Backwards faded scaffolding laboratory/presentation: assessment case studies (revised)

Yes, welcome back to Laramie, WY. You know what we'll be doing for today's laboratory...

...but instead of the assessment of research reports from University of Wyoming students, we'll be taking a look at research reports from actual Cuesta College students, so be nice to them.

(This is the twelfth Astronomy 210L laboratory at Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA. This course is a one-semester, optional adjunct laboratory to the Astronomy 210 introductory astronomy lecture, taken primarily by students to satisfy their general education science transfer requirement.)

As from the previous case studies assessment laboratory, you will review and critique three student research reports...

...and subsequently choose one of the these research reports to revise, and present on whiteboards. This will be the last laboratory where you will be working in groups, as in the next laboratory you will be starting on your final individual research projects, to be presented individually at the last laboratory of this semester. More details on that later.

1. Research Report: Impact Craters

1. Specific Research Question: "How does the depth of an object dropped in baking soda change as the drop height changes?"
   
   
2. Step-By-Step Procedure to Collect Evidence:
   1. Get bowl of baking soda, steel ball, meter stick and two rulers.
   2. Drop ball of heights of 10 cm to 100 cm, three drops each height, increasing drop heights by 10 cm.
   3. Record data on a graph. Buried depth of object is defined to be full height of ball minus the height of ball showing above the surface.
   4. Draw conclusion(s) from data recorded.
   
   
3. Data Table and/or Results:

   Impactor height (cm):	Impactor energy (kiloergs):	Crater depths (cm):	Average crater depth (cm):
   10 cm	668 kiloergs	1, 1, 1 cm	1 cm
   20 cm	1,396 kiloergs	1.25, 1.25, 1.25 cm	1.25 cm
   30 cm	2,004 kiloergs	1.5, 1.5, 1.5 cm	1.5 cm
   40 cm	2,672 kiloergs	2, 2, 2 cm	2 cm
   50 cm	3,340 kiloergs	2, 2, 2.1 cm	2.03 cm
   60 cm	4,009 kiloergs	2, 2.3, 2.1 cm	2.2 cm
   70 cm	4,676 kiloergs	2.4, 2, 2.2 cm	2.2 cm
   80 cm	5,344 kiloergs	2.2, 2.3, 2.4 cm	2.3 cm
   90 cm	6,012 kiloergs	2.3, 2.4, 2.4 cm	2.37 cm
   100 cm	6,680 kiloergs	2.4, 2.3, 2.4 cm	2.37 cm

   
   
4. Evidence-Based Conclusion Statement: The data shows that the higher the drop height of the ball, the deeper the depth of the crater is. We observed that from drop heights of 70 cm to 100 cm, the depth roughly stayed the same.
   

2. Research Report: Investigating Extrasolar Planets

1. Specific Research Question: "What percentage of terrestrial exoplanets are closest to Earth's mass?"
   
   
2. Step-By-Step Procedure to Collect Evidence: Go to http://exoplanets.org.
   1. Click on "Plots" and choose "Histogram Plot."
   2. Type in "A[au]" for the y-axis to plot the semi-major axis.
   3. Type in "MASS[mearth]" to plot the planet's mass for the x-axis.
   4. Set "Min" to 0 and "Max" to 3 for the x-axis.
   5. Set "Min" to 0 and "Max" to 30 for the y-axis.
   
   
3. Data Table and/or Results: (See histogram graph at right.)
   
   
4. Evidence-Based Conclusion Statement: The majority of exoplanets that are closest to Earth's mass are smaller than the mass of Earth. 83.9% of terrestrial exoplanets are smaller than Earth's mass.
   

3. Research Report: Exploring GalaxyZoo

1. Specific Research Question: "How do colors affect spiral versus elliptical galaxies?"
   
   
2. Step-By-Step Procedure to Collect Evidence: Use http://zoo1.galaxyzoo.org/ to make observations.
   1. Click on "Galaxy Analysis" tab.
   2. Go through 100 color pictures of identifiable galaxies.
   3. Tally the color versus type.
   4. Figure out if there is any correlation.
   
   
3. Data Table and/or Results:

   Color:	Spiral:	Elliptical:
   orange	10	29
   red	1	3
   white	15	5
   blue	26	11

   
   
4. Evidence-Based Conclusion Statement: After recording the data, the data answers our question in showing that certain colors show up in more in the different types of galaxies. 26 spiral galaxies out of the 100 galaxies were blue, and 29 galaxies of the 100 galaxies were elliptical.