Ed Yong’s TED Talk: Suicidal crickets, zombie roaches and other parasite tales
“Are there any parasites that are influencing our behaviour without us knowing it?”
When I started this blog back in 2007, Ed Yong was a fledgling science writer gaining an audience with his Not Exactly Rocket Science wordpress blog; clear and engaging online articles that opened up primary research to a wider audience. You’ll find many links to his writing throughout this site, connecting the concepts of the IB Biology course to current science and ‘the wow beat’. He has since had a book and is resident at NatGeo’s Phenomena Salon, after moving through Science Blogs and Discover.
He continues to inspire me as a writer and this week he gave his TED Talk, a funny and fact-packed tour of the sinister side of parasites. Enjoy! You will even be able to find some links out to further reading and references.
If you don’t already, you should subscribe to the Phenomena blogs, and if you’re a teacher or student whose schedule are as packed a mine, I highly recommend Ed’s weekly ‘Missing Links‘ roundup of science news and writing – they make for my Sunday morning reading!
Can you solve this?
Have a go at this – pause at 1:30 and get chatting before moving on! Another great video by Derek Muller (@veritasium), and will be useful in discussions of the scientific method, hypothesis testing and the nature of science.
A no is usually more useful than a yes…
Getty Image Library has been set free
This is big news this week for teachers and students who need media for their online projects. Getty, the giant photo agency, have opened up their library for free use as long as you use their embed tool.
This is timely as we think more carefully about Approaches to Learning in the MYP and DP, in particular Media and Information Literacy clusters and the skills of accessing and appropriately using information from other sources.
Here’s an example:
Cool!
Infested! Living with Parasites
Check this out, from the BBC. Dr Michael Mosley has himself infected with various parasites, including this big tapeworm, for our edutainment.
Full episode on BB iPlayer (limited time): Here.
Here’s a leech, for fun.
Socrative Space Race (beta)
Quick update to the Socrative Space Race page: some new cards to use with the beta version.
Updated space race cards for beta.socrative.com
30-Minute Inquiry: Base-substitution mutations
This has worked well (and been fun) as a topic review, way to make use of databases (ICT in IBBio requirement) and make connections as we.
Question: What do HBB, PAH, PKD1, NF1, CFTR, Opn1Mw and HEXA have in common?
Concepts: Structure vs Function; Universality & Diversity.
The set-up:
- Assign groups by handing out cards with the codes above (we had already studied HBB, so didn’t include it) and asking them to find each other.
- Give them the instructions – to produce a simple poster & 1-minute overview of their disorder, using the guidance in the image below.
- Go. Lots of discussion, lots of questioning. If students get stuck, they need to look it up, evaluate their sources and keep on going.
- Students will need to use the NCBI gene database to get going: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene
Check they’re on the right track: HBB (sickle cell), PAH (PKU), PKD1 (polycystic kidney disease), NF1 (neurofibromatosis), CFTR (cystic fibrosis), Opn1Mw (medium-wave sensitive colour-blindness), HEXA (Tay-Sachs disease). They are all disorders causes by base-substitution mutations.
After 30 minutes:
- Groups present to the class what they have found.
- As the class sharing continues, ask questions based on connections:
- What similarities and differences do we see?
- What are the normal functions of these genes and how does this connect to our understanding of proteins, channels, pumps, etc.
Three Million Views on i-Biology!
i-Biology.net recently passed three million views!
Biology4Good: click to find out more.
Thank-you everyone for the support over the last six and a half years, and especially to those who have been showing your appreciation by making donations to my chosen charities through the Biology4Good lists on JustGiving; we have raised GB£3,415.86 so far (US$5626.95), which is great and helps all this work make a difference beyond the classroom.
If you want to make a donation, please visit the Biology4Good page for more information. 100% of all donations go to the charity (not to me), and the donation can be enhanced with GiftAid if you are a UK taxpayer.
With best wishes for 2014 to all i-Biology.net users,
Stephen.
Amazing T. rex Illusion
This illusion rocks. See if you can work out how they did it before you see the ‘reveal’.
For more amazing illusions, see the archive of winners and entries in the ‘illusion of the year‘ contest.
Making Feedback Visible: Four Levels Experiment
I’ve recently been trying to update and enhance teaching practices through a more careful consideration of Hattie’s learning impacts and through the MYP assessment criteria. This is an experiment in giving feedback in a more evidence-based manner.
This quick brain-dump is based on ideas from Hattie’s Visible Learning for Teachers, Wiliam’s Embedded Formative Assessment and the pdf of The Power of Feedback (Hattie & Timperley) linked below.
I spent much of today trying to grade a large project (Describing the Motion of the Rokko Liner, our local train), which was assessed for MYP Sciences criteria D, E, F. Based on some of our Student Learning Goal work on helping students cope with data presentation and interpretation, the lab had been broken into stages (almost all completed in-class), spread across A4 and A3 paper and GoogleDocs in Hapara.
The result: a lot of visible learning in that I could keep track of each student, see their work in progress and comment where needed. A lotof verbal feedback was given along the way, with some worked examples for students. Breaking the large assignment into stages helped keep…
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