Science Education
gregladen | September 22, 2009Dario Ringach used animals in his research in neuroscience. When extremist animal rights activists tried to blow up his house in 2006, and accidentally almost blew up the wrong person's house (in characteristic fashion, they got the address wrong, and the bomb did not function) Ringach got spooked and quit using the animals. Recently, Ringach has been speaking out regarding this issue, and the current Nature News has a write up.
After three years of keeping a low profile, Ringach is now trying to raise public support for the use of animals in research. This month, he published a commentary…
clock | September 21, 2009The new issue of the open access Journal of Science Communication is out. From the Table of Contents:
Filling the gap between theory and practice:
Jcom's adventure was launched nearly eight years ago, when a group of lecturers and former students of the Master's degree in Science Communication at SISSA of Trieste, decided to have training joined by the commitment to research on science communication issues.
Mapping gender differences in understanding about HIV/AIDS:
The present article investigates public understanding of HIV/AIDS related issues that touch the thought structure of common…
gregladen | September 18, 2009WPTV.COM has a poll asking "Should educators be fined or jailed for offering prayer in public schools?" and the possible answers are "yes" and "no." Which I guess means they are not really asking an "either/or" question although it is worded that way. Anyway, this relates to THIS STORY about people who work for a school system who are currently in trouble for contempt of court. Contempt of court is a jail-able offense, and it is NOT "offering prayer in public schools."
Of course, it is true that these individuals were originally in trouble for violating the First Amendment Rights of the…
gregladen | September 17, 2009We know there is a link between education, church going behavior, and the inability or unwillingness to accept that evolution is real and that humans evolved. But what exactly is the relationship? I think the following diagram includes the correct answer, but I'm not sure which one it is:
What am I missing?
clock | September 14, 2009Introducing the Briefly series. Taking theory and presenting it in it's most concise form.
We start with the Big Bang because the theory is important and amazing, but often misunderstood.
This video was produced without any funding from any outside sources. It was put together with donated creative time from a group with a desire to further public cognition of science.
Science has many amazing stories to tell, this is the first. The Big Bang Briefly.
clock | September 10, 2009At the NC Museum of Natural Sciences:
What's Bugging You? Animals We Love to Hate
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
8:00 - 10:00 am with discussion beginning at 9:00 followed by Q&A
Location: The Acro Cafe - 4th Floor of the Museum of Natural Sciences
Fire ants. Mosquitoes. Flies. Ticks. Gnats. Bed Bugs. The list goes on and on.
They disturb our sleep, sting us, envenomate us, suck our blood, eat our food, crawl on us...yet at the same time, they pollinate our food and flowers, provide insect control, and increase biodiversity. So, what is a pest? Are some of these pests invasive…
clock | September 9, 2009Tuesday, September 22, 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
Memory problems have become increasingly common as our population ages. The fear of developing dementia is one of the greatest fears of most Americans. There can be memory changes as one grows older, but what determines if these changes are benign versus the beginning of a dementia process like Alzheimer's disease? We will discuss types of memory, the neurobiological basis of memory, and ways to tell normal aging from the…
gregladen | September 7, 2009Since the bloggingheads "diavlog" with David Dobbs and me was the first science-oriented installment to come out (more or less) since the repudiation of Bloggingheads.tv by Carl Zimmer and Sean Carrol, and now Phil Plait and PZ Myers, I think I should say something about why I did it and what I think about the whole thing.
I want to start out by saying that my remarks are provisional. I will not tolerate sophistic mumbo jumbo in the comments. Instead, I employ what my Lese friend JM used to tell me as as staring point: "I've got an idea or two for you. If you don't like them, just give…
clock | September 5, 2009From Sigma Xi:
Greetings everyone. Here's hoping that summer treated you kindly and that you are ready to dive back into American Scientist magazine's annual Pizza Lunch speaker series. We begin this year at noon, Thursday, Sept. 24 at Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society here in Research Triangle Park.
Come hear UNC-Chapel Hill chemist Thomas J. Meyer discuss efforts to develop alternative energy sources that are safer than greenhouse gas emitting fuels. Meyer leads a new research center that this year landed $17.8 million in federal funding to try to develop solar fuels and next-…
sporte | September 2, 2009This summer, I had the good fortune to attend three (or was it four?) conferences on science education. One of the most inspirational conferences was one on Vision and Change in Biology Education. This conference was co-sponsored by the National Science Foundation and the AAAS. It was a call to action for biology educators and many of the points and findings resonated deep in my bones.
Then, I read the press release from the AAAS.
And right there in the middle, I found this statement from the AAAS CEO, Alan Leshner.
Leshner said the goal of undergraduate education should be to give students…
clock | August 27, 2009The first in a series by @RichardWiseman:
During the Edinburgh Festival I will invite some of my favourite magicians, skeptics, psychologists and comedians to join me for afternoon tea. Over a plentiful supply of cakes, pastries and sandwiches we will chat about this and that, and occasionally the other. I hope that you will feel moved to put on the kettle, relax and join us.
Five podcasts are already up....
clock | August 26, 2009Robert Scoble interviews science blogger and author Jennifer Ouellette about the Science & Entertainment Exchange, a "recent initiative by the National Academy of Sciences, was set up to build a new kind of social network of scientists and movie directors." Worth a watch:
gregladen | August 26, 2009If you are a teacher or a parent you may find some of these books especially useful to: a) prepare yourself; b) give to your child's teacher or a colleague; or c) give to a school administrator. Seriously.
Each link is to a review of the book to help you decide if you are interested.
The Science of Evolution and the Myth of Creationism
Creationism's Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design
Evolution vs. Creationism by Eugenie Scott, Second Edition
Don't forget to have a look at this post as well.
gregladen | August 26, 2009The following may serve well in a home study environment, or for the parent to keep up with what the school kid is doing or for the overachieving youngster to get ahead of the teacher!
Natural history for the kiddies:
Birds: Nature's Magnificent Flying Machine
Two dinosaur books
Math and science for middle schoolers on up:
Fins into Limbs (Evolution, Development)
The Young Birder's Guide: A Bird Book for the Middle Schooler
Idiot's guide to Pre-Algebra
Black Bodies and Quantum Cats (physics)
Unmasking Europa
Head First Physics
Home Chemistry (by a regular commenter on this blog!)
clock | August 26, 2009From NESCent:
> "Re: Design" - This is a dramatization of the scientific correspondence between Charles Darwin and botanist Asa Gray, and is a product of the Darwin Correspondence Project. NESCent is co-sponsoring this theatrical production with the NC Museum of Natural Sciences, WUNC-TV and the NCSU Theater Dept. The production will be staged at the newly renovated Thompson Hall theater at NCSU, and will employ professional actors (not undergrads!) so it should be a really high-quality production. It will run for five days (Nov. 4th through 8th), with the first four days being 8 PM…
Charles Darwin Lecture Series - Dale Russell: "Islands in the Cosmos: The Evolution of Life on Land"
clock | August 20, 2009DARWIN LECTURE SERIES CONTINUES!
How did we come to be here? Answers to this question have preoccupied
humans for millennia. Scientists have sought clues in the genes of
living things, in the physical environments of Earth - from mountaintops
to the depths of the ocean, in the chemistry of this world and those
nearby, in the tiniest particles of matter, and in the deepest reaches
of space. On Tuesday, September 29, Senior Curator of Paleontology Dale
Russell presents a talk based on his new book "Islands in the Cosmos:
The Evolution of Life on Land," which follows evolution from its origins…
gregladen | August 17, 2009Biology is harder to learn than quantum physics. Why? Because most people think they totally get biology, but everyone knows nobody gets quantum physics. Therefore, any effort to explore quantum physics will result in new learning, but people rarely learn new biology. The bottom line is that our brains are full of biology, which would be good if most of it did not consist of falsehoods.
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The things that people know already often need to be removed from the brain prior to teaching new stuff. This may seem a little offensive to some, but really, it is easier to just admit it. I'm not…
clock | August 15, 2009A run-down of good recent stuff, highly recommended for your weekend reading and bookmarking:
PLoS One: Interview with Peter Binfield:
...In my view PLoS ONE is the most dynamic, innovative and exciting journal in the world, and I am proud to work on it.
In many ways PLoS ONE operates like any other journal however it diverges in several important respects. The founding principle of PLoS ONE was that there are certain aspects of publishing which are best conducted pre-publication and certain aspects which are best conducted post-publication. The advent of online publishing has allowed us to…