“COOL” SCIENCE

“COOL” SCIENCE
Science in the News Assignment - Reflecting on the impacts of science
Discoveries made in Science and Technology affect our environment and our lives on a daily basis. It is
important to be aware of the ways in which new understandings and inventions can possibly change the
world we live in, the way we live, the way we think and the way we interact with each other. As a way
of encouraging you to be deep and critical thinkers about the science happening around you, you will all
be taking turns presenting one “cool” science discovery to the class.
You will present your FIRST cool discovery to the class in PAIRS, as a formative assessment. Then you will
prepare a SECOND cool discovery presentation INDIVIDUALLY on a different article, for a summative
grade.
What Do I Have to Do?
Choose a science news article or video clip that interests you (and that you can understand). The article
or video clip must be current (no more than two years old).
Then you will have to:
1. Describe the ways in which science is
applied and used to address a specific
problem or issue
What does this look like?
The problem or issue:
WHO was involved and who will it affect?
WHERE did it take place?
WHEN did it take place or when will it happen?
2. Discuss and analyse the various
implications of using science and its
application in solving a specific problem
or issue, with respect to
environmental, economical, social,
cultural, ethical or moral factors.
How science helps:
WHAT have scientists done or discovered?
HOW was it done or how will it be done?
Why do you think this discovery is important to us?
How is the discovery useful?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of the
discovery?
How will it affect us? (Choose one of these factors that is
most important in this issue - ethics, environment,
economy, government or health.)
3. Apply scientific language effectively You use appropriate scientific terms (e.g. chemical names,
type of chemical quantity, units, names of scientific
processes, etc) instead of everyday language.
4. Document the work of others and
sources of information used
You provide full bibliographical information about your
article or video, including the full title, author, date of
publication, name of newspaper/journal and page(s).

What format should I use for the presentation?
Use a slideshow presentation with no fewer than 6 and no more than 7 slides. Please follow this general
outline for your presentation:
Slides 1-2:
Slides 3-4:
Slides 5-6:
Slide 7:
Title/Introduction to Presentation
Summarize the article/video
• What is the problem?
• How is science used to solve the problem?
• How was this study an example of good or bad science?
What are the implications/effects outside of Science?
Sources
Remember that your slides must be pleasant on the eye and on the mind. Do not fill up with text and no
pictures. All your information should not be on the slides. You will be using the slides to keep your
presentation on track. You are also welcome to bring notes up with you during the formative
presentation but you must not read from your notes
Formative Presentation
You work in pairs, and present the “cool”
discovery to the whole class.
Your keynote presentation should be no longer
than 5 minutes and if it is a video clip, you can
show no more than 2 minutes of it to the class.
Summative Presentation
You work individually, and upload a narrated
slideshow or video to Moodle.
You will need to record your voice explaining and
describing each slide in the keynote, as if you
were presenting it to your teacher and/or
classmates.
Good places to look for articles/video clips:
Scientific American http://www.scientificamerican.com/
NASA – Science News http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/
Popular Science http://www.popsci.com/
Science News for Kids http://www.sciencenews.org/view/interest/id/3/topic/Science_News_For_Kids
Science Daily http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/
The New York Times http://www.nytimes.com
National Geographic http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/
TED talks for kids about Science and Technology: http://ed.ted.com/search?utf8=✓&qs=science -
tededlessons
Science Friday http://www.sciencefriday.com/

Evaluation: Criterion D ­ Reflecting on the Impacts of Science
strand 1­2 3­4 5­6 7­8
i. How is
science is
used to
address a
specific
problem or
issue?
You named the
problem.
You named a type
of science that is
used to solve the
problem.
You only have a
few details about
the problem.
You only have a
few details about
how science is
used to solve the
problem.
You show the main
ideas relating to the
problem and how
science is used to
solve it, but are
missing some
important details.
You have enough
relevant details to
give a clear picture
of the problem and
how science is
used to solve it.
ii. What are the
implications of
the application
of science on
one of these
factors:
economics,
environment,
ethics,
government,
social or
health?
You give a simple
statement about
the effect of the
scientific
application on one
of the factors.
You identify
advantages and
disadvantages of
the scientific
application on one
of the factors.
You give clear and
specific details
about the
advantages and
disadvantages of
the scientific
application on one
of the factors.
You give clear and
specific details
about several
advantages and
disadvantages of
the scientific
application on one
of the factors, and
you comment on
the importance of
each one.
iii. Do you use
scientific
language?
You use common
terms instead of
scientific terms, or
you use scientific
terms incorrectly.
You use some
scientific terms
correctly, or your
meaning may be
unclear.
You use most
scientific terms
correctly and
clearly.
You always use
scientific terms
correctly and
clearly.
iv. Do you
document the
work of others
and sources of
information
used?
You identify your
source, but do not
use an accepted
format.
You identify your
source using an
accepted format,
but there are
several errors.
You identify your
source using an
accepted format,
with a few minor
errors.
You identify your
source correctly
using an accepted
format.