Self-study
Support Giant ground sloths began disappearing from the Americas about 10,000 years ago, around the time that the last ice age ended, and are now extinct worldwide. ██████████ ███ ███████ ████ █████ ██████ ██████ ██ █████ ██ ███████ ████████ ███ ████ ███ ███ ██████ ██ ███████ ████ ██ ███ ███ ███████ ██ █████ ██████ ███████ ██████ ████ ███ ███ █████ ████ ███ ███████████ ███ ███ ███████ ██████████████
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The scientists hypothesize that humans, who arrived just before the last ice age ended, caused sloths to start disappearing from the Americas around 10,000 years ago and eventually to go extinct. This is supported by the fact that humans’ arrival and sloths’ disappearance happened around the same time.
Notable Assumptions
The scientists assume that humans could have caused the extinction of all giant ground sloths worldwide. They also assume that there are no alternative hypotheses, like other predators, natural disasters, or disease, to explain the sloths’ disappearance.
10.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████████ ███ ████ ███████ ███ ███ ███████████ ███ ███████
a
Scientists have not █████ ███ ████████ ████████ ██ ███████ ███ ████ ████ █████ ██████ ██████ ████ ██████ ██ ███████████
This weakens the argument by suggesting that humans may not have been responsible for sloths’ extinction, since no physical evidence of hunting has been found.
Directionally wrong
Directionally wrong
Answers that, if they have any effect, do the opposite of what we want (weaken when we're trying to strengthen, or strengthen when we're trying to weaken).
b
Species of smaller █████████████ ██████ ████████ ██ ████ ██████████ █████ ███ ███████ ████████
The scientists’ argument only addresses giant ground sloths that did go extinct. The survival of other kinds of sloths is irrelevant.
c
Their large size ████ ███ █████ ██████ ██████ ████ █████████ ████ ████ █████ ██████ ████████
This weakens the argument by suggesting that the scientists’ original hypothesis- that giant ground sloths failed to adapt to climate changes- may have been correct after all.
Directionally wrong
Directionally wrong
Answers that, if they have any effect, do the opposite of what we want (weaken when we're trying to strengthen, or strengthen when we're trying to weaken).
d
Giant ground sloths ███ ███ ███ ████ █████ ███████ ████ █████ ██ █████████ ████ ███ ████████ ██████ ██████ █████ ████
This fails to address the cause of the giant ground sloths’ disappearance. Even if other large mammals also began disappearing at the same time, (D) doesn’t strengthen the hypothesis that humans are responsible for these disappearances.
e
One type of █████ ██████ █████ ████████ ██ ████████ ███████ █████ █████ ██████ ███████ █████ ████ █████ ███ ████ ███ ████
Some giant ground sloths survived long after the last ice age, meaning they didn’t disappear due to climate changes. These sloths only disappeared after humans arrived, which strengthens the hypothesis that humans were responsible for their extinction.
Plausibility
Plausibility
Presenting evidence that corroborates (in Strengthen) or conflicts (in Weaken) with the author's hypothesized explanation or the predictions that follow from that explanation.