1. Asking Good Questions Podcast Style
Breakout Session
IRSL Fall 2017

2. Science Magazine Podcast
Thinking about last week’s discussions:
Is a podcast a good way to change someone’s perception about a scientific topic?
Good way to spread new info or collaborate?
Does this study advance the field of biology?
Who is the target audience for this podcast?
Other scientists? School-aged children? Lay people with an interest in science? Someone else?

3. Where are the answers in the article?
On a sheet of paper:
Write your name
Make a numbered list #1-9 to represent the questions.
Next to each number, indicate where in the article you found the answer. Indicate:
Page
Column
Paragraph

4. Interview Questions 1-9 (Part B)
What was the purpose of the questions?
for clarification of the research methods,
results1 of their analysis
the motivation for undertaking this project,
future directions for the project,
how this research fits into the larger context of scientific knowledge,
etc.
Methods: research location info.
Results & Methods2: DNA types & further sifting
Methods: how differentiate old/new DNA
Methods & Results: mtDNA & types of DNA
Results: ancient humans identified
Restate #5 & perhaps Methods: age based on layer
Larger context & Clarification of methods: Conclusions/interpretation & Validity of methods
Methods clarification: reasoning for mtDNA
Future directions: future info from approach
Were the questions adequately answered for you to understand the the article? Could a question be rephrased?
1 My replacement for: How the results were analyzed (methods?)
2 Preliminary results indicated need for modified methods

5. Rephrase this Question:
Use class chosen question or…
#8. You mentioned mitochondrial DNA a couple times, why did you focus on that part of the genome?
How did you rephrase this to make it a better scientific question1?
What advantage does analyzing mitochondrial DNA (mt DNA) have over other sections of the genome? Is the analysis of mtDNA sufficient to definitively distinguish between different groups of ancient humans or are there limitations to using mtDNA?
1 See file on website: Tips on Asking Good Questions

6. If you had one question to ask? (Part C)
Does the time period of hominins and animals in the cave overlap? (answered in article)
Do the scientists have future plans to examine other caves that were previously thought to have no evidence of prehistoric humans? (not answered in article)

7. Neandert(h)al and Denisovan
Intro slide if students need more information about the prehistoric humans. I’m going to point out that Neanderthal and neandertal (as spelled in the paper) are the same thing.
By John D. Croft at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0,