https://padlet.com/amandabehmer/baegrrydjeqfilgu Chronological account of capstone progression. en-us 2021-05-07 16:49:40 UTC 2021-05-10 15:45:01 UTC hello@padlet.com amandabehmer https://padlet.com/amandabehmer/baegrrydjeqfilgu/wish/1503182589 Last semester, I definitely began my capstone project with an over-inflated sense of expectations. The experiment I originally designed involved testing an oceanic microbe's (Prochlorococcus) response to plastic leachate toxins. In reality, that experimental design proved to be far too ambitious. In order to set up the aforementioned test, I would have needed access to purified seawater samples, a lab-grade spectrophotometer, and samples of the microbe (which apparently cost close to $600 to obtain). 

I went into my capstone expecting things to move seamlessly, and that simply wasn't true. After having to re-design my experiment several times over, I ended up teaming up with a peer in my class, who was also having trouble. She and I worked together, but still struggled to access the equipment we needed. We ended up scrapping most of our experimental design and simplified our test into something that could be conducted at the school. We built our own equipment, and we set up a couple experiments in the supply closet between two science rooms. It wasn't an ideal start, but the challenges my partner and I faced challenged us to think creatively and adapt. Those skills served us well over the course of our experiment.]]> 2021-05-07 16:51:20 UTC https://padlet.com/amandabehmer/baegrrydjeqfilgu/wish/1503182589 amandabehmer https://padlet.com/amandabehmer/baegrrydjeqfilgu/wish/1503862291 Most of my capstone research process was spent generating my own primary data. Over the course of my experiment, my partner and I spent three to six hours each day collecting data. It was tedious, but definitely worth it. In the end, we created two experiments that each quantified a slightly different data set. Our first experiment demonstrated that the presence of plastic presented a statistically significant inhibitory factor in culture growth. However, our second experiment found no difference based on the presence of plastic leachate. After that, my partner and I needed to do a secondary round of research in order to figure out why our second experiment differed from our hypothesis. While these results could have been attributed to a lack of leachate influence, our secondary research demonstrated that our experimental design led us to those results- erroneously- rather than antimony being a non-toxic compound for Clamydamonous cultures.]]> 2021-05-07 19:33:55 UTC https://padlet.com/amandabehmer/baegrrydjeqfilgu/wish/1503862291 amandabehmer https://padlet.com/amandabehmer/baegrrydjeqfilgu/wish/1503862739 My capstone has now been synthesized by an informative paper, a choice project, and an argumentative paper. My informative paper is the most in-depth genre of the three, as the volume of information on my particular topic required elucidation. I used the format of a scientific research portfolio, and because of this, my audience was the scientific community. Similarly, while my choice project of a science fair board presented similar information, I manipulated the information in the project to better highlight my experiment to both judges (scientific professionals) and participants in the fair. Because the audience for my choice project was so varied, I presented the information in a visually engaging manner (with a moderate amount of text) in order to engage a diverse audience. While the aforementioned projects involved a science-minded audience, my argumentative paper was targeted at politicians. In this project, I adapted my tone in order to address policy-oriented changes rather than scientific changes. This was the most diverse facet of my project, and I was excited that this paper challenged me to think differently and persuade a different audience. Even still, I included this paper as a section on my scientific portfolio because I felt that the argument ended up being relevant in the context of my original project.]]> 2021-05-07 19:34:04 UTC https://padlet.com/amandabehmer/baegrrydjeqfilgu/wish/1503862739