Science Education
sporte | April 21, 2009This is a video that a friend made that shows, very clearly, how to pour an agarose gel, load the samples and run it. I especially like the way he used a bit of time lapse photography to show the dyes separating as the gel ran.
clock | April 19, 2009
I know it's been a couple of months now since the ScienceOnline'09 and I have reviewed only a couple of sessions I myself attended and did not do the others. I don't know if I will ever make it to reviewing them one by one, but other people's reviews on them are under the fold here. For my previous reviews of individual sessions, see this, this, this, this and this.
What I'd like to do today is pick up on a vibe I felt throughout the meeting. And that is the question of Power. The word has a number of dictionary meanings, but they are all related. I'll try to relate them here and hope you…
clock | April 17, 2009Stan Young of the National Institute of Statistical Sciences in RTP wants to help you sort junk science from the good stuff. (Remember that observational study that concluded that pregnant women who eat breakfast cereal are more likely to deliver baby boys, for instance?)
Young will give a talk debunking statistical myths entitled "Everything is Dangerous" at the next Sigma Xi Pizza Lunch, at noon Wednesday, April 22.
Pizza Lunch is free and open to science journalists and science communicators of all stripes. Feel free to forward this message to anyone you think might be interested. RSVPs…
sporte | April 15, 2009"Yo, you regulate it's genes"
The English makes me cringe, but I love the idea. Tom McFadden, an associate instructor at Stanford, has made a series of Biology rap videos and posted them on YouTube.
Yo, check it out.
ddobbs | April 15, 2009"You couldn't make this up: Cameras are being turned on the people paid to watch CCTV streams, to note which bits of surveillance footage they didn't see." via BoingBoing
The beauty of sand, close up -- a photo gallery at Discover.
Robots as recruitment to science. "If you stick a robot--I don't care if you're talking about grade school kids or high school students--if you put a robot in the middle of the room, there is something captivating about the technology." from Making Robots Personal - an interview with Tandy Trower of Microsoft Robotics. I find this particularly relevant as my 7-y.…
jlynch | April 14, 2009The Arizona Education Association is reporting that nearly 4,500 K-12 teachers and other personnel have been pink-slipped for the next school year. What is truly worrying about this is that it is based on reports from only 36 of the 220 districts statewide and more layoffs are inevitable. You may remember that Republican lawmakers called for drastic cuts instead of raising taxes (which haven't been raised state-wide in 20 years). I hope they are happy.
For some context, you need to remember that Arizona before the cuts spent less than almost every state in the Union on education while being…
bioephemera | April 14, 2009As I put it at a blogging panel last fall, "in science, it is normative to be not sure." It wasn't my most eloquent moment, but at least AAAS' president-elect Alice Huang agrees with me that one of the biggest challenges to public science literacy is understanding the contingent nature of scientific "truth".
But probably the most difficult concept to get across to nonscientists is that we look at data and then use probabilities to judge those data. The public wants an absolute black-and-white answer. We may look at something that is 80 percent likely as being good enough to base decisions on…
clock | April 13, 2009Periodic Tables and the Museum of Life and Science Present:
April 14, 2009 | 7:00 P.M.
Waves of Ocean Literacy
Speaker: Cynthia Cudaback, NC State University
If the Earth is a body, the ocean is its blood, circulating over most of the surface, moderating temperature and sustaining life. Cynthia Cudaback provides college and high school students with the tools they need to be informed stewards of the ocean, and its importance to the long-term sustainability of our planet. Her talk will focus on the success of marine education efforts, and opportunities for improvement.
Join us tomorrow night…
clock | April 6, 2009Tuesday, April 21, 2009
6:30-8:30 pm with discussion beginning at 7:00 followed by Q&A
Location: The Irregardless Café, 901 W. Morgan Street, Raleigh 833-8898
Think Globally - Eat Locally
How much do you know about the food you eat? Were pesticides applied? Do you know where it was grown and how far it traveled to get to you? How much did its transportation contribute to global warming?
What can we do to bring about the revival of locally produced foods and all the benefits they bring - better taste, nutrition, stronger local economies and relationships with local farmers, reduced…
sporte | March 30, 2009If you haven't seen these, check out Jake Young's collection of videos showing T cells getting infected by HIV. The best one is at the bottom of the post.
sporte | March 30, 2009A few weeks ago I heard a story from a friend in Oklahoma. She works with high school science teachers, helping them learn how to add biotechnology to their courses.
One teacher, in particular, has taken the new science activities to heart. Her students did so well, they won a science competition and were asked to fly somewhere to accept the prize.
For many of those students, this would be their first trip on an airplane and their first trip outside of rural Oklahoma. It was pretty exciting!
But there were some unexpected problems.
Some of these children were illegal.
Just like the…
jlynch | March 29, 2009
SkeptiCamp Phoenix 2009 went off wonderfully yesterday. Big thanks to Jim Lippard for doing such a wonderful organizational job.
The picture above is me beginning my 20 minute gallop through the issue of academic freedom and the intelligent design movement. Shorter - and undoubtedly more coherent - version is:
Evolution is not an unchallengeable orthodoxy within science and major areas (of evolution as fact, the pathway of evolution, and its mechanisms) have been challenged in the past by researchers working within the field. These researchers used the institutions of science (peer…
sporte | March 27, 2009The NIH has some extra money to fund summer research for students and teachers.
Check it out!
The NIH and grantee partner institutions have a unique opportunity to support summer research experiences for high school and college students, as well as elementary, middle, and secondary school science teachers, and faculty from non-research intensive institutions in your geographic area. Supported through American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), these administrative supplements are available, on an expedited basis, to NIH research grants of faculty at your institution (See…
clock | March 27, 2009Check out the show's web page:
Fifteen thousand years ago North America was like the Serengeti on steroids, with mega-creatures roaming a continent teeming with incredible wildlife. But then, in a blip of geologic time, somewhere between 15 and 35 magnificent large types of animals went extinct. In a television exclusive, NOVA joins forces with prominent scientists to test a startling theory that may finally explain the Last Extinction, on Tuesday, March 31 at 8pm ET/PT on PBS (check local listings). The program features scientists representing all sides of this debate.
sporte | March 26, 2009I don't usually publish press releases, but I'm making an exception for this one, since your's truly is one of the Co-PI's. If you're a teacher within commuting distance of Seattle, the schedule and sign up information is here.
NSF AWARDS $1.3 MILLION TO NWABR FOR BIOINFORMATICS EDUCATION
Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) brings the understanding of how biology and information technology interact to teachers and their students
Seattle, WA - March 26, 2009 - The Northwest Association for Biomedical Research (NWABR) has been awarded a $1.3 million dollar…
clock | March 26, 2009How should students learn about evolution?
On Thursday morning's Takeaway (at about 6:30 a.m. or 8:30 a.m.
Eastern), we're talking with Don McLeroy, chair of the Texas State
Board of Education. He's believes that students should have the
opportunity to question evolution (and that God created the Earth a
few thousand years ago). Texas is expected to vote this week on new
science standards that could influence textbooks and how more states
treat this controversial issue.
"Evolution and education with Texas State Board of Education chair Don McLeroy"
The Texas Board of Education is in the midst…
gregladen | March 25, 2009Over 50 scientific societies representing hundreds of thousands of American scientists today publicly urged the Texas Board of Education to support accurate science education....
From the National Center for Science Education
Over 50 scientific societies representing hundreds of thousands of American scientists today publicly urged the Texas Board of Education to support accurate science education. The board--dominated by creationists--has been embroiled in a debate over changes to the Texas science standards that could compromise the teaching of evolution.
"Evolution is the foundation of…