LA 233 Effect of Marijuana Usage on Health Paper
The Final Project is a presentation that you create and upload to the Class Discussion. The presentation must include information of a quantitative nature. No matter what you are majoring in, an ability to communicate and work with quantitative information will enhance your career. The goal of this project is to practice and improve that ability in the form of a research project.
Your grade for this project does not depend on demonstrating math skills. Rather, the accuracy and clarity of quantitative communication are the most highly valued elements for this project. Being able to think critically and creatively and generate original material (whether it's text, images, graphics, or computer-generated media of any kind) are highly valued skills. Regardless of your major, these attributes are a necessary part of succeeding in the real world.
There are three principal criteria for this presentation:
That you spend some time furthering your current math-related knowledge, understanding or skills.
That you present your knowledge and understanding, and/or demonstrate your skills in a professional manner.
Most importantly, that you include quantitative information. For example, any use of numbers, percentages, statistics, physical units, changing units, graphs, tables or diagrams (preferably that you make) should be labeled with the proper units. Use of scientific notation, ratios, any relevant formulas, statistics, or calculations are also ways to include quantitative information. The most important aspect of the quantitative information you include is that it supports your thesis, is integral to or in context of the research and that you reference and explain it.
List of Example Topic Ideas
Research the nutritional effects, health effects, and history of a specific food, supplement, or phytochemical.
Example: tea, caffeine, tannins, or soy-based foods
Study a medication that is controversial in some way.
Example: statins, antidepressants, or Ritalin
Research the health effects of a synthetic sugar or other food additive.
Example: saccharine, Splenda, aspartame, or hydrogenated oils
Research a question related to a vitamin or mineral.
Example: Does Vitamin E protect against oxidative stress?
Explore the health effects of an environmental contaminant, additive, or technology that may be controversial.
Example: BPA, fluoride in municipal water, link between cells phones and brain tumors
Analyze a popular diet plan or a training plan.
Develop a diet and/or exercise plan for a particular individual.
Study a health condition or illness.
Example: autism, ADHD, breast cancer, obesity, or diabetes
Research a particular genetically modified food.
I decided to do the effect of taking marijuana on health.
One way to make sure your project meets the requirements for quantitative literacy is to include and discuss numerical data from other sources that supports your thesis. You may include relevant graphs, tables, or simply discuss the numbers from your source. For example, a student doing a research paper on the consumption of sugar and other sweeteners might choose to include the graph shown here.
You may also find data in a table or list and create your own line, circle, or bar graph to include in your project. Graphs and tables such as these should be included in the narrative where they apply. The student should discuss the numbers in the graph and write about how the data support the point he or she is making.
When referring to any numbers such as the concentration of a molecule or medicine, make sure to use the proper units and convert units if it applies to the topic. For example this student might write, "There are 180 mg of aspartame in a 12 oz. soft drink. An individual who drinks three soft drink containing aspartame per day would consume 540 mg of aspartame a day from soft drinks alone."
A student doing a project or exercise would make sure to include the proper units as well. For example, he or she might write the following sentence, "The athlete’s resting heart rate was 56 beats per minute." rather than, "The athlete’s resting heart rate was 56."
Yet another approach to making your project quantitative is to collect and analyze your own data. This could include designing a survey and analyzing the results. You could study peoples’ knowledge or opinions on your subject with this approach by asking questions such as, "Do you think GMO foods should be labeled?" or "Are you concerned about BPA in plastics?" Alternately, you could study peoples’ health-related behaviors with questions such as, “How many of the past three days did you eat breakfast?" Collecting and analyzing your own data on a subject can complement a research project well but in most cases will not suffice as a project unto itself without any additional research on the topic.
You could design and present an exercise or healthy diet plan based on the quantitative concepts in this course.
Lastly, you might choose to have your entire project based on testing your own hypothesis. Come up with a hypothesis and collect data to support or refute it. You can collect your own data either physically or by using the Internet. Then use Excel or a Google Documents spreadsheet to process the data. Statistical correlations are easy (and fun) to do if you are competent working with spreadsheets. You would then discuss your methods, and report and analyze your own results.
Feel free to run other project design ideas you may have by your instructor and he or she will let you know if it is an approach that meets the goals of this project.
Remember, any topic is fine as long as you use quantitative information as part of your communication. Ideally you will show that you understand the numbers you use by explaining them and how they relate to and support your thesis.
You need to include at least two math problems, and that can be in the form of a graph (one that you created or one that you found as long as you cite it and explain the trends you see) or actual calculations.
