Evaluating Competing Scientific Claims

Please Note: This assignment will need to be turned in to Turnitin.com when it is completed. I do not want a hard copy. This is explained at the bottom of this page. Please follow these directions carefully.

Extra Credit: This is worth up to 15 pts extra credit and will be added in the test category. It will be graded very rigorously so only exemplary work will receive 15 pts (be forewarned!).

In the summer of 2002, Gary Taubes, a New York Times reporter, published an article in which he challenged the established orthodoxy on healthy eating and dieting. As might be expected the article ignited a firestorm of controversy in the media. This is not uncommon in science- established orthodoxies have often been challenged, found wanting, and eventually overturned (e.g. the Copernican Revolution). However, sometimes the challenger is wrong and has to be put in his or her place. The ability to recognize and evaluate competing scientific claims is an important skill I would like to see you develop. In order to do this I would like you to read the article, do some thinking, and answer the following questions. Please use a word processor to do this assignment. You do not need to print out this assignment sheet (save trees!). For a heading put in the upper left hand corner: “What If It’s Been A Big Fat Lie?”. Place in the upper right hand corner: Name, Date, Period.

1. Summarize Taubes’ argument in several paragraphs (or more if necessary). Make sure you cover his main ideas and the main points. I should be able to tell from reading this summary that you read the entire article and understood it- please make sure you write the summary in a way that helps me realize this.

2. Briefly describe your own immediate emotional response to the article. This does not need to be long and involved.

3. Briefly describe your own immediate intellectual response to the article. Was this different from your emotional response? This does not need to be long and involved.

4. Having read the article how are you, as an intelligent and thoughtful reader, going to evaluate its veracity? Take me through the process as to how you determine what you believe. I am looking for two things in this answer. First, the process you go through in general. Second, specifically what you think about Taubes’ article and the controversy he is describing. Do your own research and back up your particular viewpoint with evidence. Please be sure to cite all your sources clearly so I can find them myself. In the end I want to know what you believe and why you believe it? Your answer needs to be based on evidence. The quality of the evidence matters, so be careful as you form your opinion. There are no “right” answers to this question, but full credit will only be given to individuals who can back up their views with solid evidence and a logical process about how they evaluate that evidence. Good luck.

How To Turn This Assignment Into Turnitin.com

Go to: http://www.hammiverse.com/apbio/apbio.html and click on the Course Information link located on the upper menu. After navigating to the Course Information page you will see the two links on the left sidebar about how to turn in work to Turnitin.com- click on these links and follow the instructions.

Turn your work into your AP Biology period.

The password for all AP Bio periods is: hammiverse

Send an email to me: shammack@lghs.net after you have uploaded your assignment to Turnitin.com so I will know it has been submitted. Please keep an electronic copy in case something goes wrong and you need to re-upload it.