Expedition 4: Planning and Carrying Out Investigations

May 23, 2018 Expedition 4

Catching up, looking ahead, and more scientific practices

In last week’s video, Tyler described gathering, evaluating, and communicating information to direct his focus on the problem of the invasive European green crab, and its parasitic companion, the spiny headed worm.

This week, we put the pieces together to plan an investigation. Tyler has developed his three research questions and decided what information he will need to gather to help him answer them. The next step is making plans to identify the best locations and methods to gather those data. Tyler will discuss how he will be planning and carrying out investigations.

Like we have mentioned before, these are all practices of scientists and engineers. You might notice that some of these practices will show up more than once and rarely by themselves.

This is because the practices are so connected to one another that it is difficult to imagine using only one without one or more others at the same time.

If you’ve ever been on a camping trip, you know how much planning and preparation are involved. You might have experienced a time when you brought too much, or even worse, forgot something important. These mistakes can impact your goals for the trip by affecting how you will meet them, and if they can still be met.

Setting goals

Tyler must clearly define his goals, or criteria, for the trip. “Criterion” (singular) is a term often used in engineering to define a measure for success. Tyler will be successful if he meets criteria such as:

  • staying safe and healthy while in the field, reaching his destinations,
  • collecting enough data,
  • keeping detailed notes, and
  • using the data to answer his research questions.

How will we increase our chance for success?

The task doesn’t end there. Now that Tyler’s criteria for success are defined, he needs to figure out how to meet them most efficiently.

As observers, we have the luxury of imagining the best ways of accomplishing these goals. However, using helicopters to get from place to place along the Maine coast, or using crab-catching robots may not be the most realistic options when it comes to Tyler’s available resources.

Things like time, money, people, equipment, and weather conditions are referred to as constraints in engineering. “Constraints” limit us to doing what we can with what we have. Unfortunately for Tyler, the life of a field researcher is typically not one of luxury. Operating with limited resources means that careful planning is required.

Putting the pieces together

To meet the criteria while considering the constraints, Tyler must revisit his research question: “How many green crabs carry the spiny-headed worm parasite?” As Tyler explains in the video, answering this question involves lots of smaller, but important questions that the team must answer to be well-prepared.

Long before heading out to the field site, answers must be carefully considered to questions such as:

  • What are we trying to find out?
  • What do we think our results might be?
  • What information will we need to use as evidence that can be used to evaluate our predictions?
  • Where will these data come from?
  • How much data do we need?
  • Where do we need to go? What do we need to bring?
  • Should I pack my bathing suit, or my snowsuit?
  • How many days will we need? and
  • How do we get the samples back home safely?

You, the scientist

In the process of planning and carrying out his investigation, Tyler must use additional science and engineering practices. Tyler will have to think and act like an engineer by defining problems and creating solutions to answer questions he has as a scientist. You may notice that in your science experiences both in and out of school, you too are using multiple practices when planning and carrying out investigations.

What Do You Think?

Here are some questions to discuss with your class, or to investigate on your own!

  • What are your experiences with planning a trip and the gear that you would need? What kind of information did you need ahead of time to know what to pack?
  • Do you have any stories of when accidents changed your plans?
  • If Tyler doesn’t find data that supports his hypothesis, did he fail? Is the information that we get still important? What would you pack with you on a trip like this?
  • Do we plan and carry out investigations like scientists in our daily lives? In what ways have you thought like a scientist lately? An engineer?
  • What are other ways that engineering is incorporated into Tyler’s expedition?

Have More Questions?

Join the next live chat on Thursday, May 24, 2018 at 1:00 PM (ET) by searching the hashtag: #umainefar.