KABT BioBlog

by Justin Wood
A solid foundation of field and laboratory experiences is an essential element of a biology curriculum that seems to be underrepresented in many programs. Allowing students the opportunity to experience the world around them first hand is an invaluable experience….
Read more of this lab how-to in this pdf file called [...]

[Read more →]

(a repost from an earlier entry on my other blogs: EL Biology and the defunct, Teaching Biology)

Last spring, I made a life-changing decision—I decided to become a fly fisherman. I have been fly fishing off and on for about five years but I had been fighting making a commitment to this new avocation. I was [...]

[Read more →]

Here, in the Central Plains we are surrounded by some of the best documented fossil evidence for the evolution of major lines of organisms. Fossil evidence for the evolution of horses has long been used to promote public understanding of evolution–and just as often used to promote particular hypotheses of how evolution works in [...]

[Read more →]

Check out the following Eurekalert about the Waksman Institute’s new online initiatives. Involve your students in actual bioinformatic research. These will be great classroom resources.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-09/rtsu-rhs091207.php

[Read more →]

If you need a good inquiry project for students during this hectic time of year, go to http://www.sciencecourseware.org/vcise/ . The Virtual Courseware Drosophila lab is very interactive, develops inquiry skills, comes with prepared assessments, and documents the links to national science standards. Individual students or group projects can be accommodated. All results [...]

[Read more →]

From Randy Olson:

Flock of Dodos” (plus 80 minutes of extras) now for sale on home DVD
It’s been a long road since our premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in April of last year, but the movie is FINALLY being released today nationally on home video by New Video ($26.95) as part of their acclaimed [...]

[Read more →]

Warning: Proud father’s posting ahead……
This past summer, one of the NY Times Tuesday Science issues was focused on evolution studies. One of the research papers highlighted by Nicholas Wade in his article titled, “Humans Have Spread Globally and Evolved Locally” , had native Kansan, Scott Williamson, as lead author. The work received [...]

[Read more →]

AIBS –American Institute of Biological Sciences has a great resource for teachers called ActionBioScience. You’ll find a number of very accessible articles on current biological science issues written by leaders in the field.

A summary of what you’ll find from the editorial assistant, Nathan Stenstrom:
“ActionBioscience.org offers resources to enhance teaching in the biosciences:
* Peer-reviewed, easy-to-read [...]

[Read more →]

The KABT Board has recently voted to participate in the COPUS–The Coalition On the Public Understanding of Science network. From the COPUS home page:

“The Coalition on the Public Understanding of Science (COPUS) is a grassroots effort linking universities, scientific societies, science centers and museums, advocacy groups, media, educators, businesses, and industry in a peer [...]

[Read more →]

As many of you know, I am in upstate New York this summer and fall. I’m simply amazed that fall is progressing so fast. This photo were taken back on Aug. 24th. Leaf color as a topic for inquiry has a great deal of potential. Nearly everyone living in the [...]

[Read more →]