using only the past tense and in the 3rd person only

• IV
• DV
• Controlled variables
• Control group
• Experimental group
• Observation/data table
• Summary of procedure

Results

• Data table 
• A graph that shows how the number of colonies or boxes covered by bacteria was affected by the various herbs/spices.

Discussion

• Make inferences based on your observations. 
• Be sure to refer to your data/observations specifically to support your inferences. 
• Be sure that you answer the experimental question that you were investigating. Make sure that your answer to your question is supported clearly by data/observations. 

• Using the data you collected, make a claim about your hypothesis and the data. Was the hypothesis supported or not supported by the results of your experiment? 
• Be sure to refer to your data/observations specifically when evaluating your hypothesis.


• Draw a conclusion and answer your big investigative question. 
• It’s 12,000 B.C. There is no such thing as refrigeration and you just caught a tasty boar (nice job). Which spice would you use to flavor/preserve the boar meat so that it tastes delicious without being harmful? Explain.
• Discuss all sources of error, which may have impacted the results. 
• Discuss each error and the specific impact it may have had on the data and/or how you interpreted it. 
• Evaluate your experimental setup – Do you think that the experiment worked well? Why? What changes would you make? Why would you make them? 
• Based on any and all errors – how reliable are the results and your evaluation of your hypothesis? Do you trust your data? Why or why not?

HW - 5/20/13

Tonight's homework is to continue to work on the lab report which is due in class on Wednesday. See the other posts for a guide to the components of the lab report.

In class - 5/17/13

Use the links for the articles below to learn more about how spices have shaped us.

"The Lure and Lore of Spices" from Spice House
"How the Spice Trade Changed the World" from LiveScience
"The Role of Spices in Human History" from Helium

HW - 5/16/13

Your homework is to work on your lab write-up due next Wednesday. A good idea would be to write up your methods and what you did today. See below for a guide.

“Some Like It Hot” Lab Write-up

Introduction

Your final task is to formally write-up your conclusions and reflections about the microbial growth experiment and combine this with the introduction that you wrote. The components of this write-up are as follows:

1. State the hypothesis that you tested
1. Explain your thoughts behind your hypothesis – remember it is an educated answer to the experimental question.  Your point of view needs to be supported by a logical argument as well as any resources (notes, activities, discussions in class, materials outside of class).

2. Construct a graph that shows how the number of colonies or boxes covered by bacteria was affected by the various herbs/spices.

3. Make inferences based on your observations.
1. Be sure to refer to your data/observations specifically to support your inferences.
2. Be sure that you answer the experimental question that you were investigating. Make sure that your answer to your question is supported clearly by data/observations.

4. Using the data you collected, make a claim about your hypothesis and the data.  Was the hypothesis supported or not supported by the results of your experiment?
1. Be sure to refer to your data/observations specifically when evaluating your hypothesis.

 

5. Discuss all sources of error, which may have impacted the results.
1. Discuss each error and the specific impact it may have had on the data and/or how you interpreted it.
2. Evaluate your experimental setup – Do you think that the experiment worked well?  Why?  What changes would you make? Why would you make them?
3. Based on any and all errors – how reliable are the results and your evaluation of your hypothesis?  Do you trust your data?  Why or why not?

Writing Conventions - make sure to:

·      Write in the 3^rd person and avoid the 1^st person – avoid I, we, my, our, etc. as much as possible and instead use phrases such as “the group” or “the hypothesis.”

·      Use only the past tense when writing about experiments you did.

·      Write in paragraph form with complete sentences – not in bulleted, outline form with the letters and numbers seen above.

·      PROOFREAD

Your completed write-up of this experiment is due in class on Wednesday, May 22, 2013.

HW - 5/15/13

Tonight's homework is two-fold: 1. complete the experimental plan for the spice lab (see below) and 2. complete your introduction for the spice lab (also see below).

Question: How do various spices affect the growth of common bacteria?

Hypothesis:

IV:

DV:

Controlled variables:

Control group:

Experimental group:

Observation/data table:

Procedure:

Materials available (per table):

2 Petri dishes

Agar to fill them

Spices – onion powder, cumin, red pepper, black pepper, allspice, oregano, cloves, cinnamon, cilantro, tumeric

Transparency with grid

Q-tip (for collecting and spreading hand bacteria)

Your introduction should include at least all of the following:

-        -   Your investigative question

-        -   Your hypothesis with a rationale

-        -   Relevant background information

o   Whatever material is necessary to introduce the topic to an unfamiliar reader

o   Whatever information/research led you from your investigative question to your hypothesis

Hypothesis Checklist                                                                                                                                                     SCORE: _____

Criteria	4 (Mastery)	3 (Proficient)	2 (Approaching)	1 (Needs Revision)
Presents a clear and testable hypothesis that answers investigative question	Hypothesis concisely but clearly establishes a logical, measurable, and testable prediction that explains the relationship between variables and is supported with a logical rationale.	Hypothesis concisely but clearly establishes a logical, testable prediction that explains the relationship between variables and is supported with a logical rationale but may not be obviously measurable.	Hypothesis concisely but clearly establishes a logical, testable, and measurable prediction that explains the relationship between variables but it lacks an explanation OR hypothesis establishes an illogical or incorrect prediction.	Hypothesis neither establishes a clear, logical, testable, and measurable prediction that explains the relationship between variables nor contains adequate rationale.

Content Knowledge Checklist                                                                                                                                   SCORE: _____

Criteria	4 (Mastery)	3 (Proficient)	2 (Approaching)	1 (Needs Revision)
Demonstrates knowledge of class material	Very consistently demonstrates deep knowledge of related material by correctly using vocabulary and explaining examples clearly.	Consistently demonstrates knowledge of related material by correctly using vocabulary and explaining examples.	Demonstrates knowledge of related material by using vocabulary and explaining examples, but with some errors.	Does not demonstrate sufficient knowledge of class material through errors or lack of usage/ explanation.

HW - 5/14/13

Tonight's homework is to complete Assignment 36A. See below for the questions and the associated readings.

Assignment #36A - Some Like It Hot – Pre-Lab Reading Questions

Answer all of the following questions to the best of your ability in complete sentences in your LAB NOTEBOOK.

Pre-Reading Questions – Answer these questions before reading either of the articles.

1. Why do you think people put spices (ex. pepper) on their foods?

2a. Are there cultures/places that you think are known or having spicy food? If yes, then identify some.

2b. Thinking about your answer to 2a, why do you think these cultures/people in these places make their food spicier?

Post-Reading Questions – Answer these questions after reading  the articles.

3. How do bacteria reproduce?

4. Based on what you read, why do you think people put spices on their foods?

5. Hypothesize which spice (or spices) will have the greatest effect on bacterial growth? Support your hypothesis.

6. Develop a brief plan to test your hypothesis.

Resources

Information on Bacteria
Interaction between Spices and Microbes (brief)
Darwinian Gastronomy: Why We Eat Spices (longer)

HW - 5/13/13

Tonight's homework is to complete the Reflection questions for Assignment 35. See below.

Assignment #35 - Getting to Know Your Food at the Farmers Market

Reflection Questions

These questions are for you to answer at home upon completion of your interviews.

1. Write a paragraph summarizing about what you learned from talking from each vendor.

2. What is your current feeling towards the local food movement (in other words, the trend to push consumers to buy produce and animal products from local farms while in season)?

3. Do you or your family members buy food from farmers markets? Why or why not?

4. What factors serve as barriers to you buying more food from local sources like farmers markets? What changes could make it more likely for you to buy a larger quantity of local foods?

HW - 5/10/13

This weekend's homework is to complete Assignment 34. See below for the questions and for resources.

Assignment #34 - Preparing For Our Visit To The Farmers Market

Check the class website for links to information to help further your understand of local farming and the farmers market. Answer each of the following questions to the best of your ability in complete sentences on a separate page.

1. What is a farmers market?

2. What are potential benefits of shopping at a farmers market?

3. What barriers might local farmers and farmers markets face?

4. How do you feel about farmers markets? For example, are their products worth the extra cost? Are they just complicating and slowing down our means of purchasing food?

Basic information about farmers markets

Links to benefits of farmers markets

Map of Union Square Farmers Market (focus on Monday's map)

HW - 5/9/13

Tonight's homework is to look over your notes/assignments/readings/etc. in order to prepare for tomorrow's check-in. Also, if you did not complete Assignment 32, then it is due at the beginning of class tomorrow.

Ideas to be familiar with for the check-in:
- Organic food
- Factory farming
- CAFO
- GMO
- Externality
- E. coli O157:H7

HW - 5/8/13

Your homework is to continue to work on and prepare to complete Assignment 32 tomorrow in class. See below.

Assignment #32 - Understanding Organic Foods

Aim: Scholars investigate the qualities of and misconceptions associated with organic foods in order to make claims about organic foods being part of public school lunches

Introduction

The big question that we will use to investigate and try to evaluate organic foods and the organic food industry is: Should public school lunches contain organic foods?

Some background information about public school lunches and where they come from…

The National School Lunch Program is a federally assisted meal program operating in over 100,000 public and non‐profit private schools and residential child care institutions. It provided nutritionally balanced, low‐cost or free lunches to more than 31 million children each school day in 2011. In 1998, Congress expanded the National School Lunch Program to include reimbursement for snacks served to children in afterschool educational and enrichment programs to include children through 18 years of age.

The Food and Nutrition Service administers the program at the Federal level. At the State level, the National School Lunch Program is usually administered by State education agencies, which operate the program through agreements with school food authorities.

Generally, public or nonprofit private schools of high school grade or under and public or nonprofit private residential child care institutions may participate in the school lunch program. School districts and independent schools that choose to take part in the lunch program get cash subsidies and USDA foods from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for each meal they serve. In return, they must serve lunches that meet Federal requirements, and they must offer free or reduced price lunches to eligible children.

Procedure

1. Before doing any further reading or investigation, answer the following question as honestly and completely as you can, “What is organic food?”

2. Brainstorm what information you would need to know about organic foods in order to answer the big question. Develop questions or a list of factors/characteristics of organic foods that you could investigate.

3. Investigate the readings found here and here and/or Chapter 9 “Big Organic” from The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan. See the guide on the screen to help you navigate the lengthy chapter.

4. Revise/refine your answer to #1 and develop a better answer to the question “What is organic food?” Think about including any misconceptions that you had, examples of what is or is not organic food, etc.

5. Answer the big question, Should public school lunches contain organic foods? Support your claim thoroughly. Develop a counterclaim and address it.

NOTE: If it helps you to form and support a claim to the question, then assume that school districts that choose to offer organic school lunch options would receive a proportionate, fair increase in the amounts of their reimbursements from the USDA.

Understanding Organic Foods Rubric

	Mastery – 4	Proficient – 3	Satisfactory – 2	Needs Revision – 1
Claim	States clear, well-reasoned claim and counterclaim	States clear, well-reasoned claim	States a logical, but vague claim	States an illogical or indefensible position
Support of claim	Thoroughly supports claims with several detailed, convincing, specific reasons/pieces of evidence as well as refuted counterclaims	Thoroughly supports claims with multiple detailed, specific reasons/pieces of evidence as well as attempts at forming counterclaims/ refutations of them	Supports claims with multiple detailed, convincing specific reason/piece of evidence	Supports claims with reasons/ evidence that are not convincing due to lack of detail, specificity, or clarity OR not having enough pieces of evidence to support each claim
Demonstrates knowledge of class material	Very consistently demonstrates deep knowledge of related material by correctly using vocabulary and explaining examples clearly.	Consistently demonstrates knowledge of related material by correctly using vocabulary and explaining examples.	Demonstrates knowledge of related material by using vocabulary and explaining examples, but with some errors.	Does not demonstrate sufficient knowledge of class material through errors or lack of usage/ explanation.
Writing conventions	Writes elegantly and in a sophisticated manner while very consistently adhering to spelling and grammar conventions.	Very consistently adheres to spelling and grammar conventions.	Consistently adheres to spelling and grammar conventions.	Mostly adheres to spelling and grammar conventions.

HW - 5/7/13

Tonight's homework is to complete Assignment 31. See below. See the following links for general information on GMOs and specific information about the controversy surrounding labeling them.

Assignment #31 - Who Owns Our Food?

Based on the video clip from “Food, Inc.” and the readings, answer the following questions to the best of your ability in complete sentences.

Comprehension Questions

1. Review: What are genetically modified organisms?

2. Describe at least 3 examples of genetically modified crops.

3. Identify and describe advantages and potential problems associated with developing and growing GM foods.

4. For farmers, what is the purpose of saving seeds between seasons?

Thinking/Reflection Questions

5a. What is your reaction to the idea of a company (ex. Monsanto) patenting a seed – in other words, patenting an organism or food?

5b. Why would Monsanto’s patenting of GM seeds upset soybean farmers?

5c. Why would companies like Monsanto pursue the patenting of the GM seeds they produce?

6. Should companies be able to own the DNA contained in plant seeds? Why or why not?

Read about the controversy surrounding the labeling of foods containing GM ingredients.

7. State your position on the labeling of foods containing GM ingredients. Think about and include:

a. if you think that foods containing GM ingredients should be labeled as such

b. your argument(s) for labeling/not labeling these foods

c. an example of an acceptable label that would be present on a package for a food containing GM soy (if you support labeling) OR an example of an unacceptable label that you would object to if it were present on a package for a food containing GM soy (if you do not support labeling).

8. Identify and describe any externalities/hidden costs that you encountered today.

HW - 5/6/13

Tonight's homework is to complete Assignment 30. See below and click here to access Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser.

Assignment #30 How Safe Is Our Food?

Based on the video clip from “Food, Inc.” and the reading from Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser, answer the following questions to the best of your ability in complete sentences.

Comprehension Questions

1. What is E. coli O157:H7? Why is it of concern?

2. What are the current shortcomings in food safety that are allowing contamination of our food supply?

3. What can be done to prevent or minimize the risk of contamination of food by pathogens?

4. Describe the externalities or hidden costs that were touched upon in the reading/video clip.

Thinking/Reflection Questions

4. In Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser states, “Today the U.S. government can demand the nationwide recall of defective softball bats, sneakers, stuffed animals, and foam-rubber toy cows. But it cannot order a meatpacking company to remove contaminated, potentially lethal ground beef from fast food kitchens and supermarket shelves.” How do you feel about this?

5. Who is responsible for deaths like Kevin’s or illnesses like Lee Harding’s? Farmers? Slaughterhouses? Meat processors? Meat packing companies? The government? No one? Support your opinion.

HW - 5/3/13

This weekend's homework is to complete Assignment #29. See below.

Assignment #29 - All Your Food Are Belongs To Corn (and Soybeans)

Based on the video clip from “Food, Inc.” and the reading from Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan, answer the following questions to the best of your ability in complete sentences.

Comprehension Questions

1. Why do we grow so much dang corn in the United States?

2. Why are corn and soybeans found in all my gosh darn food?

3. Identify and describe health issues associated with consumption of corn-sweetened, processed foods.

Thinking/Reflection Questions

4a. Look at the foods in your home and complete the table on the back by identifying which of the  foods/products in your home contain which corn-based ingredients.

4b. What is your reaction to your findings?

5. Who is to blame/thank for creating and perpetuating such an oversupply of cheap, processed foods?

6. Pollan claims that if we continue our current agricultural policies, “the cheapest calories in the supermarket will continue to be the unhealthiest.” How could this be changed? If you had to create a farm bill (legislation that controls agriculture/food policy), how would you encourage farmers to change what they grow?

7. In economics, externalities are costs (or benefits) associated with a product/transaction that the consumer does not know about or does not choose to incur. In other words, externalities are hidden costs. Based on what you have viewed and/or read about this week, write at least a paragraph answering the following: What is the true cost of our food? Are there externalities associated with American food supply?

HW - 5/2/13

Tonight's homework is to complete Assignment 28. See below for the reading and questions. Access the reading here - Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer. Find and read the chapter "Words/Meaning."

Assignment #28 - Eating Animals

1. On a separate page, define the following terms in your own words.

CAFO

Factory farm

Free range

Organic

2. What is your reaction to what you saw/read today?

3. As consumers, do you think that we have the right to know how the animals we eat are being raised? Do you want to know?

4. Richard Lobb of the National Chicken Council says in the film Food, Inc., “In a way, we’re not producing chickens, we’re producing food.” What does this statement mean? Do you agree or disagree with it?

5. How do you think farm animals should be treated?

6. Suppose that we (as in all consumers) come to a consensus that even food animals deserve to have a right to a certain quality of life.

a. What might be some repercussions of this position? What effects could it have?

b. Who should have the responsibility to oversee the treatment of food animals? Companies? The government? Individuals/consumers?

HW - 5/1/13

Tonight's homework is to complete Assignment 27. See below.

The Evolution of Food Production in the United States

Procedure

1. Read and annotate the article.

2. State your initial reactions to the article.

3. Describe in detail how agriculture has changed since its origins over 10,000 years ago.

4a. What are some potential benefits to the increases in agricultural productivity described in the article?

4b. What are some potential drawbacks to the increases in agricultural productivity described in the article?

5. Interpret the graph on the bottom of page 3. What are the implications of this graph?

6. Choose one of the ecological impacts identified in the last paragraph on page 3 and conduct research to describe it in further detail. Write up your research using at least two paragraphs – 1) a description of the ecological impact and 2) an explanation of the how the issue can impact humans or other populations of organisms.