teaching
grrlscientist | August 25, 2009tags: Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Archilochus colubris, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Moulting adult female Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Archilochus colubris, photographed in Brandon, South Dakota. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Terry Sohl, 12 August 2009 [larger view]
Photo taken with Canon 50D, 400 5.6L.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | August 24, 2009tags: White-eyed Slaty Flycatcher,, Melaenornis fischeri, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] White-eyed Slaty Flycatcher, Melaenornis fischeri, photographed in Nakuru National Park, Kenya, Africa. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dan Logen, 29 August 2006 [larger view].
Nikon D2X, 200-400 VR lens at 310 mm ISO 160, f/4.5, 1/160 sec.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | August 23, 2009tags: Black Tern, Chlidonias niger, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Black Tern, Chlidonias niger, photographed at Galveston's East Beach, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 14 July 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200 ,Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/800s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
[Mystery bird] Black Tern, Chlidonias niger, photographed at Galveston's East Beach, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48…
rallain | August 22, 2009I found this link on twitter from New Scientist.
'iTunes university' better than the real thing
This pretty much sums it up:
"Students have been handed another excuse to skip class from an unusual quarter. New psychological research suggests that university students who download a podcast lecture achieve substantially higher exam results than those who attend the lecture in person."
The article also mentions a research study by McKinney that gave half of a class of 64 podcast lectures instead of a traditional lecture. Looking at the details, it doesn't seem like too convincing of a study.…
grrlscientist | August 22, 2009tags: Crowned Plover, Crowned Lapwing, Vanellus coronatus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Crowned Plover, also known as the Crowned Lapwing, Vanellus coronatus, photographed in Tarangire National Park, Tanzania, Africa. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dan Logen, 29 August 2007 [larger view].
Nikon D2X, 200-400 Nikon Lens at 400.
So of course, before you give me an ID, I have to ask you how many legs you see in this picture.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | August 21, 2009tags: Wilson's Plover, Charadrius wilsonia, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Adult Wilson's Plover, Charadrius wilsonia, with chick, photographed at Brazoria Wildlife Refuge, Texas. [I will identify this bird species for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 31 July 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/160s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Before you ID this bird species, tell me: how many legs do you see?
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | August 20, 2009tags: Juvenile Red-winged Blackbird, Agelaius phoeniceus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Juvenile Red-winged Blackbird, Agelaius phoeniceus, photographed at Galveston East Beach, Texas. [even the photographer doesn't know the identify of this bird, maybe you can help and come to a consensus ID?]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 11 August 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/1000s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | August 20, 2009tags: How Proteins Are Made From DNA in a Living Cell, biology, molecular biology, DNA, streaming video
This video uses the latest research to create an animation of how DNA gives rise to proteins in a living cell. But do you think the word "machine" is correct? I have difficulty with the use of that word .. [4:27]
grrlscientist | August 19, 2009tags: Grey-backed Camaroptera, Grey-backed Bleating Warbler, Camaroptera brachyura, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Grey-backed Camaroptera, also known as the Grey-backed Bleating Warbler, Camaroptera brachyura (brevicaudata), photographed in Tarangire National Park, Tanzania, Africa. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dan Logen, 31 August 2007 [larger view].
Nikon D2X, ISO 200, Nikon 200-400 VR lens at 400 mm. f/4. 1/160.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | August 18, 2009tags: Bhutan Laughing-thrush, Garrulax imbricatum, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Bhutan Laughing-thrush, Garrulax imbricatum, photographed in Bhutan (recently split from Streaked Laughingthrush, Garrulax lineatus).
Image: Larry Gardella, spring 2009 [larger view].
Sony Cybershot with 10x external zoom.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | August 17, 2009tags: Short-billed Dowitcher, Limnodromus griseus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Probable Short-billed Dowitcher, Limnodromus griseus, remains were fairly close to a busy industrial road northern Alberta (roughly 300 km northeast of Edmonton) Canada. [short of microscopic examination of these feathers or DNA analysis, this bird will probably never be definitively identified, sorry]
Image: Marcel Gahbauer, August 2009 [larger view].
Scanned, not photographed.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
The collector writes;
The location of…
grrlscientist | August 17, 2009tags: How DNA is Replicated in a Living Cell, biology, molecular biology, DNA, streaming video
I still remember when I learned how DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid) replication occurs, and it was like a lightning bolt from the sky: it changed my view of the world and a molecular biologist was born. This video uses the latest research to create an animation of how DNA is replicated in a living cell [1:54]
DNA replication is a fundamental process underlying biological inheritance that occurs in all living organisms to accurately copy their DNA. This process occurs through a "semiconservative"…
khannula | August 17, 2009I've recently taken to using the magic of the internet to give my students access to readings, assignments, and images outside of class. It's great - if my sophomores lose their map, they can print another one. If a student misses class, there's no excuse not to do the homework anyway. If students can't draw their own pictures, they can print out images and study them on their own. And it's possible to go even further with online teaching materials - to have students prepare for class by doing online readings, or watching a video, or listening to a podcast, and then responding to online…
khannula | August 16, 2009Jim Lehane's comment on my last post just reminded me that it's Accretionary Wedge time again. Jim's hosting the geology carnival, and he's got a back-to-school theme:
So your mission is this: "What out of the box ideas do you use to teach people about geology or geological concepts?" No need to limit yourself on ideas you have actively used. If you have used it and you think it is good, great. Is it an idea you have worked up on and gotten ready but haven't had the chance to use it yet, also great (this is pretty much my scenario). What if it is just a theory that you think would be…
grrlscientist | August 16, 2009tags: Fledgling American Avocet, Recurvirostra americana, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Fledgling American Avocet, Recurvirostra americana, photographed at Bear River Bird Refuge in Utah. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Terry Sohl, 27 July 2009 [larger view]
Photo taken with a Canon 50D, 400 5.6L lens.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
khannula | August 16, 2009I'm the department Luddite. I use Powerpoint less often than any of my colleagues, and I'm the person who argues that rooms in a new building need to be designed to allow natural light and views when desired (as well as be able to be darkened adequately). But I'm also the person in my department who plays around with our newish course management system (Moodle), experimenting with a variety of online assignments and quizzes and data-sharing. And I'm the only person to have taught a "lecture" class that met in a computer classroom. (And, of course, I blog, and Tweet, and I was on Usenet before…
grrlscientist | August 15, 2009tags: TEDTalks, laptops, future success, Nicholas Negroponte, streaming video
(TED follows Nicholas Negroponte to Colombia as he delivers laptops inside territory once controlled by guerrillas. His partner? Colombia's Defense Department, who see One Laptop per Child as an investment in the region. This project will have a bigger and more lasting effect on the damages created by poverty, destitution, crime and violence in the world than any other single thing I can think of -- how about you? [6:31]
TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference,…
grrlscientist | August 12, 2009tags: Prothonotary Warbler, Protonotaria citrea, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Prothonotary Warbler, Protonotaria citrea, photographed at Brazos Bend State Park, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 2 July 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/1000s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
sciencewoman | August 11, 2009I'm back to working on my class on Experimental Design and Data Analysis. One of my goals for the course is to have students work in groups to write an NSF-style proposal. So I sat down this morning to think about the steps it takes to write a research proposal. When I turned to google, I found a lot of tips on the writing of proposals, but not a lot of tips about how to actually generate the content that goes into the proposals. Since my course focus is how-to-do-science, I'm more interested in the content than the style. (Yes, I'm sure style can make or break a borderline proposal, but if…
grrlscientist | August 11, 2009tags: Common Nighthawk, Chordeiles minor, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] Common Nighthawks, Chordeiles minor, photographed at Anahuac Wildlife Refuge, Texas. [I will identify these birds for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 2 July 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/800s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.