EARTH SCIENCE CURRENT EVENT
Quarterly Assignment
(Academic)
45 points
Science is the discovery of new information. May things, including values of society, personal
beliefs, laws, politics, and economics can determine how new information is used. In this assignment
you will explore printed media and discover new scientific data and see how that data is being used
and interpreted.
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Choose an article from a scientific journal or the internet that relates to EARTH SCIENCE.
An excellent source of scientific articles is Science Daily.
Write a one paragraph summary of the article in your own words.
Write one paragraph stating your opinion or reaction to the article. See the rubric below for
suggested discussion topics.
Include the title of the article, the source, and the date.
Your Current event must be typed and turned in by the DUE DATE to receive full credit.
Papers must be turned in at the start of the class on the due date otherwise they are
considered late. Late current events will be taken but will lose 5 points for each class period
it is late. Computer issues are not an excuse for late papers you have least two months to
complete the assignments so do not wait until the last minute!!
ARTICLE DUE DATES
MONTH
October
January
March
May
A day
st
21
21st
30th
26th
B day
nd
22
22nd
31st
27th
Grades are determined by:
Name and block number (1), title of article (1), Source (1), date of article (1) = 5 points
Credit the Author! Use reference citation for the article similar to a bibliography.
Example:
Author.(year of publication) Title of article. Journal Name. Volume, page numbers.
Witze, A. (2014) Buying Time. Science News Magazine. 185(8), pp16-20.
If same article was found online this is how it would be cited:
Witze, A. (2014) Buying Time. Science News Magazine. 185(8), pp16-20. Retrieved from
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/buying-time-when-quakeshit?mode=magazine&context=188318
Summary explains key details of article (minimum of 7 sentences) = 20 points (<7 sentences -10
points).
Opinion paragraph (minimum of 7 sentences ) = 20 points (<7 sentences -10 points)
These are suggested questions to address in this paragraph:
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Is the article related to topics covered in class?
Is the article biased in any way? Is the author trying to convince the reader to agree with him/her?
Do your personal beliefs influence the way this article should be used?
Will this information affect you personally or someone in your family?
Who is going to benefit from the research in your article? Will all people have equal access to this
information? Will this new information benefit many people or just a few?
If a new technology is developed, will new law need to be made to protect citizens?
Your personal opinion whether you like or disliked the article should be should be supported by
statements from the article (whether pro or con)
Did the scientist/author follow the scientific method?
Where did the author get the information that is included in the article? If you are using Science Daily
look for the story source or journal reference.
Make sure your article relates to Earth Science – make that connection!!