General questions/prompts:
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What do you think this graph shows us?
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What does this graph make you wonder?
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Does any part of this graph surprise you?
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How would you describe the relationship between the different variables involved?
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What title would you give this graph?
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Can you think of any further questions or future investigations? How would you go about getting the data you need for answers?
Specific questions/prompts:
Image 1: Graph showing a measure of population size (x-axis) against the number of eggs each female produces (y-axis) for intestinal parasitic worms (left graph) and Parus major (right graph)
Both organisms exhibit a curious pattern - but it's confusing, no? It seems like the fewer eggs a female produces, then the bigger the population. That just doesn't make sense! So flip around the possible cause-and-effect relationship that might be at play here.....
Maybe the bigger the population, the fewer eggs that a female produces. Why might that be?
Some scientists theorized that females would be smaller in more dense populations (due to limited resources) and that smaller females would have fewer eggs. This hypothesis was tested and disproved in a 2009 study which showed that female weight had no influence.
So, for now, it remains a mystery. Do you have any other ideas for the cause? How would you test it?