With the implementation of the 2007 NZ Curriculum comes the need for teachers to think about how best to help their students to develop an understanding of the nature of science. The Nature of Science is the overarching unifying strand. Through it, students learn what science is and how scientists work. They develop the skills, attitudes, and […]
Continue readingTag: history of science
engagement techniques for teaching evolution
This is a re-post of something I’ve written for the ‘other blog’ over at Talking Teaching. I’m hoping those of my readers who are biology teachers might find something useful in it, & that we might get a discussion going on this key topic of teaching evolution, given its prominence in the new Science curriculum. […]
Continue readingX-rays & ouches
X-rays were discovered in 1895 by Wilhelm Roentgen, a discovery that was to bring him the first Nobel Prize for physics. (No, I’m not really going to trespass on Marcus’s territory! Well, not for long.) Like many other scientists of the time, Roentgen was experimenting with electtrifying the thin gases in vacuum tubes. One night […]
Continue readingreflecting on teaching (& learning) about the nature of science
This is a re-post of something I originally wrote for the ‘other’ blog that I share with Marcus & Fabiana. A couple of days ago I took part in a discussion around reflective writing. It was organised by the University’s Student Learning Support team, with the intention of helping students working towards their PhDs to […]
Continue readingwhat science has given us
Had a not-the-best ending to a platelets donation today (syncope = fainting; very strange for platelets since you get all the red stuff back…) & I’m still feeling somewhat under the weather & don’t feel like writing a ‘serious’ post. So… what follows is something I’ve had tucked away for a while, wondering when to […]
Continue readingwhat evolution is
The issue of who’s going to coordinate our 2nd-year evolutionary biology paper came up the other day. (I haven’t done it for the last couple of years as my ‘other’ job – in the Dean’s office – takes up a fair proportion of my time. But at some point I’d like to get back into it. We’ve had that paper, Evolution and Diversity of […]
Continue readingevolution supressed in new zealand? i think not
While searching for some background on another post, I happened across this headline on the Herald site: University denies author’s PhD claim. I went on to read the story, as it’s always a bit of a concern to see people claiming credentials and the supposed awarding institution denying that this is the case. And a statement from the […]
Continue readingaustralian red beech
We saw this lovely tree on the shoreline at Cape Tribulation. The flowers last just a day before their petals fall. I took this particular photo because I liked the way the fallen petals exposed the colourful reproductive structures – I’m always on the lookout for images to use in my lectures. This reminds me […]
Continue readingflorence nightingale was a statistician
Just a quick post as I’m away on a panel meeting & my brain is tired – but here’s something else from my file of ‘things I didn’t know’: Florence Nightingale was a statistician. Now, I heard all about Florence Nightingale when I was a kid. She made a major contribution to the development of […]
Continue readingconspiracy theories & the electricity supply
Apologies in advance – this is way off my usual beaten track but it’s been a hard week & I am in need of diversion 🙂 Over the last few days there’ve been a couple of letters to the editor of the Waikato Times, talking about our electricity supply. The first suggested that Nikola Tesla had […]
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