teaching
grrlscientist | February 11, 2009tags: Greater Sage-Grouse, Centrocercus urophasianus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
Here is a feather pic from a [Mystery bird] Male Greater Sage-Grouse, Centrocercus urophasianus, for the mystery bird quiz, along with a map (below the fold) from Google Earth showing where it was collected (East Canyon Road SW of Henefer, Utah, 40.95N, 111.55W, elevation 6200 ft or 1890 meters) [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Dave Rintoul, feather collected on 10 April 2005 [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
East Canyon Road SW…
grrlscientist | February 9, 2009tags: Western Meadowlark, Sturnella neglecta, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Western Meadowlark, Sturnella neglecta, photographed on the Attwater Prairie Chicken Refuge, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 12 June 2008 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/350s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso40.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | February 5, 2009tags: Brewer's Sparrow, Spizella breweri, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Probable Brewer's Sparrow, Spizella breweri, photographed in the brush in Lake County, near Madison, South Dakota (this bird was severely out of its normal range). [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Terry Sohl, 30 September 2006 [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
jlynch | February 4, 2009February is going to be a busy month for me. Sunday I leave for Oklahoma where I will be giving the lead-off public lecture for their Darwin 2009 Celebration. I will be speaking on the 12th at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History on the topic of “Was There A Darwinian Revolution?” Any Sooner readers should feel free to come along and introduce themselves.
While in Norman, I’ll also be teaching a four-day intensive course on Darwin for the Oklahoma Scholar-Leadership Enrichment Program, the syllabus for which is here. While there will be some lectures, the meat and potatoes of the…
grrlscientist | February 4, 2009tags: Varied Thrush, Ixoreus naevius, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Varied Thrush, Ixoreus naevius, photographed in central Ontario. The bird died after striking the window of lakeside cottage fringed with Eastern Hemlock, Red Oak, Winterberry and American Bittersweet. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Michael Butler, 16 November 2008. [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Original blog entry about this bird.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | February 3, 2009tags: mystery bird, identify this bird, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
"What species of bird was in the shortest Superbowl commercial in history?"
[Mystery bird] Glaucous-winged Gull, Larus glaucescens, an image grab from the television in Seattle during the Superbowl 2009 .. this bird was featured in shortest Superbowl commercial ever shown (0.5 sec) -- can you identify this mystery bird?
Image: a Tweeters list subscriber, 1 February 2009. [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Here's another look [0:03]:
And here's the original image…
grrlscientist | February 2, 2009Have you read the latest piece of anti-intellectualism to come out of the LATimes? Apparently, their so-called journalists are showing their ignorance by stating that Jill Biden, who earned her PhD in Education -- and who also happens to be the wife of Senator Vice President Joe Biden -- cannot be referred to as "Doctor Biden". What have they been smoking??
"My feeling is if you can't heal the sick, we don't call you doctor," said Bill Walsh, copy desk chief for the Washington Post's A section and the author of two language books. (He apparently agrees with the LATimes' stupidity, because…
grrlscientist | February 2, 2009tags: Darwin Day, Idaho Museum of Natural History, Darwin's Green Side: Discoveries in Evolutionary Botany, evolution, education, teaching, public outreach
Here's some interesting news: the Idaho Museum of Natural History asked permission to use some of my images from Darwin's Garden and Greenhouse photoessays for their Darwin Day celebration! (Do you remember my wonderful trip to London that you paid for?) The museum is presenting a special exhibit, Darwin's Green Side: Discoveries in Evolutionary Botany [free PDF], that focuses on Darwin's work with plants. If you live in Southern Idaho…
grrlscientist | February 1, 2009tags: David Attenborough, nature, evolution, environment, streaming video
David Attenborough is a reality-based person. For example, he sees evolution as the cornerstone of all the programs he has ever made. In this upcoming one-hour special that airs tonight at 9pm on BBCOne in the UK, David shares his personal view on Darwin's controversial idea. If you are one of the lucky ones to see this program (it airs in a few minutes, so turn on that TV!), please share your thoughts about it here, as I am sure us Americans would love to know a little more about what we've missed. [2:01]
skookumchick | January 27, 2009I haven't talked much about my teaching yet this semester, and it's high time I did - at least a little, particularly to contribute a bit to the discussion about PWIs. To be clear: my institution will consider me for tenure based upon my research, and to a lesser extent based on my teaching (I learned on Monday that our teaching expectations in my department are a little higher than elsewhere in my college because we focus our research on education as well). So my job is primarily intended to be about helping the engineering education research community learn new things, with a secondary…
jane | January 20, 2009
Text messages from numbers I don't recognize. One of them was creepy enough to put me on edge for the rest of the day. This is especially annoying because I don't have a text plan, so I end up paying for every one of these messages.* Hey stupidheads, stop texting me already!
Having to micromanage my tenure process. Oh sure, we have all of these nice checks and balances in place to make sure this doesn't happen and make life somewhat easier for the tenure candidate. Is anyone surprised that all of my senior colleagues are by and large ignoring all of these checks and balances? At this…
sciencewoman | January 20, 2009Sciencewoman says: Some of readers have been wondering about what life is like for those jobs at primarily undergraduate institutions (PUIs). Alice and I are indubitably unqualified to answer that question, so Kim Hannula of "All of my faults are stress related..." graciously offered to provide some perspective. Kim is an incredibly thoughtful blogger about teaching and about geology, so you should all be reading her.
In the comments on Alice's post about grad students and balanced careers, there was some discussion about working at a primarily undergraduate institution, and questions about…
rallain | January 14, 2009I just finished my first class of "Physics for Elementary Education Majors". The maximum size for the class is 32 students and it is very interactive. I make it a point to learn student names as quickly as possible. This is something I am terrible at.
Should you memorize names? If it is a reasonable size class, I completely recommend it. Even in one short class, I noticed a difference in the atmosphere by knowing all their names. Here are my criteria for memorize or not:
Class size less than 40
Meets more than once a week
Not just a plain lecture class
Well, those aren't really the…
jane | January 11, 2009I am fortunate in that in general, I deal with very few grade-grubbing students. Way back when I was a brand-new assistant professor at my current institution, I dealt with quite a bit of grade-grubbing, along with a host of other let's-test-this-chick's-authority shenanigans, from my male students. (It's always been the male students. I've never had a female grade-grubber or troublemaker. I don't know if this is just percentages---I teach many fewer female students than male students---or if there's a gender component to it. But I digress.) As time has gone on, and as the students here…
sporte | January 8, 2009My husband brought this fantastic book home from the ASHG* that I think many of you will find interesting.
The book is: Making the Right Moves A Practical Guide to Scientific Management for Postdocs and New Faculty, published in 2006 by the Burroughs Wellcome Fund and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
You can download the book for free at the HHMI site and there's even a video of Tom Cech.
In fact, this book has such great information, that if it weren't for the interesting discussions in the comment section, I truly think this book would put Drug Monkey Comrade PhysioProf, and Isis…
sporte | January 7, 2009Teachertube looks and works much like YouTube, but you're much less likely to run across videos that Not Safe For the Classroom.
All of these videos are made by students and teachers. According to the Dallas News, there are 54,000 videos on the site already and 800,00 visitors every day.
I especially enjoyed watching Abbot and Costello doing math problems.
jane | January 3, 2009For a few years now, rather than making new year's resolutions, I've been doing new year's themes. I've found it more rewarding to go with the theme idea, which is more like a principle for living one's life and guiding one's actions overall, rather than choosing specific behaviors on which to focus.
So, it's time to assess last year's theme and pick a new theme for 2009.
The theme for 2008 was FEARLESS:
When I look back on what really disappointed me about 2007, the thing that jumps out at me is that I often stand in my own way. .... In light of this introspection, the theme really named…
jlynch | January 1, 2009The coming year should be fairly productive. Here are what I hope to be the highlights for 2009:
Finish and submit three book reviews over the next few weeks
Finish some work for the History of Science Society's Committee on Education
Have a paper accepted by Pediatrics (more of that anon)
Teach my Origins, Evolution and Creation course for what must be the eleventh time (Spring)
Give a talk at the University of Oklahoma for their Darwin celebrations (February). This was the first of a number of invites I got to give a talk on February 12th and thus the one I accepted.
Give a four day…
drorzel | December 8, 2008In comments to last week's rant about the low esteem in which science is held, taffe writes:
Ok then, what should scientists be doing, individually or as a community? Maybe the masses just plain find political info more interesting. I mean hell, you had to use dog fans as a hook for your popular book, right?
One of the maddening things about blogging as a medium is the way its ephemerality leads to repetition. I feel like I've written this before, but it's unreasonable for me to be peeved about it, because there's no reason why anybody commenting last week would've seen the earlier post. So…