Informing Their Discretion

In September I wrote a letter for NABT’s journal that asked us to focus on Biodiversity and Conservation, as a means of teaching sustainability.  I began by saying how important it was for teachers to take what they teach seriously because to the impact they have on students.  Let me highlight some of those ideas:

I have been richly blessed the past four years with the opportunity to direct the development of an academic centre in Cuenca, Ecuador. I have met and worked with the director of El Cajas, the national park in Azuay Provence and have heard him describe the diversity of Ecuador’s wildlife.  Ecuador has four main regions.  Most people are aware of the Galapagos Islands and the rich, wonderful life that inhabits these islands.  Many do not know of the other three regions and the wealth of diversity in those areas: the western coastal lowlands (Costa), the central spine of the Andes mountains (Sierra), and the east side of Ecuador including the western edge of the Amazon Jungle (Oriente).  There are cloud forests, inter-Andean valleys, deserts, tundra, and, yes, even snow.  The elevation changes from sea level to over 20,000 ft.  It is an area of active volcanoes, mountain streams, and so many features that something different appears around every corner.

Galapagos Islands

Cajas National Park, Cuenca Ecuador

There are estimates of more than 25,000 species of plants, 1600 species of birds, 400 species of mammals, 350 species of reptiles (200 species of snakes alone and I love snakes), 400 species of amphibians, and 800 species of fish. The number of invertebrates (especially insects) is too numerous to describe.  I won’t even tell you how many spiders there are in Ecuador (as an arachnophobic, having tarantulas in my home makes me quiver), but I think we can all agree that Ecuador is a marvelous place for biodiversity. I am reminded by the words of President John Adams from a recent HBO documentary: “I have seen a queen of France with 18 million livres of diamonds on her person, but I declare that all the charms of her face and figure added to all the glitter of her jewels did not impress me as much as that little shrub right there. Now your mother always said that I never delighted enough in the mundane, but now I find that if I look at even the smallest thing my imagination begins to roam the Milky Way!” (John Adams, 2008).  Wow, Ecuador is a country of so many wonders that our imaginations roam.  Yet, Ecuador is a country that struggles to keep its biodiversity in the face of progress and modernization.  This is a struggle well worth fighting.

The biodiversity of our planet is extremely important.   The struggle to understand that importance and to defend that diversity cannot be understated.  Clean water and air, soil to grow our crops, pollination of our food sources, medicines that are essential to our health are just a miniscule number of examples and not the purpose of this letter. The purpose of this letter is to remind us of how important it is for us as teachers to help make our students aware of how important should our efforts be on conservation and Biodiversity.  How can we inform our students?  There are many experts in biodiversity who are also excellent teachers who can help. Mark Plotkin and his rain forest biodiversity programs and provides excellent assistance on global diversity and conservation issues.  NABT’s own Dr. Jacqueline S. McLaughlin teaches programs in Costa Rica that emphasize Biodiversity and help both student and faculty truly appreciate the importance of insuring diversity for future generations.  Check out the museums, zoos and botanical gardens in your state and area.  Many will have programs that support and educate and may provide valuable resources.  I know that the Indianapolis Zoo provides lots of educational support.

John and Student in Cuenca Ecuador

The imperative to teach for understanding about that importance of biodiversity and the necessity to conserve it cannot be understated.  E. O. Wilson, one of our country’s great scientists, educators, and writers, describes the importance of teachers (education) in this effort.   The E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation illustrates this role of education in the struggle for biodiversity when it states, “Education is crucial. Only an informed electorate can appreciate the value of biodiversity and the magnitude of the perils facing it. Only people who know and care about these issues can bring needed changes in public policy.” It adds:  “A well informed, educated electorate is necessary to make the right choices for a sustainable world.” (The E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation, 2009; http://www.eowilson.org/).  It is our privilege; no, it is our responsibility to educate our next generation on biodiversity and conservation.  Thomas Jefferson may have expressed it best when he said, “I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them but to inform their discretion.”  Let’s remember then as we begin the year that part of our purpose as educators is to inform our students’ discretion and insure the future of our planet.

So how do we inform their discretion without pushing our own bias?  By teaching the science of biodiversity.  By teaching the science of conservation. By teaching the science of sustainability.  We must teach our students to discern on their own in the future and to be able to discern the “truth” of what they hear.

John

Read the following post:

Dear Teacher:

Please join us in supporting the National Science Foundation in facilitating the integration of nanoscience and technology into education!

NanoTeach is a National Science Foundation (NSF) funded professional development project that utilizes the Designing Effective Science Instruction (DESI) framework to integrate nanoscience and technology content into existing science curricula. It is a collaboration between Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL), the Stanford Nanofabrication Facility (SNF), the Georgia Institute of Technology, the National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (NNIN), and ASPEN Associates.

We are seeking 30 public high school science teachers to participate in our year-long, nationwide pilot test of NanoTeach beginning summer 2010. Teachers who complete all requirements will receive a stipend of $3,000 (15 days at $200/day) for the out-of-classroom time required for participation.

The application deadline is January 8, 2010. A special NanoTeach Question-and-Answer webinar is scheduled for November 17 at 5 p.m. EST. For more information, go to:  http://www.mcrel.org/NanoTeach/Recruiting <http://www.mcrel.org/NanoTeach/Recruiting>

Sincerely,

Elisabeth Palmer, Ph.D.

Director of Research

ASPEN Associates, Inc.

John Ristvey

Principal Investigator

NanoTeach Project

Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL)

HelloTeachers,

Together with the Genetics Policy Institute, the University of Pennsylvania is seeking funding to develop a new and innovative Stem Cell education website and live classroom demonstration that will expand on Project BioEYES. For those teachers who are not yet involved with BioEYES, it is a live classroom experiment that uses zebrafish to teach students about cell biology, development, and genetics. It has reached over 18,000 students since 2002 and we hope to continue to offer new and exciting classroom opportunities.

This survey will help us gain insight into your interest and knowledge about how
to best develop online and classroom-based stem cells resources for teachers.

Please complete this survey so that you can have a voice in the project’s
development. We truly appreciate you taking the time to complete this! It will
only take a few minutes.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=zf9lwefON6Im4_2bkWSs1jwQ_3d_3d

Sincerely,
The Project BioEYES team

The speakers are:
·         Professor Derek Smith, Professor of Infections Disease, Cambridge University, advisor to the World Health Organization, and a leading specialist on the flu virus. More information on Professor Smith can be found at:http://www.zoo.cam.ac.uk/zoostaff/smithd.html and http://www.antigenic-cartography.org/cam/

·         Jonathan Yewdell, MD, PhD, Laboratory Head, Laboratory of Viral Disease, National Institutes of Health, and an international expert on the flu virus and a well respected leader in science education.

·         Dr. Tallman, Cleveland Clinic. Featured in the media this week, Dr. Tallman will be able to answer questions from attendees about the medical and clinical aspects of this swine flu outbreak.

This webinar is made possible by the following sponsors: Citrix Online, The Cleveland Clinic, Constant Contact, Life Technologies, Scientific American.
 

For more information and registration of this free webinar, please visit: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/598005577 .
 

http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/topics/Flu/

http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/topics/Flu/Research/basic/AntigenicShiftIllustration.htm

http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/

I have been teaching science (biology) for 36+ years. After graduating from college I began teaching in Indiana on the Junior High level where I taught for ten years.  I loved working with those students, their minds were so eager to learn and they were so excited about most things I taught.  I then moved to high school where I taught for another ten years.  While at the high school I taught all levels and types of classes for the advanced students (microbiology, physiology and AP biology).  I also taught courses for those students who were disengaged in the education process.  I have now been teaching for the last 16 years on the university level including the science methods courses.  I am now beginning to develop an education centre for my university in Cuenca Ecuador.  I plan to live there this year in August to help develop the centre.

My ares of interest in biology also changed over the years.  When I first attended college I was an animal biologist and ecologist.  I loved studying the outdoors.  As I went back for my masters, I was seen as weak in plant biology, so my masters in biology had a plant emphasis.  Well when finally going back for my terminal degree in biology, my advising committee felt it was time for the cellular molecular world.  Now I am working in the area of the philosophy of science education.  I wonder where I will be in the next ten years?

Well after all these years in education, I have seen many debates about science education and the varied approaches to teaching it such as: learning styles, inquiry based, cooperative learning, constructivist approach to name a few.  One thing has remained constant over these years, in spite of the varied approaches; science is still perceived as a hard academic discipline.  So many of the students I now get in the university talk about how they were affected positively or negatively in science education by their high school biology teacher. It is always good to hear the good stories about the teachers in high school, especially after spending my first 20 years there.  However, in my non-major class, I often hear the sad stories of their science experiences.  One of the comments that I heard about a few years ago from a student in a biology class was.  “Biology, oh that is a field of study based on memorization of boring facts that have little relevance to my life.  People who are almost always right, never unsure of them, relatively emotionless, and often arrogant, practice it.  They are not at all like me.”

How many of you have heard students with the same opinion of biology, science and scientists.  How do we help teachers move from teaching just content and information? How can we help teachers find ways that excite students in such a way  so they can fulfill what they think the science standards are asking of them and begin to address the real biology?   So if you were asked the question, what is biological science, how would you respond?  I hope that these questions can provide a form of discussion on this blog that will help all of us to be better biology teachers.