Students were tasked with finding a spider web somewhere on the University of Massachusetts campus and photograph it. In addition to this, students were tasked with creating a figure using these photographs, which included a map for reference. A detailed methods section describing where the spiderweb was photographed and the specific approach used to photographing and editing figures needed to be written. These methods were to be followed by another student, with the attempt to recreate the original figure. Once a replicant was created, students had to observe differences between the figures.
The goal of these tasks was to simulate a research report, giveing students practice at writing them, as well as creating figures for the report. Following another students methods demonstrated the need to be highly specific and precise when describing what is done. Overall, this project was designed to help students understand how to more accurately present and describe their methods in a well written research report.
When taking photographs of the spiderweb, there were a number of factors to control for in order to obtain similar pictures. Things such as the time of day, amount of light, and weather needed to be accounted for. In addition to this, the object used for accurately representing scale had to be noted, as well as where it was held in relation to the spider web. Furthermore, distance from the spiderweb, and the angle at which the photograph was taken had to be taken into account.
Similar factors had to be controlled when describing the editing done to create the figure. The size the photographs were scaled to was noted, as well as their general arrangment. How labeling was implimented on the figure was to be controlled. This included the color, font sizes, and location of the labeling.
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