Its a 2-part assignment on science communication, good research practices and the like.
The topic in discussion is the findings related to the Rising
Star Cave.
From the instructions:
“Since 2013, a research team put together by Lee Berger has
systematically uncovered extensive sets of remains in the Rising
Star Cave system in South Africa. This was groundbreaking research, for it
apparently revealed a new group of hominins, Homo naledi. But more
recently, Berger’s team went one step further, claiming they now had enough
evidence to suggest that this ancient ‘pre-human’ group buried their dead, made
rock art and more – indicating advanced cognitive abilities. The scientific
reports of these sensational claims were first published as pre-prints in the
journal eLife in 2023 and were greeted with some scepticism by
their fellow scientists. Nonetheless, Berger’s team ensured their research made
a considerable impact, with the controversy playing out in both the scientific
literature and in the popular media. “
– Part A: Blog post, with annotations on the
on
the potential scientific significance of the Rising Star Cave findings (500 words,
±10%)
Blog post (approximately 400 words)
Your task is to write an engaging 400-word blog post for a
general audience on the potential scientific significance of the Rising Star
Cave findings. Your blog post should summarise the research of Lee
Berger’s team, including the key claims they make and the evolutionary
implications these claims might have. Your blog should also provide a brief but
accurate account of the scientific debate to date, paying
attention to what aspects of this research have been accepted, contested, or
remain uncertain.
You will need to apply what you have learnt from the videos
and activities in the Science Communication module to create a blog post that
communicates the topic effectively to a general audience.
=>1 relevant and appropriate image (from creative commons sources. More info in file).
Your blog post should
include a relevant and appropriate image (from creative commons sources).
–
Wikimedia Commons includes
images and other media that are licensed under Creative Commons or similar
open-licencing schemes. Images can be freely used subject to the terms of the
Creative Commons licence.
–
Flickr –
is a popular photo sharing website. Many photographers choose to license their
images under Creative Commons to allow other people to freely use their photos.
Find out how to search Flickr
for Creative Commons images.
–
Google
Images – Limit Google
images for material licensed under Creative Commons or similar open
licences.
=> 4~5 refences for those interested in more information
It should also incorporate appropriate links (four to five) that include a
scholarly source for readers to find more information about the issue.
The list of links for further information will not contribute to the word
limit.
Annotations (approximately 100 words)
Using the comment function add annotations to your blog post
to highlight and explain the characteristics of your writing that make it
suitable for a general audience.
You may use the following questions to guide your
annotations.
- How
have you structured your blog post? - Why is
your language and tone suitable for a general audience? - How
have you engaged your audience? - How do
the images and links/sources accompanying your blog post help explain and
illustrate your story?
controversy raises (500 words, ±10%)
=>After reading the popular media articles linked above,
answer the following questions.
1. How did the scientific scrutiny and self-correction
processes and the public communication practices play out in
this case? (300 words approximately)
2. What do you think has gone wrong and gone right in
this case? How might these processes and practices have worked better? (200
words approximately)
You should analyse these issues by synthesising the
information in the linked popular media articles and what you have learnt
across this subject. Nonetheless, you are free to read more widely on the
matter, although it is not required to do this task well. You do not need to
read the original scientific article(s) and peer reviews. They get quite
technical! But if you are curious, the popular media articles themselves have
links to these scientific article(s) and reviews, and to other useful
information.
We were given 5 popular media articles that covered the topic (attaching all of them)
Marking rublic is attached inside the assignment instructions file.