Cornerstone University Science Analysis Article Summary
Model for Paper 1Science In A News Article
Train Your Brain to Crave Healthy Food
Three Characteristics of Science
1) Science is empirical.
2) Science is rational.
3) Science is objective.
Science in a News Article
• Notice these three characteristics in many news
articles
• Example: Train Your Brain to Crave Healthy Food
• This assignment is designed for you to
demonstrate to me that you understand the
meanings of the words: objectivity, rationality,
empirical, and uniformity, as we are applying
them to science in this course.
• Summarize the article in 2-3 paragraphs.
Science in a News Article
• Notice these three characteristics in many news
articles
• Example: Train Your Brain to Crave Healthy Food
• List some words or phrases that show that these
researchers used the empirical. How do these
phrases show the empirical?
• Subjects “underwent an fMRI to record their brain activity” – What is
an fMRI? Google it!
• “experimental group lost average of 14 pounds, control group lost
about 5 pounds.”
• “they looked at how the participants’ brains responded…”
Science in a News Article
• List some words or phrases that show that the
researchers behaved in a rational (logical,
reasonable) manner in this story. How?
• Used a control group to see what would happen with no change in
diet => difference in outcome of fMRI logically is due to changed
diet
• Used previous information about how foods trigger the brain’s
pleasure center – focused their fMRI observations on this region.
• “It makes sense that the opposite would be true…”
Science in a News Article
• How is objectivity shown in this story?
• -Used a control group – if their fMRI scans showed same changes
as the experimental group then the experiment shows nothing of
value => not afraid to find out if their hypothesis is incorrect.
• Started with ideas from another previous study.
• Admitted that they used a very small sample size – “involving many
more participants…”
• “weight loss program appears to change …”
Science in a News Article
• List some words or phrases that indicate that these
researchers believe that the universe is uniform.
• -Used a control group – if their fMRI scans showed same changes
as the experimental group then the experiment shows nothing of
value => assumed that under the same conditions both groups
would have had the same outcomes. Assumed that the observed
differences in fMRI’s at the end of the experiment were not due to
random fluctuations in the universe, but were due to the weight-loss
plan used by the experimental group.
• Started with ideas from another previous study. Assumed that their
discoveries would be repeatable in this situation.
Assignment Guide
Write a 2-3 page paper describing and exploring ONE of the media articles found in the folder for
Paper 1 on our Moodle site, in which a scientific approach to an issue is reported. This paper should
contain an analysis similar to the in-class example(s). You may NOT use either article which we
discussed in class.
Briefly summarize the content of the article.
Discuss how people in this article demonstrate Ratzsch’s three components of science: objectivity,
rationality, and the empirical.
Comment on how people in this article report something that indicates that they rely on the
assumption of uniformity in observed phenomena in this natural world.
Helpful Points:
1) ‘Uniformity’ in content area 5 refers to the belief that NATURE is uniform, not that certain
people act in a consistent way.
2) ‘Empirical’ is the characteristic of science we are studying. ‘Empiricism’ is a worldview that argues
that nothing can be known outside of empirical methods (e.g., the positivists) and should NEVER
be used in this assignment.
3) ‘Objectivity’ in the context of science means unbiased.
4) Be careful in your use of the words ‘bias’ (noun) and ‘biased’ (adjective).
5) Limit direct quotations from the article to two or three sentences at most.
Rubric
NEWS
Mmm, Salt—Europa’s Hidden Ocean
May Contain the Table Variety
I
f you’re wagering on where life might exist
beyond Earth, Europa is always a safe bet.
That’s because this moon of Jupiter has a
liquid-water ocean beneath its icy surface,
making it a likely incubator for marine life.
Researchers now have shown that Europa’s
ocean probably contains sodium chloride
(NaCl), the same stuff we sprinkle on our
french fries and also the dominant form of
salt in our own planet’s ocean.
A Weird, Watery World
Europa, Jupiter’s fourth-largest moon, is an
enigmatic world: Ultraviolet aurorae dance
over its poles, its surface has hot and cool
spots, and enormous blades of ice may be
clustered around its equator. Since the 1970s,
researchers have hypothesized that Europa
might harbor a liquid ocean under its icy surface. Spacecraft-based observations have
since confirmed the existence of Europa’s
hidden ocean and shown that it’s salty, and
water vapor plumes spotted emanating from
the moon have provided additional evidence
of its watery interior.
Finding evidence of
sodium chloride was
a bit of a surprise.
Samantha Trumbo, a planetary scientist at
the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, and her colleagues now have studied
the chemistry of Europa’s ocean. They did so
by investigating the moon’s surface, specifically geologically young regions called chaos
terrain, where ocean water likely upwells. In
these areas, the icy surface looks to have been
wrenched apart, said Trumbo. “These regions
are probably the most representative of the
internal composition [of Europa].”
Hubble Space Telescope Looks for Salt
In 2017, Trumbo and her collaborators collected spectroscopic observations of Europa’s
surface using the Hubble Space Telescope.
The data, with a spatial resolution of roughly
150 kilometers, spanned from ultraviolet to
infrared wavelengths.
The researchers were looking for two
absorption features characteristic of sodium
Earth & Space Science News
Eos_Sep19.indd 9
chloride that’s been
bombarded by high-
energy electrons.
(These electrons,
which originate
mostly from volcanic eruptions on
Jupiter’s moon Io,
alter NaCl’s crystalline structure.) The
two absorption features fall within the
blue and red parts,
respectively, of the
visible spectrum.
Trumbo and her
Europa’s chaos terrain, above, is likely the site of upwelling from an enormous ocean
team found just the
beneath the ice. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
absorption feature in
the blue part of the
visible spectrum,
which actually makes sense, said Trumbo.
“This marked correlation with geologically
Laboratory experiments that re-create the
young chaos regions suggests an interior
absorption in the red part of the visible specsource,” they write in their paper, which was
trum bombard sodium chloride with 10,000–
published in June in Science Advances (bit.ly/
100,000 times the true radiation flux at Euroeuropa-nacl).
pa’s surface, she said. “At the real flux levels
“This new study took a novel approach that
of Europa, this feature would never form.”
combines telescopic observations, laboratory
Finding evidence of sodium chloride was a
experiments, and geochemical analysis,”
bit of a surprise, said Trumbo. “Sulfates on
Xianzhe Jia, a planetary scientist at the Unithe surface of Europa have been the prevailversity of Michigan who was not involved in
ing view since the Galileo mission in the
the research, told Eos. If NaCl exists in the
1990s.”
moon’s subsurface ocean, it “suggests that
To confirm that sodium chloride was really
Europa’s ocean might be more Earth-like
the cause of the absorption they observed,
compositionwise than previously thought.”
the researchers took spectra of other irradiScientists are looking forward to getting a
ated salts like magnesium sulfate (MgSO4),
closer look at Europa and its ocean with
calcium carbonate (CaCO3), and magnesium
NASA’s Europa Clipper mission, which will
chloride (MgCl2) in the laboratory. None of
put a spacecraft in orbit around Jupiter. The
the compounds they tested exhibited absorpspacecraft, slated to launch in the 2020s, will
tion in the blue part of the visible spectrum,
fly as close as 25 kilometers to Europa’s surand several had strong absorption features at
face—the closest flyby ever of this moon—
other wavelengths that the researchers didn’t
and will analyze the celestial body using a
see in their Hubble data.
suite of cameras, thermal imagers, spectrographs, and ice-penetrating radar.
Concentrated in Chaos
Trumbo and her colleagues found that sodium
chloride on Europa was mainly concentrated
in the chaos terrain. Because that’s where
subsurface water
likely upwells, this
finding is consistent
u
with the salt deriving
from the moon’s
ocean, the researchers suggest.
By Katherine Kornei (@katherinekornei),
Freelance Science Journalist
Read the Full Stories
and the Latest Breaking News
at Eos.org
Eos.org // 9
8/15/19 10:04 AM
Assignment: Paper 1 – Scientific Approaches in an Article – Guide & Rubric
This assignment is designed for you to demonstrate to me that you understand the meanings of the words: objectivity,
rationality, empirical, and uniformity, as we are applying them to science in this course.
Write a 2-3 page paper describing and exploring ONE of the media articles found in the folder for Paper 1 on our Moodle
site, in which a scientific approach to an issue is reported. This paper should contain an analysis similar to the in-class
example(s). You may NOT use either article which we discussed in class.
Briefly summarize the content of the article.
Discuss how people in this article demonstrate Ratzsch’s three components of science: objectivity, rationality, and the
empirical.
Comment on how people in this article report something that indicates that they rely on the assumption of uniformity in
observed phenomena in this natural world.
Helpful Points:
1) ‘Uniformity’ in content area 5 refers to the belief that NATURE is uniform, not that certain people act in a consistent way.
2) ‘Empirical’ is the characteristic of science we are studying. ‘Empiricism’ is a worldview that argues that nothing can be
known outside of empirical methods (e.g., the positivists) and should NEVER be used in this assignment.
3) ‘Objectivity’ in the context of science means unbiased.
4) Be careful in your use of the words ‘bias’ (noun) and ‘biased’ (adjective).
5) Limit direct quotations from the article to two or three sentences at most.
Student Author: …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Article Chosen: ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Content
1
Good summary of the article.
2
Explains relation of this text to a scientific
approach. Describes how people in the article
demonstrate objectivity.
Explains relation of this text to a scientific
approach. Describes how people in the article
demonstrate rationality.
Explains relation of this text to a scientific
approach. Describes how people in the article
demonstrate the empirical.
Comments about how an assumption of uniformity
is demonstrated by people mentioned in this article.
Begins & ends effectively.
3
4
5
6
Coherence 7
8
Technical 9
Grammar 10
Creativity 11
Overall
Moodle
COMMENTS:
Provides adequate & accurate supporting
arguments, evidence, examples, and details.
Clarity of point of view & efficacy of persuasion.
Is well-organized and unified.
Used appropriate, direct language. Uses correct
genre/style for this assignment.
Is free of errors in grammar, punctuation, word
choice, spelling, and format.
Shows originality & creativity in realizing 1-8.
Total Possible = 250 points
Total Possible = 100 points
EXCELLENT
30
EXCELLENT
40
GOOD
26
GOOD
36
ADEQUATE FAIR
22
18
ADEQUATE FAIR
32
28
POOR OMIT
16
0
POOR OMIT
20
0
EXCELLENT
40
GOOD
36
ADEQUATE FAIR
32
28
POOR OMIT
20
0
EXCELLENT
40
GOOD
36
ADEQUATE FAIR
32
28
POOR OMIT
20
0
EXCELLENT
30
GOOD
26
ADEQUATE FAIR
22
18
POOR OMIT
16
0
EXCELLENT
5
EXCELLENT
15
GOOD
4
GOOD
13
ADEQUATE FAIR
3
2
ADEQUATE FAIR
11
9
POOR OMIT
1
0
POOR OMIT
8
0
EXCELLENT
15
GOOD
13
ADEQUATE FAIR
11
9
POOR OMIT
8
0
EXCELLENT
15
GOOD
13
ADEQUATE FAIR
11
9
POOR OMIT
8
0
EXCELLENT
10
GOOD
9
ADEQUATE FAIR
8
7
POOR OMIT
5
0
EXCELLENT
10
GOOD
9
ADEQUATE FAIR
8
7
POOR OMIT
5
0
EXCELLENT
EXCELLENT
GOOD
GOOD
ADEQUATE FAIR
ADEQUATE FAIR
POOR
POOR
