Enhancing Experimental Design: Minimizing Confounding Factors
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Abstract
Developed By: Allison Sieving and Marcia Pool
Biological Question: The content of this module focuses upon refinement of the experimental design
process and thus can be applied to a wide variety of biological courses. The activities developed for this module were developed so that it may be disseminated in a laboratory or classroom setting.
Statistical Content: This module was designed as a companion module to "Experimental Design" by
Stuart and Rundell. In this module students will learn how to refine an experimental approach in order to remove the possibility of alternative solutions to a scientific question. This module is intended for students that have a basic understanding of experimental design concepts such as hypothesis generation, independent and dependent variables, controls, and use of statistics to evaluate data.
What students do: In this module students are introduced to experimental design methods to identify and control for confounding variables. Students will work in teams to conduct an experiment to determine which type of paper airplane is capable of the longest flight. At the conclusion of the experiment, the class will discuss variables present within the experimental process that confound the results of the experiment. After identifying confounding variables, students will work in teams to
redesign the experiment so that conclusive statements can be made about the results.
Skills: Students will learn to identify confounding variables in an experimental design and employ experimental design methods to control for confounding variables.
Student-active approaches: Students will work in teams to conduct and evaluate an experiment and as
an entire class to identify confounding factors.
Assessable outcomes: To assess student understanding, additional exercises are provided in the Faculty Notes section. These exercises can be assigned as additional in-class work, outside-of-class work, or as a quiz/exam question.
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