A couple of years ago I spent a lovely afternoon in the huge domed glasshouses of Singapore's "Gardens on the Bay". The 'cloud forest' was my favourite – both for the concept & for the wonderful range of epiphytes on show there. So you'll understand that I enjoyed reading about it again on this blog, […]
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teaching plant life cycles – trying a different approach
For whatever reason, I find that many students seem to struggle when it comes to learning about plant life cycles. The whole sporophyte/gametophyte, meiosis/mitosis thing really gets them – & that’s even before we start looking at how the life cycle is modified in different groups of plants. Yes, the textbook has lots of diagrams […]
Continue readingan entertaining take on plants & plant cells
The new semester kicks off tomorrow & right now I'm adding resources to my first-year bio moodle page & running through the powerpoints for the week's lectures. After a couple of introductory sessions we're diving into the section of the class that focuses on plants, and I'm giving some serious thought to how I present […]
Continue readingpresenting on plants at WCeLfest
For the last few years our Centre for e-Learning has run WCeLfest – a day of presentations & discussion around using various technology tools to enhance teaching & learning. I always find these sessions very valuable as there are a lot of people doing some really interesting things in their classrooms, & there's always something […]
Continue readingmusings on moocs
I've had a few conversations lately around the topic of Massive Open On-line Courses (or MOOCs). These fully on-line courses, which typically have very high enrolments, have become widely available from overseas providers (my own institution recently developed and ran the first such course in New Zealand, which I see is available again this year). […]
Continue readingnot science as i know it
By accident, I came across the curriculum document for Accelerated Christian Education (ACE) which provides teaching & learning materials to parents who are homeschooling their children. New Zealand students who complete the program right to year 13 gain university entrance. Home Schooling NZ gives parents advice about the ACE program, but makes it clear that […]
Continue readingshaking up the academy? or, how the academy could shake up teaching
This is something I originally wrote for my 'other' blog over at Talking Teaching. Last week I spent a couple of days down in Wellington, attending the annual symposium for the Ako Aotearoa Academy. The Academy's made up of the winners of the national Tertiary Teaching Excellence Awards, so there are around 150 or so […]
Continue readingnz’s pisa rankings slip, & the soul-searching begins
The latest PISA results are out, and NZ – despite remaining in the 'above the average' group for OECD countries – has nonetheless slipped in this measure of achievement in reading, maths administered by the Programme for International Student Assessment . This is of concern, & there are probably multiple complex causes for our decline. […]
Continue readingwhy did the pigeon cross the road?
if I lived in Hawkes Bay I'd be keen to attend this Royal Society public lecture, & I'll certainly be watching the video, which will be available after. It looks like being of interest & value to senior Biology teachers. The ninth lecture in the 10X10 series Why did the pigeon cross the road? […]
Continue readingswimming as a sperm does
It's much harder for a sperm to swim, than it is for a sperm whale. Why? This excellent TEDed video explains: I think I'll use it next year, during the 'reproduction' section of my first-year biology paper 🙂
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