or, more specifically, a question of lethal allelesA. Lethal alleles were first noticed back in 1905 by Lucien Cuénot, and identified for what they were by Castle & Little in 1910. These two studies, looking at inheritance of yellow coat colour in mice, found that only mice heterozygous for this gene had yellow coats, despite […]
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Featured image: Venus, a cat that is either a clear example of the outcome of X-chromosome inactivation, or a chimera. Here in Aotearoa New Zealand, senior high school students are currently sitting their external exams. This year’s Level 2 Biology papers have attracted quite a bit of attention from teachers, who’ve expressed concerns about the […]
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Many readers will probably have read this RNZ article (or heard the related interview), or seen calls for consultation on the Ministry of Education’s suggested changes to the number of subjects – and achievement standards – on offer to year 11 students. I’ve been following (& participating, where I can) all this with colleagues and […]
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You’re probably aware that the Achievement Standards used to assess senior school students’ learning are being reviewed. Science is one of the ‘pilot’ subjects in this process, where a ‘Subject Expert Group’ has developed 4 draft Science standards¹ (a significant step away from the current 30+, and a response to advice from several high-level advisory […]
Continue readingThis post was originally written for my “other” blog, Talking Teaching. Over the weekend I heard from some very unhappy teachers. As in, teachers – excellent, experienced teachers – who are upset to the point of tears on behalf of their students. The reason for their unhappiness? This year’s NCEA Level 3 (year 13) biology […]
Continue readingI'm sitting in the sun waiting for the 2017 First-Year Science Educators' Colloquium (FYSEC) to kick off- & it's somewhat embarassing to realise that I hadn't done anything with some of the notes I took at last year's event. However, much of the discussion then is still just as relevant today, & in fact many of […]
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