Science Education
sciencewoman | February 22, 2008Mystery City is 42% non-Caucasian, with the largest minority being African-American. Mystery University is 25% non-Caucasian.* My introductory courses bear out that statistic; I have a substantial percentage of Hispanic, Asian, and African-American students. So I was somewhat started the other day when I looked around my upper-level class and realized that we were all pretty much non-Hispanic Caucasian.**
That first glance around the classroom was folled by a surreptious examination of the other upper-level courses in my department, our graduate student population, and our faculty. So far, my…
gregladen | February 21, 2008Plan B is, of course, inserting Christian Creationism into the Social Studies curriculum. This is disconcerting. Many otherwise perfectly rational and intelligent people think this is a good idea. It is not.
This sort of proposal is becoming more common now (this week) in editorials and other opinion outlets, with the defeat of the Wedge Strategy to water down the science standards in Florida. (This rebound effect occurs every time creationists are defeated.)
So, why is this not a good idea?
Social studies is a broad field of investigation that has many important goals. Like modern…
clock | February 18, 2008Science Cafe on Teenage Brains :
Teenagers sometimes act as though they were from a different planet. On Tuesday February 19, the Museum of Natural Sciences will host a science cafe entitled "Altered States: Inside the Teenage Brain" at Tir Na Nog in Raleigh at 6:30p.m. The session will be led by Wilkie Wilson, Duke professor and director of BrainWorks, a program for brain research and education. Wilson studies the effects of drugs on learning and memory, and has helped write several books on teenage drug use. RSVP to Katey Ahmann by Monday, February 18.
gregladen | February 16, 2008Yet another group of slack jawed yokels in some backwater school district want to force their religious beliefs on children in their local school district. This time it's Nassau County.
"The theory of evolution falls short here since it cannot be observed, hasn't been repeated and cannot be tested," Marjorie Ramseur told School Board members. "I applaud you for taking a stand on this issue. If you're going to teach evolution, please teach all of it."
[source]
gregladen | February 16, 2008Certain Bloggers have been giving Floridians a hard time because of the opposition to teaching science in public science classrooms. Shame on those bloggers. (See here and here for examples). There are some local school districts in Florida that insist that excellent science, and not creationism or religion of any kind, be taught in public schools.
The Volusia School Board supports teaching of evolution. Here i what some of the school board members say about this issue:
School Board Chairwoman Judy Conte: "The home is a good place to teach religion, I think." .. don't "confuse the two…
gregladen | February 15, 2008A survey conducted by the St. Petersburg Times shows that half of the respondents want "only faith-based theories such as creationism or intelligent design" taught in public school classrooms, and only 22 percent want evolution-only life science curriculum.
The Florida State Board of Education will decide next Tuesday to adopt ... or not ... new standards that would make a subtle but important change in the wording of life science standards. The change would place evolutionary biology (also known as "evolutionary theory") clearly at the center of the life science curriculum.
The survey…
gregladen | February 14, 2008On Wednesday the Bay District School Board voted to sign a resolution saying it does not agree with the proposed science standards as they are currently written.
The new proposed standards adjust language for life science that would move Florida schools into modern, 21st century thinking regarding the role of evolution (as central) in life science. The Bay District School Board has rejected this modernization, opting instead to allow the teaching of creationism along side evolution in public schools. This decision, if enacted, would be a violation of well established case law. If the Bay…
sporte | February 13, 2008Confused about terms like "autonomy" and "beneficance" and their relationship to biomedical research?
The Northwest Association for Biomedical Research (NWABR) is offering a short course at the University of Washington, Feb. 29th and March 1st, on Ethics in Science.
Registration details and a description are below.
An Ethics Shortcourse
February 29, 2008, 4-8pm and March 1, 10am-4pm Waterfront Activities
Center, University of Washington
Registration Deadline: February 15, 2008 To apply online, please visit:
http://www.nwabr.org/education/esc.htm
$25 with credit card or $20 with check.…
sporte | February 12, 2008Well, probably getting a stipend to help you do it.
And, the really cool thing is that's part of the deal!
Hustle, hustle the deadline is March 7th, and all the contact info is below.
The NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates program in Environmental Microbiology at UNLV is accepting applications.
This grant provides students with the opportunity to work on a research project for a 10 week period with a faculty mentor. Students receive a $4000 stipend, round trip airfare, and housing in a UNLV dormitory.
Mentors have projects in the following areas:
⢠Adaptation of…
sporte | February 12, 2008yep, I've become a videoblogger, at least sometimes.
See the first video below. Be kind in the comments, this is a new thing for me.
This video introduces the different blast programs, discusses word size, and how blastn works, the blastn score and the E value. The treatment is light and not too in depth, but as I said, it's an introduction.
A quick introduction to BLAST from Sandra Porter on Vimeo.
clock | February 10, 2008As I promised the other day, I went to Carrboro Century Center this afternoon (right after meeting with Anton around the corner) to see the Island Projects designed by the Chapel Hill High School students of Rob Greenberg.
I did not see all of them - they were doing this in "shifts" throughout the afternoon and I could only stay for an hour - but I saw several of the projects and talked to a number of students (and to Rob himself). I have to say I was really, truly impressed with their work, as well as with their enthusiasm as they explained the details of their projects to me and other…
gregladen | February 10, 2008What?! Is Florida totally full of morons, or what?
The Bay District School Board will vote on Wednesday on a resolution that waters down the proposed state standards for life science education. Please go to the Channel 7 web site where this story is posted and add your comments along side some guy from New York who is the first to chime in (in favor of rational thinking). If you are from one of these states mainly known for slack-jawed yokels who prefer to marry their siblings but will take a cousin in a pinch, and are NOT one of these morons, please, it is especially important that you…
sporte | February 10, 2008A few weeks ago I attended a education conference at Pacific Science Center entitled, "A Conversation that Can Change the World."
It was interesting. Everyone was pretty enthusiastic at the meeting and there was a lot of positive energy.
We got to see Theresa Britschgi from Seattle Biomedical Research Institute make Jack Faris, President of the Washington Biotechnology and Biomedical Association, get dressed up in a biohazard protection suit.
We heard from Dennis Schatz about the Pacfic Science Center's outreach programs.
We had our required moment of technical failure when Ran Hinrichs,…
clock | February 10, 2008If you read my blog you must be aware how enchanted I am with the ZooSchool in Asheboro, NC. Unfortunately, at the last moment something came up, so the delegation of two teachers and six students could not make it to the Conference three weeks ago. I intend to go and visit there some time soon and I hope they can make it to the Conference next year.
But in the meantime, they need something that WE can help with - some lab coats. They have placed a proposal on DonorsChoose (read it carefully to understand why they need these) and I hope you feel generous today and help them get funded. I…
skookumchick | February 9, 2008I had been agonizing over what would be my first "substantive" post for this new venue. My husband (who will be properly introduced in another post) suggested I make a list of a bunch I'd like to write so I have fodder for the fire when I feel otherwise tapped out.
Ah, me of little faith. I made such a list, verily I did. But instead of drawing from the well of better-intentioned ideas, I will blog about what I'd like to see in conference papers while I'm still all hot under the reviewing collar.
One of my professional societies is ASEE - the American Society of Engineering Education. It…
sporte | February 9, 2008A long standing debate in my field is whether or not biologists, who work with computers, need to learn how to program. I usually say "no." Let the programmers program, the biologists interpret the results, and let everyone can benefit from each other's expertise.
Well, I've changed my mind in one respect. Most biologists need to work with some kind of database these days and I've discovered that it's really helpful to know something about SQL. Even a tiny bit of SQL, like "SELECT * from table" goes a long, long way.
This revelation didn't happen overnight and when I decided a few…
clock | February 9, 2008Karen is excited this morning, reading the enormous Guardian edition full of good Darwiny goodness, chockful of articles by Dawkins and many others, as well as extracts from Darwin's works.
The only part I find a little too narrow is The best Darwinian sites on the web which mentions only a small handfull of such sites, e.g., Darwin Online, Darwin Correspondence Project, Darwin Day Celebration, AboutDarwin.com and Darwin Today (the last one yet to launch next month). I know, I know, these are the biggest and bestest, but there are so many others that I feel are snubbed by being left out -…
gregladen | February 9, 2008Marshall Helberger writes an interesting editorial in the Timberjay, a northern Minnesota newspaper, about creationist tactics.
As editor of the Timberjay's editorial pages, there are few things that have been more frustrating over the years than determining how to handle this perennial debate over evolution, prompted for the most part by a single, local proponent of creationism.
While I inherently believe in the free exchange of ideas, the purpose of the editorial pages is to discuss ideas and viewpoints that can affect the world in which we live. To a large degree, the debate over…
gregladen | February 8, 2008The Texas Acadamy of Science has come out with a statement about creationism in Texas schools science classes, called "Texas Academy of Science Position Against the Inclusion of Creationism and Design Concepts in the Science Curricula in Texas Schools"
You can get the PDF here.
Among other things, the document states:
Texas science teachers have a finite amount of class time and textbook space in which to teach the many valid and foundational scientific concepts that enable students to become knowledgeable consumers, decision makers and voters. Inclusion of creationist or intelligent design…