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Scientific Method Assignment

Myth Busting 101

This assignment assesses student understanding of the General Education #3 Goals:

Students will be able to:

1. develop understanding of scientific theories;

2. formulate and test hypotheses in either laboratory, simulation, or field experiences;

3. communicate experimental findings and interpretations both orally and in writing;

4. apply the natural science perspective to society issues.

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To complete this assignment, you need to do the following:

1. Review your notes from class on the Scientific Method (Unit/Chapter 2 of the
textbook and class lectures)

2. Then, watch this video on Using the Scientific Method in Nutrition:
a.

3. Now – you get to be a scientist! For this, you’re going debunk (or support!) a myth
about food or nutrition. You’re going to do this by reviewing the scientific literature
to see what it says about this “myth” you’re exploring. Please make sure you
understand what the “scientific literature” is! (See the Peer Review in 3 Minutes
video in Chapter 2 of the text) as you MUST have at least 3 Peer Reviewed
scientific papers in your bibliography for this project!

a. Note: MSU’s Library search feature allows you to limit your search to Peer
Reviewed articles: It’s not a
perfect system so you should still pay attention (if it’s a book or newspaper
article, it won’t count as peer reviewed – really need those scientific journals
where every article goes through the peer-review process before being
published). See how to limit to peer review here:

i.
b. Note: it is also HIGHLY recommended that you limit your search to articles

that are less than 10 years old (on the “advanced” search options) because
nutrition is a rapidly evolving field and whenever you set out to “see what the
literature says” about a topic, you want to get the most current information!

c. Note: there is essentially no such thing as a Peer Reviewed website or
book/textbook!!!! Anyone can publish anything they want to say in a
book/textbook without being based in any facts…………..and websites do not
generally go through a Peer Review process. They might be reasonably
reliable (such as the NIH.gov or MayoClinic.com websites) but that does NOT
make them “Peer-Reviewed sources” for this assignment!!

d. These skills are important as there are a LOT of myths and misinformation
about food & nutrition floating around on the Web and in Social Media!

e. Note: you are not conducting a “full literature review” here (that would be a
Master’s thesis!) but if you can find “Systematic Reviews” or other such
review papers that have reviewed the literature, those can be strong
resources to use! Having said that, avoid terms like “the science proves” as
we really never “prove” anything in science until we have a “preponderance
of evidence” (LOTS of evidence saying the same thing) and you’re not setting
out to do that here! (That’s one of the problems with misperceptions in
nutrition – one paper comes out and the media/public jumps on it as “truth”).

4. First, start with the Myth you want to explore. This can be ANYTHING you’ve heard
(so in your final report, you can say “I’ve always heard that….”) or you can search the
internet for “Nutrition Myths”. There are so many out there! “Carbs are bad” (are
they? Always? For all people?) ………. Your diet should be high in protein (any
protein? Everyone? What’s “high”?)………… “Eating healthy is expensive” ……………
“Counting calories is the best/only way to lose weight” (“Calories in needs to equal
calories out”)………….. “High fat foods are bad”……….etc!

a. Before you go any further, formulate a Hypothesis – what do you think is the
“truth”? Write down your Hypothesis in this format: “The scientific literature
will support/refute the idea that XXXXXX….”

5. Then, dig in!

a. Test your Hypothesis!
b. Note: you’ll likely want to start with an internet search to see what’s out there

in general about this. You should have one source for your “Myth” (where did
you see this) unless it’s something you’ve just “always heard” yourself. Then,
take a look at the various sources online that talk about this Myth. What is
the quality of the sources (is it Mayo Clinic or “Betty’s Nutrition Facts.com”)

c. Once you have “the lay of the land” down and know what’s being said about
this thing out in the wider world, next – turn to the Scientific Literature (see
above)!

6. You’ll need to find at least 3 scientific papers that EITHER support or refute this myth
and then use them as your resources.

a. Note: it’s not uncommon to find scientific papers on “each side” of the myth
so if you do, find three that EITHER support or refute it and then be sure to
include at least 1 that does the opposite in your report. So you can say
something like “while the literature seems to mostly support [refute] this
myth, there was one paper that refuted [supported] it” … and then talk about
that one paper too. Remember, nutrition is a very young science and the
literature is exploding in our field so we definitely do not know everything yet!

b. Make sure to save those papers so you can use them in your project and
properly enter them in your bibliography!!!! (Tip: download them as a PDF
and save them in your project folder).

7. Now – you’ll Communicate your Findings Orally & in Writing
a. First, you’re going to create a SINGLE slide/poster to present your findings

(the written part). Imagine you are at a conference presenting your findings in
a “Poster Session” (we’ll talk through what that means in class and give
examples) but here’s an example of some Dietetic Interns presenting at a
“Poster Session” at a nutrition conference:

monica-hershey-shares-her-experience/

i.
b. Think about what your most important findings were and what you’d want to

put on the “poster” (PPT slide, CANVA slide, etc) to present this. The goal is
NOT to be too wordy (the above pictured poster is pretty wordy) – here are
some other examples:
presentations-2022 but for the purposes of this project, keep it fairly large
print and non-wordy as you’ll be presenting this in a video.

i. Images and graphs are great – but be sure to credit the source!!!
ii. Just like a written paper, you need to cite sources for all

facts/information statements – and direct quotes need to be in
quotation marks with the page number in the in-text citation. It is
generally best to avoid direct quotes or just use small snippets for
a quote – put it in your own words to demonstrate YOUR
understanding of the information!!

iii. This poster (link below) shows how references are cited in the poster
using “numbering” format – that is acceptable for this project as APA
or MLA formatting with in-text citations can take up a lot of space:

This is saved and included in D2L also
c. Finally, you are going to “Present your Findings Orally”. For this, you are going

to use the single slide you created above and create a video that is at least 1
minute, but no more than 5 minutes, long discussing your findings. Did you
“bust the myth” or find it may actually be true (what is your CONCLUSION
and how does it apply to society?)

d. The easiest way to record/create a video is using the Record feature in either
PowerPoint or Canva. Alternatively, you can use Kaltura(see this tutorial:
UPDATED – MediaSpace How To Kaltura Capture 8.23).

THE DELIVERABLES:

To complete this project, you need to submit the following to the Assignment Dropbox
created in D2L for this purpose:

1. Your “slide” (PPT, Canva, other) – preferably in PDF format.
2. A Word document or PDF with a link to the video or the MP4 formatted video (note:

any other formats will likely not work in D2L) – or you can upload your MP4 file into
D2L.

3. A Word document or PDF **PROPERLY FORMATTED** bibliography with all sources
used in the project. The bibliography must be in APA or MLA format (APA strongly
preferred).

a. A good resource with examples for APA or MLA formatting is the OWL (Online
Writing Lab) at Purdue:

_and_style_guide/general_format.html

b. We will go over this in class too but be sure you understand what “properly
formatted” means! Common student errors are failing to double space the
bibliography, failing to use hanging indents, and “mixing” APA and MLA
formatting (they are similar but definitely different)!

THE GRADING RUBRIC:

The following rubric will be used to assess this assignment:

Objectives Full points: Partial credit: Minimal credit:
Completeness
& Timeliness of
the Deliverables

Included all 3 of the items
specified in the instructions and
on time. (Note this score is just for
getting it done & on time – missing
pieces will profoundly impact the
ability to earn scores in the other
categories of this rubric!)

Missed or was
late w/1 of the
items

Missed or was
late w/2 of the
items

3 points

2 points

1 point

Scientifically
based
conclusions

Included (and used) at least 3
Peer-reviewed journal articles in
the resources and demonstrated
use of their information in the
presentation. Conclusions are
scientifically sound.

12 points

Demonstrated
use of only 2
Peer-reviewed
articles

8 points

Demonstrated
use of only 1
Peer-reviewed
article (Note: no
PR’d articles – 0
points here)

4 points

Depth and
breadth of the
“investigation”
and
presentation of
the findings in
writing

Covered the topic well and written
out in an understandable and
professional style. Demonstrated
knowledge gained from the
research into the topic and
explained the information in own
words to demonstrate
understanding. Writing is
generally free of errors in
grammar, spelling.

20 points

Didn’t cover
topic well,
writing has a
few minor
errors.

10-20 points

Writing has
numerous
errors, doesn’t
cover the topic
well, not clear.

<10 points

Oral
presentation of
the findings

Spoke professionally, spoke
clearly, looks at the camera
directly without looking at notes
extensively, speaks with
fluctuation in volume & inflection
to maintain audience interest,
demonstrates enthusiasm for the
topic and convinces audience on
the importance and conclusions
of the topic researched.

15 points

Speaks in a
somewhat
monotone,
somewhat
lacks
enthusiasm for
the topic,
doesn’t keep
eye contact at
times.

10-15 points

Significant
issues with the
presentation.

<10 points

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