CQUniversity Unit Profile.

Choose ONE of the following questions:

- Do you think that scientists should be allowed to study whatever they like in the name of research? At what point should we draw the line, or should everything be investigated?
- Do you think that the media have a responsibility to accurately report scientific findings? How should they go about this? What are the consequences of sensationalised or pre-mature reporting?
- Do you think that animal experimentation should be allowed? Why / why not? Are there certain circumstances under which animal experimentation is acceptable and others that are not? Give examples.
- Should medical professionals be allowed to choose whom they can preferentially treat? Should all persons be given equal access to medical care, or should professionals be allowed to discriminate on the basis of the patients’ lifestyle?

Read the relevant reference materials provided on Moodle and post a comment responding to your chosen question by using the Moodle forum on the Moodle site in the Assessment One link. Write between 5 and 10 lines of text (directly into the forum), making direct reference to the source materials provided on the Moodle page. You can initiate discussion or respond to previous comments about your chosen question.

You may make more than one post, however, your grade will be determined based on your initial post. You may also disagree with another student’s post, but you must justify your position, and take care not to use language that may offend.

The aim of this exercise is to think about an issue and to justify your opinion with scientific information. You will be assessed on the quality of your argument and supporting evidence, not your opinion.

Further detail will be provided on the Moodle site.

Your grade is determined by three key criteria based on your initial forum post:

1. You have identified a position on the topic (2 marks);
2. You have justified your position, using the source material provided on Moodle (6 marks);
3. You have displayed evidence that you considered other views from the literature provided in constructing your argument (2 marks).

More detail will be provided on the Moodle site.

Note - this assignment has two parts.

Part A is due Friday 3 May, Week Seven, 11:45 pm AEST.
Part B is due Friday 17 May, Week Nine, 11:45 pm AEST.

PART A
Using plain English, write a scientific magazine article (in the style of the This Week section of New Scientist magazine) about a scientific study that explains what was done, why it was done and identifies the most important findings. Your audience will be people who have studied science at a first year university level.
You will be assessed on your skills in locating scientific information and your ability to understand and communicate complex information. Please note – you are being asked to write about the article not to paraphrase the article. Your magazine article should be 800 words.

For the purposes of the peer review, please ensure your name does not appear in the header or footer of your Part A submission document.

PART B
You will be provided with a partner's submission to review on Monday 6 May. You will need to prepare a word-processed review of your partner’s Part A submission. This is called a peer review and should be a general commentary on the overall quality of your partner’s submission. Your peer review should be 500 words.

Further detail, including detailed marking criteria, will be provided on the Moodle site.

You are being assessed on:

Part A (25 marks):
1. Selection of an appropriate scientific article;
2. Ability to clearly and concisely communicate the relevance, results and implications of the article;
3. Appropriate communication to a general audience with little knowledge of the area of science.

Part B (15 marks):
1. Identification of the critical components of general science communication by highlighting the positive and negative aspects of your partner’s submission;
2. Ability to read and interpret scientific literature beyond your interest area when reviewing your partner's source article for 'newsworthiness' or scientific importance.

More detail will be provided on the Moodle site.

Prepare a 3 minute video based on any one of the topics available from the Assessment 3 link on the Moodle site.

For this assessment, you will need to find your own references. Remember, not all material you find on the web is of sound scientific quality and you will have to use your own judgement to decide which references are appropriate to use in your video!

This is a challenging assessment piece, but you will be supported with a series of background lectures on the scientific mathematics, evaluation of sources and also on effective communication. You will be required to include appropriate mathematical calculations, graphs, tables etc. that you have produced yourself, along with references within your video.

Further detail, including detailed marking criteria, will be provided on the Moodle site.

You will be marked on your ability to select appropriate information (Information Literacy), the quality of your discussion (Critical Thinking) and the quality of your presentation and referencing (Communication).

You will need to include a minimum of eight (8) references in your video (no web pages unless of the data repository type). You will also be required to submit your supporting documents and a reference list alongside your video.

More detail will be provided on the Moodle site.