Critical Thinking Project General Guidelines

Grading Rubric for Part 1 (wiki help)

Part 1 "Getting Organized/Researching and Designing an Experiment" due Tuesday, February 21 (end of day). (40 points)

For 2011, the federal government's (Health and Human Services) poverty guideline was approximately $22,113 for an urban family of four, and is determined by multiplying the cost of a "nutritious" diet for this family by three. Working backwards, we can dissect this number to reveal that the government believes that any family that has more than $1.6825 to spend per person, per meal, per day for food is not living in poverty ($22,113/3= $7,371 for food. $7371/365 days= $20.19 per day for food. $20.19/3 meals per day= $6.73 per meal. $6.73/4 people= $1.6825 per person per meal). Check out this NPR report: "Eating Nutritiously A Struggle When Money Is Scarce" by Pam Fessler (2010).

Individual Assignment: (Everyone must do all of this!)

• Literature Review: Use 1 or 2 sociological sources focusing on the significance of poverty in American society: Sociology Books (not textbooks), Edited Books, Journals, Databases) Need help, ask TA or the local librarian! The library has a handout on sociological resources.
• What's a literature review? If you don't know, don't guess, ask the professor or TA before, during or after class (or do some investigation--here's one web site: http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/literature_review.html)! This assignment should have an introduction, body, and conclusion; should define key terms; and relate it to the experiment the group is discussing on the group communication page.  What are sociologists saying about living at or around the poverty line?
• Your literature review should be the equivalent of 1-2 pages in length. Create a new page in the wiki for each individual's review, and insure these pages are linked to and from the "Part 1" page and each individual's personal page. Do not attach Word documents and the like--do your work on the wiki page, use the wiki to display your ideas and your research work--write your essays as wiki pages.
• You are expected to check the group communication page and contribute ideas, provide information, and ask questions at least twice a week throughout the semester. All group related interactions must be documented on the group communication page in order for credit to be assigned.
• Leave comments on your group members' page to provide help and assistance and point out minor edits you've done for them, etc.
• Be sure to correctly cite all information used from research resources (in-text citations and a list of references for each page) using the ASA manuscript submission guide (local copy with web citation guidelines or a full version of the ASA Style Guide). Additional assistance with referencing online resources can be found here. Also, remember we are undertaking an academic activity, so please refrain from using opinion, unreliable or invalid resources, sensationalism, and other non-academic practices. See academic integrity statement and Turnitin information.
• All individual assignments must be completed 2 days before the due date for this part, to allow time for the group to make final changes.
• Be sure to complete the "Email Feedback Consent." You can find the email feedback consent "test" in the Group Areas section of MyGateway. Until you give consent, you will have to visit Prof. Keel or a TA to receive full feedback on the group project.

Group Assignments

• Continue Communicating on your group communication page--you are expected to check the group communication page and contribute ideas, provide information, and ask questions at least twice a week throughout the semester. All group related interactions must be documented in the group communication page in order for credit to be assigned.
• Construct "Your" family.   Include in your wiki presentation a discussion the following points:  Social Services, Residence, Work, School, Health status, Recreation, Ages, Race, etc., Adult Education, Networks, be realistic and typical.
• Remember--your family cannot have an income greater than $22,113--NO MATTER what the source (work, food stamps [EBT card], housing supplements, WIC, and or any other source [even illicit].
• Construct a menu based on current nutritional standards that would  meet the nutritional needs of a family of four for a week. You must include a clear menu plan, and it must satisfy basic nutritional requirements. Detail the food (and quantities) you'll need to "purchase." Everyone will be using this same menu and food list.
• Design your experiment using the Scientific Method- (Lecture notes and text from Chapter 2 will be most helpful in this section.)
  • You'll be "shopping" in different stores (for part 2 of the project) in different communities (affluent and poor) to investigate the social and economic reality of poverty.
  • Make sure to include the following:  Research Problem, Controls, Hypothesis, Independent/Dependent variables, Demographic Information, Intervening Variables: time, location, population, Experimental Design, Hawthorne Effect, and Generalizibility.
  • It will be necessary (and required) to design a data collection sheet so everyone's on the same page when they go into the field!
• Your group page for part 1 should include links to your menu and the description of your research design. There should be links to the literature reviews done by group members, too, along with a general synopsis of what you learned as a group from this part of the project. Do not attach Word documents and the like--do your work on the wiki page, use the wiki to display your ideas and your research work--write your essays as wiki pages.
• Leave comments on your group members' page to provide help and assistance and point out minor edits you've done for them, etc.
• Interaction and collaboration (we'll use wiki stats, comments you leave on other's pages, and what you document on your "group communication page" to assess your collaboration).
• Be sure to correctly cite all information used from research resources (in-text citations and a list of references for each page) using the ASA manuscript submission guide (local copy with web citation guidelines or a full version of the ASA Style Guide).  Additional assistance with referencing online resources can be found here. Also, remember we are undertaking an academic activity, so please refrain from using opinion, unreliable or invalid resources, sensationalism, and other non-academic practices. See academic integrity statement and Turnitin information.

Grading Rubric and Scoring for this part of the project (40 points possible): General Evaluation Criteria for Written Work and Critical Thinking

Data Collection sheet must list items to be purchased and provide space for comparing prices at different stores. It should also contain space for providing description of the stores (interior and exterior) and surrounding neighborhood, customers and employees, food selection and variety, etc.

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