tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-137267122011-12-31T20:30:46.709-05:00Educationcoturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.comBlogger771100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-34020092773779103662007-09-20T17:42:00.000-04:002007-09-20T17:29:14.517-04:00

Earlier studies have indicated that a gene called FOXP2, possibly involved in brain development, is extremely conserved in vertebrates, except for two notable mutations in humans. This finding suggested that this gene may in some way be involved in the evolution of language, and was thus dubbed by the popular press "the language" gene. See, for instance, this and this for some recent research

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1149832865856761332006-06-09T02:00:00.000-04:002006-06-09T09:23:20.566-04:00

So, the day has finally arrived - the Big Move to SEED scienceblogs. Go check out the brand new front page and all the old and new bloggers there.My new blog, a fusion of all three of my blogs, will be a new brand, with a new name - A Blog Around The Clock, reflecting my age and musical taste, my usual blogging frequency and the area of my scientific expertise, all in one title.The Banner was

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1149678647594802582006-06-07T07:10:00.000-04:002006-06-07T07:10:47.606-04:00

Carnival of Education #70 is up on The Education Wonks.Carnival of Homeschooling #23 (the marine life edition) is up on PalmTree PunditTechnorati Tag: teaching-carnival

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1149517340865323482006-06-05T10:03:00.000-04:002006-06-05T10:22:20.903-04:00

BIO101 - Bora Zivkovic - Lecture 4, Part 3In the first two parts of this lecture we tackled the Origin of Life and Biological Diversity and the mechanisms of the Evolution of Biological Diversity. Now, we'll take a look at what those mechanisms have produced so far - the current state of diversity on our planet.The Three DomainsThe organisms living on Earth today are broadly divided into three

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1149444018423756072006-06-04T13:50:00.000-04:002006-06-04T14:00:18.446-04:00

BIO101 - Bora Zivkovic - Lecture 4, Part 2In the previous segment of the lecture, we looked at the Origin of Life and the beginnings of the evolution of biological diversity. Now we move to explanations of the mechanisms by which diversity arises.Although traits can be inherited by non-DNA ways, and DNA sequence does not neccessarily translate directly onto the traits, in the long term the

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1149170266702044372006-06-01T09:46:00.000-04:002006-06-01T09:57:46.736-04:00

BIO101 - Bora Zivkovic - Lecture 4, Part 1Adaptation vs. DiversityBiology is concerned with answering two Big Questions: how to explain the adaptation of organisms to their environments and how to explain the diversity of life on Earth.Much of the course content so far engaged the question of the origin and evolution of adaptation, and much of the remainder of the course will also look at

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1149101992858191732006-05-31T14:52:00.000-04:002006-06-01T11:37:59.906-04:00

I have started the engine, shifted into first gear, then second, and we're on our way on a two-day journey to our brand-new garage!Yup, you may have heard about this already. Starting this Friday, this blog will fuse with my other two blogs (Science And Politics and Circadiana) and move to the ever-growing Scienceblogs.com, hosted by the SEED Magazine.It does not work right now, but on Friday

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1149051526242477172006-05-31T00:58:00.000-04:002006-05-31T00:58:46.356-04:00

The 69th Edition of the Carnival of Education is up on Education in TexasThe 22nd edition of the Carnival of Homeschooling is up on Common Room.Technorati Tag: teaching-carnival

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1148451357262500322006-05-24T02:14:00.000-04:002006-05-24T03:41:52.610-04:00

Tangled Bank #54 is up on Science And PoliticsHuge and beautiful 68th Carnival of Education is up on NYC EducatorExcellent 21st edition of Carnival of Homeschooling: The Map to A Progressive Dinner is up on Principled Discovery.

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1148268606924120062006-05-21T23:22:00.000-04:002006-05-21T23:30:06.946-04:00

EcologyBIO101 - Bora Zivkovic - Lecture 3 - Part 2Ecology is the study of relationships of organisms with one another and their environment. Organisms are organized in populations, communities, ecosystems, biomes and the biosphere.A population of organisms is a sum of all individuals of a single species living in one area at one time.Individuals in a population can occupy space in three basic

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1148235391370354042006-05-21T14:15:00.000-04:002006-05-21T14:16:31.383-04:00

The next edition of Tangled Bank is fast approaching - it will appear on my other blog Science and Politics on Wednesday May 24th, very early in the morning. The deadline is 23rd at 8pm ET.I have only eight entries so far - come on, people! Out of more than 400 science-related blogs, I get only eight posts?Some carnivals have very strict entry policies - Carnival of Liberals is limited to the

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1148182783070237462006-05-20T23:25:00.000-04:002006-05-20T23:56:05.493-04:00

BIO101 - Bora Zivkovic - Lecture 3 - Part 1Imagine that you are a zebra, grazing in the savannah. Suddenly, you smell a lion. A moment later, you hear a lion approaching and, out of the corner of your eye, you see the lion running towards you.What happens next? You start running away, of course. How does that happen? Your brain receieved information from your sensory organs, processed that

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1147895926717276542006-05-17T15:52:00.000-04:002006-05-19T08:44:07.360-04:00

DonorsChoose is a nifty website that collects in one place many educational programs and initiatives. If you are a teacher you can pick one or more of those to support, or you can add one of your own. If you are a teacher who needs something, this is the place to ask for it. If you are a blogger, you can challenge your readers to donate to the program of your choosing. Donations are easy to

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1147880998889504732006-05-17T11:35:00.000-04:002006-05-23T11:10:41.123-04:00

EvolutionBIO101 - Bora Zivkovic - Lecture 2 - Part 4Imagine a small meadow. And imagine in that meadow ten insects. Also imagine that the ten insects are quite large and that the meadow has only so much flowers, food and space to sustain these ten individuals and not any more. Also imagine that the genomes of those ten insects are identical, except for one individual: that one has a mutation

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1147868656516089622006-05-17T08:23:00.000-04:002006-05-17T08:24:16.533-04:00

Carnival of Education #67 is up on a Education Wonks.Animal-themed Carnival of Homeschooling #20 is up on Home Sweet Home.

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1147712112696444702006-05-15T12:45:00.000-04:002006-05-15T13:27:48.060-04:00

How Genotype Affects PhenotypeBIO101 - Bora Zivkovic - Lecture 2 - Part 3One often hears news reports about discoveries of a "gene for X", e.g., gene for alcoholism, gene for homosexuality, gene for breast cancer, etc. This is an incorrect way of thinking about genes, as it implies a one-to-one mapping between genes and traits.This misunderstanding stems from historical precedents. The very

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1147673323895798102006-05-15T01:59:00.000-04:002006-05-15T02:08:43.913-04:00

Cell Differentiation and Embryonic DevelopmentBIO101 - Bora Zivkovic - Lecture 2 - Part 2There are about 210 types of human cells, e.g., nerve cells, muscle cells, skin cells, blood cells, etc. Wikipedia has a nice comprehensive listing of all the types of human cells.What makes one cell type different from the other cell types? After all, each cell in the body has exactly the same genome (the

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1147661877487909332006-05-14T22:57:00.000-04:002006-05-14T22:57:57.500-04:00

Next edition of Tangled Bank, the blog carnival covering science, nature, medicine, environment and the intersection between science and society, will be held on Wednesday, May 24th, on my other blog, Science And Politics. Send your entries by Tuesday, May 23th at 5pm (Eastern) to: Coturnix1 AT aol DOT com.

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1147633437350580252006-05-14T14:57:00.000-04:002006-05-14T15:08:31.656-04:00

Cell Division and DNA ReplicationBIO101 - Bora Zivkovic - Lecture 2 - Part 1In the first lecture, we covered the way science works and especially how the scientific method applies to biology. Then, we looked at the structure of the cell, building a map of the cell - knowing what processes happen where in the cell, e.g., the production of energy-rich ATP molecules in the mitochondria.In the third

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1147580173556278712006-05-14T00:13:00.000-04:002006-05-14T00:16:48.716-04:00

Welcome to The Tar Heel Tavern, the showcase of North Carolina blogging goodness. In keeping with the theme of this blog, as well as the timeliness of the edition coinciding with college graduations and (almost) end of the school year, the entries today all have something to do with learning, teaching or education. It is not a huge edition, but it is all high quality blogging. So, let's get

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1147269837670200902006-05-10T10:03:00.000-04:002006-05-12T09:19:21.523-04:00

Teaching Carnival #9 is up at Adventures in Ethics and Science.Carnival of Education #66 is up on HUNBlog.Carnival of Homeschooling is up on Why Homeschool.Technorati Tag: teaching-carnival

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1147103195264437062006-05-08T11:34:00.000-04:002006-05-08T11:46:35.286-04:00

BIO101 - Bora Zivkovic - Lecture 1 - Part 4Cell-cell interactionsCells do not exist in complete isolation. For a coordinated function of cells in a tissue, tissues in an organ, organs in a system and systems in the body, cells need to be able to communicate with each other. Each cell should be capable of sending chemical signals to other cells and of receiving chemical signals from oter cells,

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1147096343513338982006-05-08T09:39:00.000-04:002006-05-08T09:52:23.536-04:00

BIO101 - Bora Zivkovic - Lecture 1 - Part 3The DNA codeDNA is a long double-stranded molecule residing inside the nucleus of every cell. It is usually tightly coiled forming chromosomes in which it is protected by proteins.Each of the two strands of the DNA molecule is a chain of smaller molecules. Each link in the chain is composed of one sugar molecule, one phosphate molecule and one

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1147066102252044572006-05-08T01:24:00.000-04:002007-12-18T14:12:41.759-05:00

BIO 101 - Bora Zivkovic - Lecture 1 - Part 2The CellAll living organisms are composed of one or more cells - the cell is the unit of organization of Life.Most cells are very small. Exceptions? Ostrich egg is the largest cell. Nerve cell in a leg of a giraffe may be as long as 3m, but is very thin.Basic Structure of the CellA cell is a small packet or bag of liquid. The liquid is cytoplasm (or

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1147056909449901292006-05-07T22:48:00.000-04:002006-05-07T23:16:11.386-04:00

This is the summary of the first part of the first lecture in Introduction to Life Science (this is a science requirement for non-science majors at an accelerated adult education program at a community college). The summary is more than just a series of bulleted points to be memorized, but it also does not contain all the examples, details, anecdotes, jokes, veering off on tangents, answering

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1146990335773022652006-05-07T04:24:00.000-04:002006-05-07T04:25:35.806-04:00

See what the teachers say about it.

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1146663580411870562006-05-03T09:37:00.000-04:002006-05-03T09:39:40.426-04:00

Carnival of Education #65 is up on Education Wonks.Carnival of Homeschooling #18 is up on The Thinking Mother.

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1146343064722327612006-04-29T16:29:00.000-04:002006-04-29T16:37:44.733-04:00

From the lab to the classroom:From Brainethics comes an interesting article (pdf) about a meeting between neuroscientists and teachers. Apparently, a lot of brain science used in pedagogy these days is bogus, yet new stuff either does not exist or is not well known or is not implemented.Turning a classroom into a computer:From David Warlcick: The World is Shrinking — and moreThe Computer Just

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1146066922263786082006-04-26T11:55:00.000-04:002006-04-26T11:55:22.286-04:00

Carnival of Education #64 is up on Education Wonks and Carnival of Homeschooling #17 is up on Common Room.

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1146011258734012512006-04-25T20:26:00.000-04:002006-04-25T20:27:38.750-04:00

James Oblinger, the new President of North Carolina State University (promoted from within after many years as the Dean of the School Of Agriculture And Life Sciences), has a good editorial in today's News and Observer:Nurturing success in the sciences:We've all heard the line from President Bush: We need more students to join the "nerd patrol." It's an overly simple solution for a complex

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1145445517641933872006-04-19T07:16:00.000-04:002006-04-19T07:18:37.653-04:00

New editions of the Carnival of Education and Carnival of Homeschooling are up now.On the other hand, what do you think about science blogging?Technorati Tag: teaching-carnival

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1145321848373004102006-04-17T20:56:00.000-04:002006-04-17T20:57:28.396-04:00

An interesting article just appeared on PLoS - Biology:Scientific Illiteracy and the Partisan Takeover of Biology (PDF). Here are a couple of short excerpts - you have to go and read the rest:-----------snip-------------Though some see the growing influence of ideology over scientific issues as a threat to America's standing as global science leader, a leading analyst of public attitudes toward

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1145292894731325962006-04-17T12:53:00.000-04:002006-04-17T12:54:54.746-04:00

I don't know who the current president of Meredith College is (the old guy was just leaving at the time my wife was there), but kudos to the faculty for standing up to her and to her sneaky D-Ho-type friends:Meredith College faculty reject BB&T money:The faculty at Meredith College in Raleigh struck a blow for academic freedom Friday, and in so doing, might've cost the college $420,000 from the

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1145156298603065392006-04-15T22:57:00.000-04:002006-04-15T22:58:18.616-04:00

The April edition of the Teaching Carnival (higher ed) is up on A Delicate Boy.Technorati Tag: teaching-carnival

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1144817592989614452006-04-12T00:33:00.000-04:002006-04-12T14:39:03.990-04:00

Welcome to the 62nd edition of the Carnival of Education. For most of you, this blog may be new, but some of you may be familiar with my other two blogs, the science blog Circadiana and the general-purpose blog Science And Politics. The Magic School Bus is the latest addition to my blogging empire - the third leg of the Triple Crown!I was wondering what theme to use this time and how to classify

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1144238890584121782006-04-05T08:07:00.000-04:002006-04-05T08:08:10.596-04:00

Carnival of Education #61 is up on The Education Wonks.Next Week's Carnival will be hosted by me right here at The Magic School Bus. Please send contributions to: Coturnix1 AT aol DOT com. Send your entries by 5:00PM EST on Tuesday, April 11th. Include the title of your post, and its URL. Of course, I am hoping for a nice showing by science educators next week (hint, hint).Technorati Tag:

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1144030253049871812006-04-02T22:04:00.000-04:002006-04-10T22:54:19.396-04:00

So, yesterday was the last, fourth meeting of the lab. We started out by going over their homework questions about the evolution of Vertebrates. I was quite happy that only one person in only one question confused development with evolution - something that I see, unfortunately, very often. The legs of the frog do not "evolve" out of the body once the tadpole starts losing its tail: the frog

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1143956692532446342006-04-02T00:42:00.000-05:002006-04-06T05:53:03.933-04:00

This being the National Sleep Awareness Week and on the heels of the recent study on sleep of adolescents, it is not surprising that this issue is all over the media, including blogs, these days.I have written about it recently several times. I present some science and some opinion here and add a little more science and much more opinion here.You can look at media coverage here and listen to an

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1143663307103323322006-03-29T15:10:00.000-05:002006-03-29T15:15:07.120-05:00

Carnival of Education is up on Right Wing Nation.Tangled Bank is up on Island Of Doubt.Carnival of Homeschooling is up on Why Homeschool.Technorati Tag: teaching-carnival

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1143422158610056172006-03-26T20:14:00.000-05:002006-03-28T10:58:16.116-05:00

This week we had a busy lab, which means I did not have time for much inpired talking like I did last time. We did some exercises together as a group, while some other exercises were set as stations arund the room and each student did them alone, at their own time.First, the students used the staining technique they learned last week to find out what kinds of organisms live on their fingers.

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1143098113452350542006-03-23T02:14:00.000-05:002006-03-23T02:15:13.476-05:00

EducationWonks found an excellent article written by a student about science education in elementary schools and beyond:Light a fire under students for math, science programs :-------snip----------Upon reviewing the major points of the bill, however, I failed to find a specific focus on improving science and mathematics education in grades K-6. The bill seems to be geared toward secondary school

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1143033935419898522006-03-22T08:24:00.000-05:002006-03-22T08:25:35.436-05:00

Carnival of Education #59 is up on The Education Wonks.Carnival of Homeschooling is up on PHAT Mommy.Technorati Tag: teaching-carnival

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1142984942262753502006-03-21T18:41:00.000-05:002006-03-29T18:03:33.106-05:00

When teaching the lecture portion of the course, I naturally have to prepare the lectures in advance, and each lecture has to cover a particular topic. This makes biology somewhat fragmentary and I try to use various strategies to connect one lecture to another, one topic to another, one area of biology to another, and especially each area of biology to evolution, as it is the unifying principle

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1142576690307111332006-03-17T01:21:00.000-05:002006-03-17T01:24:50.320-05:00

The latest edition of the Teaching Carnival is up on The Salt Box.Carnival of Education - Issue #58 is up on Education Wonks.Carnival of Unschooling - the third edition is up on Atypical Homeschool.net.The latest edition of the Carnival of Homeschooling is currently on Common Room.Technorati Tag: teaching-carnival

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1142535871740185032006-03-16T14:03:00.000-05:002006-03-16T14:04:31.753-05:00

Afraid of the dense terminology of molecular biology? Don't despair! David Ng came to the rescue with a clear, easy and beautiful cartoon guide to DNA replication, over on The Science Creative Quarterly. I may use it next time I teach the lecture portion of the Intro Bio course (in May). I hope that transcription and translation will come soon - in time for that.Technorati Tag: teaching-carnival

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1142225261219494192006-03-12T23:39:00.000-05:002006-03-18T14:49:19.016-05:00

Yesterday I had my first class of the semster of the BIO Lab at the community college. This is the first time with a new syllabus, containing some new excercises.At the beginning, we took a look at some cartoons, as examples of Inductive and Abductive Arguments, or, in other words, as examples of the way scientists think and work, which I used to explain why scientists never state "this is the

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1141265989708083442006-03-01T21:18:00.000-05:002006-03-01T21:19:49.740-05:00

Rob the Dirty Liberal has some interesting and thought-provoking ideas about a college freshman science course - or how one can be designed: University Science Education: A New Approach. What do you think?

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1140419340604860362006-02-20T02:05:00.000-05:002006-03-03T10:18:09.113-05:00

Last night I wrote a long post on Circadiana about a new study linking Lithium, Circadian Clocks and Bipolar Disorder. I wrote that post while having fresh in my mind the recent discussions about the strategies that scientists can use to communicate their findings to the lay audience.Thus, I tried to write that post, although it is about a paper that describes yet another little detail in the

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1140010286477834172006-02-15T08:30:00.000-05:002006-02-15T21:31:20.636-05:00

The sixth edition of the Teaching Carnival is up on Science And Politics.technorati tag: teaching-carnival

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1139845144942989922006-02-13T10:35:00.000-05:002006-02-24T20:52:57.240-05:00

I teach Biology at a community college, but not on the main campus. Instead, I teach at a satellite campus dedicated to adult education. Those are all accelerated courses, which means that classes meet for about three hours once a week, either in the evening or on Saturday, and the classes last five, eight or twelve weeks.Biology lasts eight weeks, although I teach the Lab over four weeks,

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1138087592573117112006-02-08T02:24:00.000-05:002006-02-08T13:41:43.166-05:00

I will be hosting the sixth edition of the Teaching Carnival on Science And Politics (my 'home' blog) on February 15th, 2006. Unlike Carnival of Education which covers all aspects of teaching at all levels, this one is focused on Higher Ed.As a lot of science bloggers read my blogs and a certain proportion of them teach at the University level, I hope to strengthen the science section of the

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1137472396408967652006-01-16T23:32:00.000-05:002006-01-16T23:33:16.413-05:00

Sorry for three days of absence from this blog. I needed some time to recuperate after the Podacstercon which I attended last Saturday. It was a marvelous experience. For more information check out the Podcastercon blog, the wiki, a nice article in News and Observer, the blog reports via Technorati tags, Technorati search and Google blogsearch and pictures on Flickr.Kudos to Brian Russell for

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1137471860424966102006-01-16T23:23:00.000-05:002006-01-16T23:24:20.433-05:00

This is going to be long, but bear with me. I start with one specific course, than broaden the picture, muse a bit, meander somewhat, then ask some questions for which I would love some answers in the comments.ColinMcEnroe's blogging class is over. They are supposed to turn in their final papers in hardcopy, but now that they are all bloggers in their own right, nothing comes more naturally to

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1137471239892583872006-01-16T23:13:00.000-05:002006-01-16T23:13:59.896-05:00

The new article on PLoS, Evolution for Everyone: How to Increase Acceptance of, Interest in, and Knowledge about Evolution by David Sloan Wilson, describes a successful experiment of teaching evolution to a broad segment of the student population at Bighampton College (the paper looks nicer in PDF format).Here are just a couple of snippets:The main problem with accepting evolution involves

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1137470880589857162006-01-16T23:07:00.000-05:002006-01-16T23:08:00.593-05:00

There has been literally an explosion of new knowledge about malaria in the last ten years or so. It is an amazing disease. Looking at all the new findings coming out almost every week makes me salivate because of...teaching! Malaria is a fantastic case-study to keep mentioning over and over again throughout the course. Let me backtrack for a moment....I teach general biology to adult non-science

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1137470600649166122006-01-16T23:02:00.000-05:002006-01-16T23:03:20.650-05:00

Yesterday morning I went to Hillsborough and talked to two 10th grade classes about circadian clocks and sleep. That was quite an experience. I have just realized right there and then that this was the first time that I have ever set foot in an US high school.I've had a PPT slideshow ready, but I suspected that a high school was not as technically well equipped as a University, so I changed my

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1137470230543524372006-01-16T22:56:00.000-05:002006-01-16T22:57:10.556-05:00

I teach biology to adults (non-science majors) at a local community college. For communication with students we are supposed to use the most cumbersome school website system ever designed. But who says that we cannot use blogs in teaching, too? This morning, I gave my students an assignment to write a paper. I did not give them any information on formatting. Instead, I told them to emulate the

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1137469275225609262006-01-16T22:40:00.000-05:002006-01-16T22:41:15.226-05:00

Earlier today Mrs.Coturnix and I took Coturnix Jr. and Coturnietta to the pediatrician (and the dentist - they are in the same building). While sitting in the waiting room we saw a strange scene. A father and a son (about 14-years old, I'd say) walked out of the office, the boy vigorously rocking a little baby, the father saying "It's great we have a car. Cars are good things".I guess I made such

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1137469028711933932006-01-16T22:36:00.000-05:002006-01-16T22:37:08.713-05:00

Somewhat related to the whole ConvergeSouth experience. I've been pitching a blogging course to my school for a while now (not NCSU, but a community college where I teach). It's been slow and disheartening so far. Nobody knows what blogging is. Also, there is a rule that one needs to have an appropriate degree for a class. In the case of a blogging class, this would mean, or so they said, either

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1137468706997111132006-01-16T22:30:00.000-05:002006-01-16T22:32:17.406-05:00

The Facebook is an extremely popular social software on campuses around the country. According to Fred Stutzman, (hat tip: Paul Jones) 85% of incoming Freshmen at UNC - Chapel Hill had a facebook account on day one of class.If you follow that link to Fred, you will see that he used the Search function of the Facebook to look at the breakdown of UNC students by political affiliation. Intrigued,

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1137467719968023062006-01-16T22:13:00.000-05:002006-01-16T22:15:19.973-05:00

When I was in elementary school back in Belgrade (grades 1 through 8) I had the most horrible history teacher. She was an example that stereotype of "dumb blonde" is sometimes correct. She was hired, I assume, because she was the Barbie-doll trophy wife of the then mayor of Belgrade.For four years I did not learn anything about history. I managed to get all 5s (equivalent of As) until the very

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1137467274099902872006-01-16T22:07:00.000-05:002006-01-16T22:07:54.106-05:00

According to Michael Shermer there are:- science- borderlands science- psuedoscience, and- nonsenseScience is a methodology of figuring out, with as great confidence as possible, how the world works. Evolutionary theory is one of the biggest, strongest and best-supported bodies of all of science.Borderland Science refers to first small steps in acquiring realistic knowledge about a

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1137467137906268222006-01-16T22:04:00.000-05:002006-01-16T22:05:37.906-05:00

Since the ordination of Gene Robinson, the Episcopal Church has split into its "liberal" faction and its "conservative" faction. I did not pay much attention to this, but recently I heard something disturbing.There used to be an old Episcopal school here. After the split, the school also split - which apparently involved erecting new buildings, etc. I recently learned what is being taught in the

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1137466792100850042006-01-16T21:58:00.000-05:002006-01-16T21:59:52.123-05:00

The story about the class dissection of a dog stirred quite a lot of controversy, including heated exchanges in the comments of these two posts on Pharyngula.I joined in late to that discussion, not because I missed it, but because I did not know what to say before I knew more about the case, and also because I have my own, very strong views on the general matter. I assumed that an animal

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1137281961514977442006-01-14T18:38:00.000-05:002006-01-14T18:39:21.516-05:00

Yesterday morning Mrs.Coturnix and I went to Coturnietta's school. Her class had a Science Fair! You can just imagine my excitement - a scientist's daughter's first venture into science!For two weeks she pestered me to help her with her project, and I did a little bit here and there (using sharp objects when neccessary, for instance, or going to the store and buying supplies she ordered), but in

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1137281157454785802006-01-14T18:25:00.000-05:002006-01-14T18:25:57.466-05:00

Look at these different views on the same incident (a student expelled from Le Moyne College in upstate NY for writing a paper endorsing corporal punishment):Paddle-NYTProblem of Academic FreedomNPRAcademic FreedomCBSMost are talking about this in terms of academic freedom. But, this is NOT at the core of the issue. This is an instance in which a thoroughly Nurturant Parent organization - the US

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1134268389412189532005-12-10T21:32:00.000-05:002005-12-10T21:33:09.420-05:00

A few days ago, PZ Myers of the Pharyngula fame (not the pharyngula stage, though - much more advanced in development) wrote a post (http://pharyngula.org/index/weblog/comments/an_interesting_teaching_example/) that links to this article (http://groups.google.co.uk/groups?selm=1107829738.090845.112680@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com) about creative ways to teach scientific method: "I found that I

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1134268079893984182005-12-10T21:27:00.000-05:002005-12-10T21:27:59.896-05:00

Chris is so nice. Way too nice. And naive. He actually contacted David Horowitz and offered to do a study that has a potential to PROVE Horowitz's claim that conservatives are discriminated against in the Academia. Read the whole episode here:http://mixingmemory.blogspot.com/2005/03/my-exchange-with-david-horowitz.htmlAs you can see, my title is just an euphemistic version of what Horowitz called

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1134267918574845502005-12-10T21:24:00.000-05:002005-12-10T21:25:18.580-05:00

I guess it is the time of year when college professors get their student evaluations back and, of course, some of those who blog have written about their experiences. For instance Bitch PhD cites some really hillarious ones, but concludes with this:http://bitchphd.blogspot.com/2005/03/whats-wrong-with-academia-part-two.html IMHO, while evaluations are important, one down side is that they can

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1134267771962522652005-12-10T21:22:00.000-05:002005-12-10T21:22:51.966-05:00

I have hinted several times (here, here, here and here) before that relativism (including moral relativism) is not consistent with the liberal core model (in Lakoffian sense). Instead, postmodernism is used these days as a tactic by conservatives to push their pre-modern views within a modern society. In other words, faced with the reality of a modern world, the only way conservatives can

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1134267580533878942005-12-10T21:19:00.000-05:002005-12-10T21:19:40.536-05:00

I was asked the other day what I thought about the Ward Churchill affair. Frankly, I had not followed it at all (but you can: http://hnn.us/articles/10157.html). Apparently, Whingers want to kill him, or at least get him fired (e.g., http://gullyborg.typepad.com/weblog_archive/2005/02/deconstructing_.html, or http://www.frontpagemagazine.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=16972), while Progressives

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1134025540292351312005-12-08T02:05:00.000-05:002005-12-10T21:17:14.786-05:00

Hmmm, looking back at my post (http://sciencepolitics.blogspot.com/2004/12/great-men-history-and-science.html), and reading johnnybutter's comment to it, I was not really clear how I made the connection between science and politics, and between Great Men and No Great Men history.The first class I described, the class I took, was a great example of teaching a field of science using a "Great Men in

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1134025453563522812005-12-08T02:03:00.000-05:002005-12-10T21:16:35.440-05:00

There is an interesting thread here:http://pharyngula.org/index/weblog/comments/talk_about_not_getting_the_concept/about "faith" in science and the way science is taught. Why no science textbook is a "Bible" of a field. Here are some of my musings....So much science teaching, not just in high school but also in college, is rote learning. Memorize Latin names for body parts, Krebs cycle, taxonomy

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1133792809619125862005-12-05T09:26:00.000-05:002005-12-05T09:26:49.640-05:00

From Dr.Munger's blog, an interesting article:http://mungowitzend.blogspot.com/2004/11/no-active-or-noisy-elimination-need.htmlLiberal Groupthink Is Anti-Intellectualhttp://chronicle.com/temp/email.php?id=mc0rlko2vsnbpgs62ob5z3zemc5gd7az(permanent link: http://www.duke.edu/~munger/bc.htm )By MARK BAUERLEIN Conservatives on college campuses scored a tactical hit when theAmerican Enterprise

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1133792656169543872005-12-05T09:23:00.000-05:002005-12-05T09:24:16.173-05:00

Eric at Total Information Awareness wrote two excellent posts on something that touches me personally, yet has much broader consequences on the country as a whole: the well-organized and well-funded assault of the Right on the University.Academic Freedom Fighters, Parts I and II (check some links in the comments section, too):http://tianews.blogspot.com/2004/10/freedom-fighters.htmlhttp://

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1133792512504103022005-12-05T09:21:00.000-05:002006-02-16T14:35:35.436-05:00

Why does one so often hear that education can be improved by concentration on three R’s: reading, writing and arithmetic? The way this is usually implemented is by giving students exercises in these three areas, then giving them simple tests to evaluate if they learned them. This makes the mechanics of teaching and testing easy, that’s for sure, and the test results can be used to punish

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13726712.post-1143092559840862452005-03-23T00:40:00.001-05:002006-03-23T00:43:34.440-05:00

coturnixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com0