Lab 2 pre-lab.

Your task in Lab 2 will be to

• Introduction
• Do you know enough?
• What we will do in lab?
• LABridge

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Question on topic?

It's just a theory? text

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Watch the short YouTube video on fact, hypotheses, theories, and laws. Know the difference & how they each is applied.

Read the short article on knowing how to tell if an article is peer-reviewed. Remember all 5!

Link to article.

DO you know enough about...?

text.

​You need a basic understanding of using statistics including: alpha and p-values, and rejecting or failing to reject the null hypothesis.

Be sure you have Excel on your device. The web version is not sufficient. You can download Excel by clicking here.

You need a basic understanding of Excel. If it's been a while, watch one of the tutorials linked in this Pre-Lab.

Review our white squirrel scenario for an example using chi-square analysis.

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What will we do in lab & how will we do iT?

Lab 2 contains three exercises.

1. ​Literature Review: You will search the scientific literature for resources on terrestrial isopods including their ecology and behavior. You will also learn how to cite and these references correctly.
2. Chi-Square Analysis: You will pick up from the preliminary analysis we started last to complete a chi-square analysis of your animal behavior data and create graphs for each test.
3. You will begin creation of your scientific poster.

Happy Labor Day (in the fall term). Click here to learn more.

If you feel confident with this material, click the bridge icon below and navigate to Blackboard to take the LABridge for this week. Be ready to be tested on this material before you go to the quiz, and make sure you have your Lab Notebook Guide ready to submit as well.

Click here to get to WKU's blackboard to take your LABridge for this week.

Lab 2 Protocol

Following this lab you should be able to...

• Use the scientific method including hypothesis creation, data collection, and analysis with the chi-square statistic.
• Determine if a source is considered scientific and peer-reviewed.
• Conduct a literature review with proper citation format.
• Produce a scientific poster.

Overview. In today's lab you will conduct a mini literature review on the ecology and behavior of terrestrial isopods, complete your chi-square analysis, and begin construction of your scientific poster.

1. ​Exercise I. Literature Review
2. Exercise II. Data Analysis
3. Exercise III. Poster Preparations

• Exercise I
• Exercise II
• Exercise III

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Exercise I. Literature Review

Investigating the scientific literature on your topic is an important step of the scientific method; it connects your question to existing theory and research. Some of this was done for you so you could begin with your experiment last week. We need more research before we can proceed, and this will also give you a good start on your poster.
Scientific articles are often not free to the public, so large institutions, like universities, pay fees for access. If you’re not on a campus computer, you will need to sign into the library using your WKU account to access some articles: Just click HERE, and search "google scholar" [see example].

Procedure.​

1. Go to Google and type "google scholar." A new search bar will appear.
2. You can search scientific journals much like you do anything else on the web.
3. Look for 5 articles on the ecology, natural history, and behavior or pillbugs, sowbugs, or terrestrial isopods.
4. If you search the internet without using a database like google scholar. You may inadvertently be using non-peer-reviewed literature outside the scientific community. These sources are not valid. If you are unsure if your article is actually peer-reviewed: Use these 5 Ways to Tell If an article Peer-reviewed or Academic, from the Prairie State College Library.
5. Once you start finding good matches, open your Lab Notebook Guide and complete Exercise I.
6. You also need to reference each one correctly. Citation and style guidelines very by journal but are usually some type of modified-APA format. We will be following the formatting guidelines of the Kentucky Academy of Science throughout BIOL 123. Details on how to cite your sources are listed below.
   
7. Lastly, pick one source and add it to our library.

Link to Google Scholar.

Example search results. We don't have access to the first. The 2nd is available as a pdf and 3rd as link.

Click to download.

BIOL 123 Library

Exercise II. Name activity

Now it's time to calculate the chi-square value for each test. Open your datasheet in excel. Remember, you determined your observed and expected values last week. Review your Lab Notebook you submitted for Lab 1 if necessary.

Procedure.

1. Open the second tab in your Excel datasheet. The formula is in the sidebar and the tables in Excel will help you calculate it. You will have a single chi-square value for each test, your "test statistic." 
2. Now that you have calculated your chi-square statistic (χ2) for each test, we need to put it in context. On its own, it tells us nothing! We need to compare our chi-square value to a "critical value" that is based on probability. To do that we need two things...
3. First, determine your: Degrees of Freedom (df). For this statistical test, the degrees of freedom = number of environmental choices – 1. For this experiment, df = 2.
   

Chi-square formula.

write up your findings

Exercise iii. Poster Creation

The scientific poster is a form of scientific expression and one way researchers communicate their work with the wider scientific community, Most often, researchers will use the poster format as a way to put their preliminary research together and test the waters of scientific critique. Posters often come before presentations and manuscripts and they are presented at scientific conferences in large halls or rooms. Attendees wonder from poster to poster, get a 5 minute brief from the researcher and then a discussion begins. The appearance/content varies widely by field or lab, but they are often produced in PowerPoint and printed as 36" x 48" posters for display.

poster template

poster rubric

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Materials: You will be provided with pillbugs & sowbugs and should use your phones to take photos as you go and time your tests.

Test chambers.

Direct your subjects.

Pillbug/Sowbug Colony.

Dampen your filter paper

Provides shade.

Provides light.

Procedure.

1. Review the information presented on this page, including the template and rubric.
2. Discuss a plan of action for completing a draft of your poster with your group. Make a list of any questions you might have for your TA.
3. Please note: You will present trade your draft, with another group next week for informal peer review. You will have another week to revise before submitting your final poster. Everyone in your groups must submit a final version via Blackboard.
   
4. Complete Exercise III in your Lab Notebook Guide.
   
5. Clean up your station and check-out with your TA. Don't forget to ask your questions before you go.