SC300

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SC300

• Unit One

Instructor Olga Gubanova, MS Email
OGubanova_at_kaplan.edu AIM ogubanova
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Welcome to our first seminar!

1. Course Information
2. Our flexible seminars and our classroom
3. Our academic weeks
4. General course policies
5. Communicating with your instructor
6. Available resources KU Science and Writing
   Centers, KU Academic Support Center, KU Library
7. Unit One assignments
8. Scientific Questions Inquiry and Methods
9. QA

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Flexible seminars
Two seminars will be offered weekly and you will
have the opportunity to select which day/time
best meets your schedule.
My planned seminar day/time will always be on
Monday from 1000 to 1100 PM EST. The other
flex seminar is scheduled for Wednesday from
800 to 900 PM EST (Michael Atkins).
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Our academic weeks
The course is presented in weekly Units.
Academic weeks being on Wednesday, at 1200 AM
EST and end on Tuesday, at 1159 PM EST. All
unit assignments are due Tuesday by 1159 PM
EST. Please see Course Calendar on pages 3 and 4
of your Syllabus for all unit assignments and
assessments.
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
Image credit Microsoft Clip Art
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Please be sure to read all course announcements

• This is where I post weekly
• unit information and review,
• up-do-date information, any
• changes, helpful hints, etc.

Image credit Microsoft Clip Art
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Our classroom
Please be sure to click on the Navigation icon to
learn how to get around and find things in our
classroom. There are no project links on the
left-hand side menu!
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Our new classroom, contd.
Use the drop-down menu at the top of your screen
or click on the Project icon below the unit
overview to go to the assignment page.
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Grading
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
Image credit Microsoft Clip Art
Grades (discussions and projects) will be posted
within 5 days of their due date (the Sunday of
the following unit). Seminars are not graded in
this course. For example, Unit 1 grades will be
available by Sunday, October 2, 1159 PM.
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Gradebook and dropbox
Distribution of Points Discussions 315 points (9
units _at_ 35 points each), Projects (Units 2, 4, 6)
_at_ 85-150 points, Virtual Lab/Quiz (Unit 5) _at_ 90
points, Final Project (Unit 9) 250 points. All
course projects are APA-formatted papers
submitted as MS Word file via Dropbox for the
corresponding unit. Unit 2 Project is due
Tuesday, October 4, by 1159 pm ET.
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Grading, contd.
Remember I do NOT give grades. You EARN your
grades. A student earns points by meeting
the key criteria listed in the grading
rubrics found in your course syllabus. It is
a good idea to review the grading rubrics before
you begin each assignment so that you know
exactly what I will be looking for. Please also
be sure to read each assignment description
carefully.
Image credit Microsoft Clip Art
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Late policies
All unit assignments are due Tuesday by 1159 PM
EST of the unit assigned. Late assignments will
be marked down one letter grade for each unit the
assignment is late. Assignments submitted more
than three units late will not be
accepted. Please let me know as soon as possible
if you think you may not be able to complete your
assignments on time the sooner you contact me,
the better. You do not have to describe any
personal issues in detail but please at least let
me know what the problem is. Active communication
is the key to overcoming any hurdles you may
encounter during the term.
It is your responsibility to inform your
instructor (ahead of time, whenever possible) of
extenuating circumstances that might prevent you
from completing work by the assigned deadline.
Please note that evaluation of extenuating
circumstances is at the discretion of the
instructor and documentation may be required for
verification of the extenuating circumstance.
Examples of extenuating circumstances may include
but are not limited to personal/family member
hospitalization, death in the family,
weather/environmental evacuation due to
fire/hurricane, or active military assignment.
General computer-related or internet connectivity
issues are not considered extenuating
circumstances.
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Communicating with your instructor

• Ogubanova_at_kaplan.edu
• All emails will be answered within 24 hours on
• weekdays or 48 hours on weekends and holidays.
• Please resend your email if you do not hear from
  me
• within this timeframe.
• AIM ogubanova, at any time that
• you see me on. If you would like to set up an
  office
• hour (on AIM), please let me know so that we can
• make arrangements.
• 3. In Seminar, you can send me a private message
  by clicking on my name in
• the list on the left-hand side of the seminar
  screen. Student-to-student private
• messaging will be disabled, as seminars are not
  chat rooms. If you want to
• talk to another student about something, please
  email him or her later.

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KU Science Center, Writing Center and Library

• My Studies -gt Academic Support Center -gt Math
  Center, Writing Center, Science Center,
  Technology Center, Disability Services
• The Science Center currently offers the following
  services
• Interactive tutoring sessions
• Submit a question to a tutor
• Video lessons, worksheets, and weblinks on key
  topics available at any time
• Information for students interested in the
  sciences
• Science Seminars.

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Unit 1 Assignments

• Introduce Yourself
• Please take this opportunity to introduce
  yourself to you professor
• and an classmates in this unit and to learn a
  little about each other.
• Reading
• Chapter 1. Science A Way of Knowing. Please
  click on Chapter 1
• link in Unit 1 to make sure that you have access
  to WileyPlus.
• If you cannot access WileyPlus, please let me
  know ASAP.
• Discussion Whats in the mystery can?
• In this assignment, you need to ask at least two
  questions of your own (of course, please
• feel free to ask as many as you like!) but you
  can also use any information found in the
• answers to all the other questions your
  classmates have asked by the time you formulate
• your hypothesis about what might be in the can.
  As more research is done and more
• evidence becomes available later in the week, you
  will be able to draw a conclusion about
• the accuracy of your hypothesis and you may also
  revise your hypothesis if necessary.
• Please remember that you will be evaluated on
  your investigation of the mysterious can and
• your use of scientific inquiry, not on the
  accuracy of your guesses.

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Image credit Microsoft Clip Art
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Scientific Questions Inquiry and Methods

• What is Science?

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Scientific Questions Inquiry and Methods

• The fundamental steps of the Scientific Method
• The scientific method begins with asking a
  question and making observations.
• An observation is a visible or provable fact.
  Observations may be qualitative (without
  involving a number) or quantitative (involve both
  a number and a unit).

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Scientific Questions Inquiry and Methods

• 2. Form a possible explanation (hypothesis) for
  an observation and make predictions based upon
  the hypothesis. In other words, predict a
  possible answer to the problem or question. Your
  hypothesis is what you think the answer is based
  upon your gathered information.
• A scientific hypothesis is testable!

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Scientific Questions Inquiry and Methods

• 3. Test your hypothesis by doing an experiment
  or study (with proper controls). These
  experiments test whether your hypothesis is true
  or false. They involve gathering new information
  that enables you to decide whether the hypothesis
  is valid - whether it is supported by the new
  information learned from the experiment. Once
  your experiment is complete, you collect your
  data and analyze them. Scientists often find that
  a hypothesis was false, and in such cases they
  will construct a new hypothesis starting the
  entire process of the scientific method over
  again. Even if they find that their hypothesis
  was true, they may want to test it again in a new
  way.

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Scientific Questions Inquiry and Methods

• 4. Analyze results and draw conclusion. Accept or
  reject hypothesis.
• 5. Report your results and state if the
  hypothesis was supported or negated. If negated,
  form a new hypothesis.
• The Scientific Method is an iterative process!

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Scientific Questions Inquiry and Methods

• - is not just for scientists
• It can be used by anyone, regardless of field of
  expertise.
• - can be used for any task
• The scientific method is used unconsciously by
  many people on a daily basis, for tasks as simple
  as cooking or driving to work.
• - is an iterative (cyclic) process
• Negative results lead to modification or
  rejection of hypothesis and formulation of new
  hypothesis. Experiments produce new observations,
  and this brings the process to the beginning
  again.
• The same elements present in traditional
  scientific inquiry
• are present in everyday life.

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Scientific Questions Inquiry and Methods

• Youre getting ready to log in to your favorite
  KU Course (SC300 Big Ideas in Science!) and
  your computer wont turn on.   Now what?!

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Image credit Microsoft Clip Art