Science Education
sporte | September 4, 2012If all the information you had about scientific careers came from newspapers or TV, it would be easy to think that everyone who works in life sciences / biotechnology is either a Ph.D. scientist, post-doc, or graduate student. In reality, the life sciences are more like an iceberg. The public sees the people at the top, with advanced degrees, while the many people who have bachelors or associates degrees are hidden from view.
The NIH has realized that a fair number of people they hire are community college graduates who have associate degrees in biotechnology. Many students from the…
tsmith | July 16, 2012With my colleague Greg Tinkler, I spent an afternoon last week at a local public library talking to kids about zombies:
The Zombie Apocalypse is coming. Will you be ready? University of Iowa epidemiologist Dr. Tara Smith will talk about how a zombie virus might spread and how you can prepare. Get a list of emergency supplies to go home and build your own zombie kit, just in case. Find out what to do when the zombies come from neuroscientist Dr. Greg Tinkler. As a last resort, if you can't beat them, join them. Disguise yourself as a zombie and chow down on brrraaaaiiins, then go home and…
tsmith | June 13, 2012As long-term readers know, I've previously featured student posts on various topics of their own choosing. I'm doing it again this year with my summer course on Applied Infectious Disease Epidemiology. In this course, students learn to take the theories and information from a basic ID epi course and apply them to real-world experiences--analyzing math models, determining the cause of an outbreak, and designing their own studies to test a research hypothesis, for example. As part of the course, communication is also a big segment, examining how information (and misinformation) is communicated…
gregladen | June 5, 2012A talk by Genie Scott of the NCSE:
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Photo of Darwin Statute by KevinZim
gregladen | May 25, 2012I know of a couple of cases where high schools are switching to the use of iPads or other tablets, replacing existing computer infrastructure with the handy and very cool computing device. When it comes to technology, I've never been particularly impressed with school administrations, and K-12 technology departments tend to be a little under-resourced as well, so it does not surprise me that this decision is being made. It is, of course, the wrong thing to do.
I'm not talking about using iPads, I'm taking about canceling funding for future hardware cycles of laptops and desktops so the…
gregladen | May 2, 2012PBS has something coming out tonight about teaching climate change in American Classrooms.
From a press release I just got in the mail:
The PBS NEWSHOUR examines the struggle over teaching climate change Wednesday
The PBS NewsHour's Hari Sreenivasan will report Wednesday (May 2) on how the controversy over climate change affects America's classrooms. Part of a NewsHour series on the impacts of climate change, Sreenivasan's piece takes a look at a political think tank creating climate change curriculum, examines recent state laws dictating what can be taught about global warming and…
gregladen | April 27, 2012The attention of the Two Little Cousins and Huxley the Baby was easily diverted to the back of the house while Cousin Randy slipped out the front door into the cold dark night wearing the red suit and fake beard, carrying a bag of toys and a strap of sleigh bells. Suddenly, Cousin Chris exclaimed that she heard ringing sounds, and this made everyone stop talking and listen, theatrically. Sure enough, there was the sound of bells from somewhere outside! The two little cousins had a good idea what this meant; Huxley the Baby did not. Then, Grandpa exclaimed that he thought an animal had…
gregladen | April 25, 2012Here is a way you can support the Life Science teachers in your local school. Give them a poster or a hat or a T-shirt or a book or something. I'll tell you why in a moment.
First, you have to find the teachers and start up a relationship with them. I have various relationships with various teachers around the Twin Cities area, but strangely enough my efforts to strike up a relationship with the Life Science teachers at Coon Rapids has led to nothing. The school is very close to my house. I go by it every day to do one thing or another. But when I've emailed the staff there I've never…
gregladen | April 3, 2012We are at war. I do not refer to the war in Afghanastan (though that too) but rather to the war between the religious right, Republicans, the 1% and various anti-science forces on one hand and everybody else on the other. Indeed, it is standard political wisdom that Fundamentalist Christians and Republicans constitute an overlapping (and where not overlapping, highly cooperative) group standing in opposition to science.
Right?
Well, actually, no. New research released literally moments ago suggests that things are a bit more complicated than this. It turns out that generally speaking,…
gregladen | February 26, 2012Watch the whole thing:
Brilliant. Click here for the background on this nice video.
gregladen | February 21, 2012A bill in Oklahoma that would, if enacted, encourage teachers to present the "scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses" of "controversial" topics such as "biological evolution" and "global warming" is back from the dead. Entitled the "Scientific Education and Academic Freedom Act," House Bill 1551 was introduced in the Oklahoma House of Representatives in 2011 by Sally Kern (R-District 84), a persistent sponsor of antievolution legislation in the Sooner State, and referred to the House Common Education Committee. It was rejected there on February 22, 2011, on a 7-9 vote. But, as The…
gregladen | January 31, 2012But with a twist. A Republican sponsored bill required the teaching of Christian Religion ni the science class, but a Democratic Senator has added wording that will require science teachers to teach the origin stories of ALL of the religions.
Legislators on Monday broadened a proposal aimed at allowing Indiana's public schools to teach creationism in science classes to require that such courses include origin of life theories from multiple religions.
The Senate approved the change to legislation critics had argued was unconstitutional because federal courts repeatedly have found teaching…
gregladen | January 31, 2012The vast majority of American public school students are not proficient in the level of science learning expected for their age group. The Thomas B. Fordham Institute has issued "The State of Science Standards 2012" as part of an effort to assess the causes of this dismal state of affairs. Here's a map summarizing their results:
State Science Standards Grades, 2012
Notice that some of the battleground states for the "Evolution-Creationism Controversy" have reasonable ratings. Notice also the vast regions of D and F states. In fact, in order to convey the meaning of it all, I've created…
gregladen | January 16, 2012
Why is NCSE Now Concerned with Climate Change?
Press Release
Book excerpt: "The Denial of Global Warming" (from "Merchants of Doubt")
sporte | January 10, 2012
Many of you may remember a time when music-stealing was rampant on the internet. Apple changed this situation by establishing a new kind of marketplace.
Now people pay for music and download it from iTunes.
What if there were a third party group, with an iTunes-like model, where scientific publishers would make papers available for purchase? Could this kind of model work?
Two arguments support this idea.
1. Volume sales
2. The cost of creation
Volume sales
Volume sales work like this. Let's say a publisher sells 10 papers at $30 each. This brings in $300.
That same publisher…
sporte | January 9, 2012The Backstory: As it stands today,when one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) provides the funding for a scientific research project, and those results are published, they must be made freely available to public, within a set period of time. The reasoning behind this requirement is that taxpayers funded everything about the research except for the final publication, and so they have already paid for access.
The Research Works Act (#RWA), HR 3699, is a bill in the House of Representatives that would roll back this requirement. If it passes, taxpayers will most likely have to pay…
jtoney | January 7, 2012
Photo source.
Young ladies proudly displaying tattoos do not typically bring to mind a neuroscientist or a passionate advocate for science education, but that's the point.
Cara Santa Maria is a science correspondent for The Huffington Post, with the slyly named blog "Talk Nerdy To Me." I applaud her for her mission to sharing with the broader public about why science is so amazing and cool.
So who is she?
From her website:
Cara Santa Maria is not your typical neuroscientist. From cheerleader to jazz vocalist, model to tattoo enthusiast, she traveled many paths before pursuing her…
sporte | January 6, 2012This morning, I learned that congress wants to reverse the advances made by NIH and go back to restricting access to scientific publications. Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (New York) and Congressman Darrell Issa (California) are co-sponsoring a bill to restore the limits on public access to NIH-funded research.
I've written many times before (here, here, here, and here) about the challenges that community college faculty and students have in getting access to scientific papers.
In an era where the economic benefits of educating students in science are well-known (1), the idea of crippling…
gregladen | December 29, 2011I mention the New Hampshire anti-evolution bills at The X Blog. Here's an update from the NCSE:
The two antievolution bills in the New Hampshire legislature attracted the attention of the Concord Monitor (December 29, 2011). As NCSE previously reported, House Bill 1148, introduced by Jerry Bergevin (R-District 17), would charge the state board of education to "[r]equire evolution to be taught in the public schools of this state as a theory, including the theorists' political and ideological viewpoints and their position on the concept of atheism," while House Bill 1457, introduced by Gary…
gregladen | December 7, 2011Why we still have to take creationism seriously:
Adventures in Defending Evolution: