Category: Announcements (Page 3 of 4)

Hi everyone,

Please review the table of topics on this page. Rank the projects that you find most interesting or that seem like they might yield a successful experiment and results. Then, fill out your top three choices below – indicate by the name of the person whose project you would like to work on. If you would like to work on your own project, indicate that at the bottom. On Monday, we will spend a few minutes sorting into groups, and then also rearranging if there is a desire to switch topics or groups.

In deciding which topic to work on, you may choose to email the questioner to ask them some of the questions we posed to you: namely, what kind of experiment would you design to test your question, has this information already been studied, and what further data and/or resources would you need to answer this question. Emails are listed in the table. 

Please complete this by Sunday night so that we can sort you into groups for Monday. Thanks, and have a good weekend!

-Jake

Dear Students, in preparation for the 3D printing workshop on Monday please read the message from MakerHub team below.

It is critical that you complete the pre-workshop training highlighted below.

Thank you! Looking forward to seeing you on Monday!

Regards, Dr. Greer

MakerHub Tinkercad Training Guidelines

As you are aware, this semester we will learn Tinkercad, a free, cloud-based 3D

design software. Prior to your first Tinkercad training session, please review this

document and come prepared to class. The Baruch MakerHub will lead the training

session.

Pre-workshop training:

1. Create a free account on Tinkercad (https://www.tinkercad.com).

2. Watch the short, 2-minute video “see how it works” under the learn tab.

3. Spend some time playing with Tinkercad software in “start learning 3D”

section.

=> It is critical that you complete these tasks prior to class.

Workshop location: Library building, 6th floor, Room 656.

Room 656 is a computer lab and each student will have access to their own

computer. Arrive a few minutes early as you will need to log into a computer and

launch all programs.

Directions to Library Room 656:

Enter the library, walk through the turnstiles in front of you, take the elevator up to

the 6th floor, enter through the turnstiles, turn right, and walk towards the help

desk. Room 656 is behind the help desk area so just walk around to our computer

lab.

Workshop dates:

Check the syllabus and course announcements for specific dates.

Once you arrive to the computer lab:

1. Find an open computer.

2. Launch Tinkercad and log into your account.

Note: You may bring your own computer if you prefer.

Hi all,

Apologies for the rapid succession posts. In addition to whatever specific questions regarding your BioBlitz question that Dr. Greer posed to you, everyone should think about the following as a way to help you decide whether your question is one that you’d like to pursue:

• How would you test your question? What kind of experiment would you design to test your question?
• Has this information already been studied?
  • Has this information been studied, but not in this particular location? For example: we know that generally x is true, but is x true in this case in this park?
• Can you answer this question without designing an experiment?
  • If the answer is yes, how could you change your question to make it something that has to be tested?
• What further data and/or resources would you need to answer this question?
• Is it realistic for you to complete this project in this semester with the resources that you have?

A reminder that you already have access to the data from past BioBlitzes in other parks (https://eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/bioblitz/category/data/) as well as other data sets which are listed here: https://eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/scienceforward/course-materials/digital-resources/. Additionally, NYC makes all its data available: nyc.gov/data.

Lastly, take a look at the sidebar on our website’s main page to get a sense for our upcoming schedule in October and when assignments are due.

OK, that’s it for today I promise!

-Jake

Hi class,

This post contains TWO important pieces of information:

1. BioBlitz Research Question

By now, Dr. Greer has commented on all your BioBlitz research questions, which were sent to you as emails. If you didn’t receive an email, please email Jake and he will email Dr. Greer’s comment directly to you. If you received a suggestion on your question, you can resubmit a revised version of your question using the form on this page again.

On Monday in class, we will split into groups to work on the BioBlitz research project, and distribute the worksheet that your group will complete for October 10.

2. Hot Topic Upload

Please upload your presentation using the form below. You can view everyone’s submissions on the Hot Topic assignment page.

DUE Friday, September 28, by 5pm.

We would like you to compose an informal blog post of around 200 words addressing the following points. Please do not write this as a series of bulleted answers, rather, incorporate all the ideas into a coherent one or two paragraphs. We are asking you to reflect on some of the ideas that have come up during both your own Hot Topic research as well as listening to your classmates.

This assignment is graded on a “check” system: if you complete the assignment on time and put in the effort, you get full credit (2% of your total grade). Be sure to check the category “Blog Entry 1” or you will not receive credit.

Informal writing means you should still take the time to re-read your writing and check for clarity as well as errors. However, you should feel free to adopt a reflective, casual, exploratory tone in your entry. Assume that the general public is your audience.

• If you had to author an article in the NY Times or a comparable periodical on a scientific paper, what elements would you be sure to include to make it appealing to a broader audience yet remain scientifically sound?
• Other than simplifying scientific jargon (which we all see is an important function of these articles), what do you think makes for a good representation of scientific research in a popular media report?
• Are there areas where you think authors need to improve when writing about science?
• Was there anything in your own research, or in the presentations of your classmates, that struck you as interesting, innovative, controversial, or surprising? If so, what and why?

Hi everyone,

Please use this form to submit your research question by Friday night. This is just a preliminary exercise – we are asking you to begin thinking about the types of questions that can be asked about some of the data that was collected, or some of the things you may have observed, while doing BioBlitz data collection. You do not have to ask a question that pertains to the data type you personally collected, it can regard any aspect of the flora and fauna that live in Inwood Hill Park.

Also, it’s important to remember that you will have access to other types of data as well, including not only BioBlitz data from other years, but also other data sets from NYC. You can explore all the NYC open data sets at nyc.gov/data. So your question can be answered either by examining this year’s data, or by looking at data comparisons or changes across different years or places.

If you have questions about this project at this stage, feel free to email Dr. Greer. If you have issues with the technology, you can ask me. Thanks.

-Jake

Hello everyone,

It was great to see some of you today at BioBlitz, I hope that you all had some fun and enjoyed the gorgeous weather this weekend. More importantly, I hope that you can now get a feel for what it means to collect scientific data, and that while not always glamorous, scientific research often draws upon many hundreds of data points, of which you are a small part. Think about how the skills we’ve already discussed in class, and especially the science senses, figure into what you did this weekend.

I’ve gotten a couple questions about tomorrow’s Hot Topic presentations, so I just wanted to clarify a couple things:

• Your presentation can take any form you like. In past years, students have used PowerPoint, Google Slides, or just talked their way through an expanded version of their ePortfolios post.
• You should focus mainly on how well the popular media report represents the primary source scientific article. Some other things to keep in mind: who wrote the popular media report? What is their job? What other things do they usually write about? Are they a dedicated science reporter, do they have degrees in science, etc.? Does the popular report make a conclusion where there is only a suggestion or possibility in the primary article?

Finally, a couple points regarding your citations as listed on the blog posts:

• MANY of you did not put the year immediately following the author. This is very important. Again, we are using Chicago Style with author-date format, which means that all references should begin with the author followed by the date. This will allow your readers to quickly find the correct reference when they encounter an [author] [date] parenthetical citation. What this looks like, for a NY Times article:
  • Chang, Kenneth. 2018. “Water Droplets Don’t Just Hover on a Hot Pan. They Roll.” New York Times, September 14, https://nyti.ms/2NbtIDz.
  • In my text, when referencing this article, I would write (Chang 2018) and it would be easy to find this in my list of references.
• Do not just use the “Cite this article” or “download citation” or “cite” feature on many websites. While these will often include much of the information, the formatting might be wrong, or it might include unnecessary information such as the search engine or aggregator used (e.g. EBSCOHost or Elsevier, neither of which you need).
• Please make sure that you’ve used a short link, preferably a permalink or DOI, for your articles. If you go to an article through a search engine or get referred there from another site, often the URL will contain a lot of characters that specify this. It makes the URL get very long and unwieldy, very fast. A lot of these include symbols such as = ? & and other similar one. If there is a DOI listed, use that. If not, look for a “sharing” link or a “Permalink” button and use that. This is what it looks like on the NY Times website, for example:

Hi class,

A reminder that this weekend is BioBlitz – I hope that you’re excited to participate! Just a couple quick reminders:

• WEAR LONG PANTS, SOCKS, AND SNEAKERS. This is very important. While it is forecast to be sunny and warm this weekend (mid-to-high 70s), you need to have long pants and closed-toed shoes appropriate for varied terrain, and comfortable, durable socks. There is a lot of poison ivy (which will not kill you, but will make you very uncomfortable) in the park. Layers are always a good call.
• Be sure to wear your BioBlitz shirt.
• Arrive early. You know the MTA, you know how lovely it can be at times. Plan for extra time, as Inwood Hill Park is on the northern tip of Manhattan. Also, be sure to get off at the Dyckman St. A train station, not any other part of the park.

If you have questions, please ask via email. I’ll be there Sunday, so if you’re on then, I’ll see you there.

-Jake

Dear Students,

I hope you are well.

I was able to secure room 404 @ 17 Lexington for our class tomorrow, which will allow us to have access to microscopes to look at really small objects! FYI, the building @ 17 Lex is under construction and the most efficient way to get to room 404 is by taking the stairs to the 4th floor. Please reserve a few extra minutes to get to this classroom on time.

Just a reminder, for tomorrow:

Please, watch the following three videos listed of the eporfolios site: Astronomy, Tools of Seeing and Urban Ecology.

Also, please read Cohn “Urban Wildlife” (pdf available on our eporfolios site) and come to class prepared to come up with experiments (or follow up experiment) identifying indicators of wildlife and environment and how they affect people.

Lastly, watch the Deadly Garden video again and come up with the answer for the following question:

“What are some scientific questions that could be asked about about the Deadly Garden and which science senses each question generates?”

Thank you! Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow. Regards, Dr. Greer

Hi everyone,

I called the Baruch library today and they told me that unfortunately, because of prohibitive costs and low usage, Baruch no longer gets an electronic version of the Chicago Manual of Style. However, the NYPL does offer electronic access to anyone with a valid NYPL card (you should all have one, even if you don’t live in NYC, and they are very easy to get at any branch). Here is the link for the NYPL record.

The Baruch library does have a print version in the non-circulating reference section, available at this call no.: Z253 .U69 2017 (Reference 2nd floor).

The basic information about Chicago style citation is available at the Purdue OWL site. However, remember that for reference lists when using Author-Date citations (as we are), the year comes directly after the authors. Additionally, we are not requiring you to list the “Accessed” date for online articles or journal articles accessed online.

Literally any question about the minutiae of citation can be answered by looking through the Chicago Manual, so if you have a question that is not answered on the OWL site, use the NYPL’s electronic access to the full version or go to the Baruch library reference section to consult the print version. The 17th ed. is the most recent.

-Jake