1. Describe
the role of positive and negative controls in an experiment.
2. How
many times does an experiment have to be reproduced to be believable? When
can you legitimately discard observations?
Concept
Statements
Emphasis
in your teaching
General
importance
1.
Without positive and negative controls, experimental results are almost always
uninterpretable.
2.
An well designed hypothesis leads to clear and distinct predictions
that can be validated or disproven by experimental observation.
3.
Unconscious bias can enter many types of experiments; it can be best controlled
for through the use of 'double-blind' experimental protocols
and placebo-controls.
4.
The ability to reproduce an experiment is key; an experiment that cannot be reproduced
cannot be interpreted.
5. Investigators
must honestly report their methods, observations and interpretation
so that other can reproduce them.
6. Keeping
of a legible, well-dated, and complete record of experiments
is important not only in terms of enabling others to reproduce
or reconstruct previous experiments, but in establishing
the priority of specific discoveries.
7. Work
performed in a lab, either University, public or private sector,
is the property of the lab, not the investigator (this needs
to be stated more accurately).
8. To withhold
information that clearly argues against the conclusions of
an experimental study is as dishonest as fabricating data that
supports the desired conclusion.
9. Failure to acknowledge the contributions of others, whether
past workers or co-workers is plagiarism.
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Where
do you teach?
I do not teach
I teach, but not biology
I am researcher in the private sector
I teach elementary
secondary
college
level biology