Signature Assignment Reflection

1. The scientific method is a process used in all scientific disciplines, it’s the process of

observation, hypothesis, experiment, conclusion. An observation is made, which is then

followed by a logical hypothesis or what some call educated guess, an experiment or

research is done to try and gather empirical evidence. Finally a conclusion is made

regarding the hypothesis, almost always the experiment is duplicated before the

conclusion can be accurately stated. Empirical evidence is information that is gathered

through experiment or observation, this data is then analyzed further. This is more

common in anthropology as a lot of the work done with animals is based on observations.

I have to say personally I believe the idea of information being gathered through

observation is a definite strength, we are able to learn a lot more about species we share

the earth with now, compared to waiting for them to become extinct and experimenting

with their fossils.

2. Some weaknesses of my Natural Selection Lab Report are my knowledge of Darwins

finches, while I know a lot about how he went about his research I don’t know much

about how he gathered the finches in the first place or his journey. I feel like this

information could have made my paper stronger. My strengths were using the

information I was familiar with to my advantage and elaborating on that as much as I

could. As for the analysis of scientific research, I wasn’t completely sure how to go about

this at all.

3. I learned more about how the scientific method can be used to gather information about

living animals and even past species. I never fully understand the extent of the scientific

method or how much it is actually used in other non-obvious science fields. The things
 the scientific method is used for took me by surprise such as the ability to research past

humans and observing the many species of monkeys, lemurs, etc.

4. The scientific method will be helpful in the work place to determine the type of

customers that are drawn to certain products, or how change in the store can affect sales.

In other classes when I am looking at how things have changed over time regarding

segregation or over the current election year, I am able to use the scientific method in

some ways.

5. The theory of evolution states that many species can develop from organisms through

natural selection. Inherited variations that are desirable and survivable increase a species

ability to survive in the world. Some evolutionary forces that come to mind include

genetic drifting, mutation and natural selection. Genetic drifting is the change in a type of

gene due to random mating, a subtype that really stuck with me is the founder effect. The

founder effect is when there are limited amount of people in an area they have colonized,

which narrows down the variety of genes that can be spread. (Blue skinned people)

Mutation is a permanent alteration of gene(s). Natural selection is something we really

have no control of, it’s basically survival of the fittest. All these evolutionary forces,

follow patterns of some kind. There are three types of evolutionary patterns; divergent,

convergent and parallel. Divergent meaning two species that are similar become very

different, convergent meaning two different species become similar and parallel meaning

species respond to things in a similar way.

6. The study of evolution uses the scientific method to prove the evolutionary theories.

Darwin’s Finches is probably one of the most well-known cases. Darwin took pieces of

evidence whether he realized it or not from different parts of the world and began
 studying the finches he gathered. He had a hypothesis and became conducting research

through observation of the beaks of the finches, and came to the conclusion that while the

birds are all finches, they have evolved over time to adapt to the food sources in their area

they are living in. this is an example of the scientific method being used to prove

evolutionary theory.

7. What things are considered part of human evolution? And what are not?

I can do some research into what specifically is considered human evolution.