I’ve just finished writing & delivering a new set of lectures; next week we’re moving back into what is – for me anyway! – more familiar territory. At the same time I’ve been reading Therese Huston’s book Teaching what you don’t know. Huston’s examples are drawn from the US tertiary system, and as you begin […]
Continue readingYear: 2011
the value of relaxed discussion
I’ve written quite a bit, from time to time, on the value of doing more than simply lecturing to students. More than a few research projects have shown the value of group work, including problem-solving and discussions, for enhancing students’ learning and understanding in a subject. I was reminded again of this today. Over the […]
Continue readingthe origin of modern humans – free webinar
This comes at an opportune time for those of you teaching the Human Evolution content – and for those looking around for some follow-up reading 🙂 The Howard Hughes Medical Institute has a whole lot of free biology education resources available on line, and this upcoming webcast looks to be wonderful stuff: Bones, Stones, & Genes: the […]
Continue readingare we ready for disaster?
That’s the attention-grabbing title for a post on Number 8 Network. The answer: maybe, and maybe not. That was the experience of Peter & Vicki Hyde, who live in the Christchurch suburb of Redcliffs & were interviewed by the N8N team. They’ve got some valuable lessons to share, which will well reward time spent reading […]
Continue readinga ‘little job’ for the weekend
Well, here I am in Palmerston North, in order to run a Scholarship Biology preparation day tomorrow (for want sounds like being a large crowd). The trip across the Desert Road was amazing: I simply wasn’t expecting to see so much snow 🙂 If it hadn’t been a tad damp – with little snow flurries […]
Continue readinga mammoth resurrection task
I spent Saturday down in Hawkes Bay, running at Scholarship Biology preparation day at Lindsfarne College. (I would have spent Sunday happily idling through the lovely Art Deco parts of Napier, & visiting a few vinyards, but the weather forecast made me reconsider this option & I ended up driving back to Hamilton once the […]
Continue readingwhat scientists can do to help teachers in the compulsory education system
A couple of days ago Grant sent me a link to a guest blog by biolgist & biology educator Joanne Manaster, on the Scientific American website . (There’s also an interesting commentary by George Musser.) Both resonated a lot with me & I thought I’d discuss why, here. (But first I am going to apologise in […]
Continue readingchemistry cat strikes again
Sorry, but it’s Sunday afternoon & I just couldn’t resist 🙂 (I really can’t see why PZ doesn’t like lolcats!)
Continue readingbiological oddities, including the naughty bits
Last night I gave a talk up in Auckland, on various biological oddities (mostly from the animal kingdom and, all right, mostly to do with s*x). You can slip a lot of serious science in once the audience’s attention has been captured by the naughty bits! (I would hate folks to think that biologists are […]
Continue reading(non)impact of placebo on the common cold
Over on SciBlogs(NZ), Elf has an interesting post about rhinoviruses, the causal agent for the common cold. I’ve just read it & thought it particularly apt in light of a recent paper on the impact of placebo treatments on the duration of cold symptoms (hat tip to the inimitable Mark Crislip). The Medscape review for […]
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