KABT BioBlog

A Conversation about Biology

Speaker: Harry McDonald, retired high school biology teacher

Date: February 7, 2012

Time: 6:30 pm

Location: Coaches Bar and Grill, 9089 W. 135th Street, one block west of 135th and Antioch, south side of 135th St.
Please note, this is a new location. Still Coaches, but they have moved

Harry will lead a discussion about what is happening in biology. He will supply a list of topics and background material to stimulate discussion, but any topic in biology is fair game. Expect a “lifely” evening. You know Harry, he is willing to discuss anything and has an opinion on everything. Bring your thinking cap and lots of questions.

Harry is a retired biology teacher with 32 years experience in the classroom and 8 years experience as a science education consultant. He is currently serving on the Kansas committee to review the Next Generation Science Standards, is KCFS President, and on the board of the National Association of Biology Teachers.

For more information: biologycctrack@hotmail.com

Professional development opportunity for New York State high school biology (Living Environment) teachers

Support provided for travel, lodging, meals, and stipend!

Neurobiology for Your Biology Classroom

Participants in this conference will experience neurobiology lessons that:

• ·       Engage students in active learning through hands-on activities (case studies, “wet labs” and manipulative modeling).
• ·       Integrate neuroscience concepts into high school curriculum topics beyond human physiology.  For example, genetics, evolution, development, and ecology.
• ·       Employ a variety of teaching strategies that meet the learning needs of all students, not simply the highest achieving students.
• ·       Increase students’ awareness of careers in science, healthcare and other fields that involve understanding of neurobiology concepts.

This conference is sponsored by the University of Rochester’s Life Sciences Learning Center through a grant from the National Institutes of Health.

Who:      New York State Biology (Living Environment) Teachers

When:     9:00 am Tuesday, August 7 through 1:00 pm Thursday, August 9

Where:   The Inn on the Lake, Canandaigua, NY    http://www.theinnonthelake.com/ 

Support for conference participants will include:

• ·       Hotel for 3 nights (Check-in Monday August 6 and check-out Thursday August 9)
• ·       Meals*
• ·       Reimbursement for travel expenses (up to $250)
• ·       Stipend ($300)
• ·       Professional development certificate

* Breakfasts and lunches will be at the hotel.  Dinner will be “on your own” – at the hotel or at one of the many nearby restaurants.  We will reimburse up to $25 for each dinner meal (alcohol not reimbursed).

Expectations for conference participants:

• ·       Attend the three-day conference.  Professional development certificate and $300 stipend provided
• ·       Pilot test two neurobiology “core” activities and at least two neurobiology “extension” activities in your classroom during the 2012-2013 school year.  (All classroom materials and an additional stipend of $100 will be provided for pilot testing.)
• ·       Present a workshop for teachers from schools in your local area during the 2013-2014 school year.  (All workshop materials and an additional stipend of $200 will be provided for leading a workshop.)

To apply to participate in this neurobiology conference, please complete the attached application.  Application deadline is May 1, 2012.  Email application to Amy Crosby atamy_crosby@urmc.rochester.edu

Another means of collecting female virgin fruit flies

I don’t know about you, but I have been interested in genetics ever since I understood the implications of Alfred Sturtevant’s all nighter when he discovered that the analysis of offspring phenotypes from particular controlled crosses could give one information on the relative location of genes a chromosome. 

With that said, I have always hoped to replicate those crosses in class, without the luxury of ordering the different generations from Carolina Biological, etc…  Over the years, I have been frustrated from this realization by three problems which were1) anesthetizing flies, 2) collecting virgin female flies, and 3) having the time to conduct such a series of observations.

The second of these problems was generally the greatest challenge.  I am aware that there are heat shock strains that I could get from our Olathe colleagues among others (thanks!), and that it was customary to clear vials and use timing since eclosion to collect for this purpose.  But this year I only see my students once every 24 hours, so the later method wouldn’t work, and I hadn’t talked to Jeff Whitters about getting a new culture of heat shock flies either.  So, it was off to google where I ran into a reference to a third method for collecting the females needed.

http://biology.arizona.edu/sciconn/lessons2/Geiger/intro2.htm

Here is the specific information that I had never known:

Being able to recognize virgin females removes the necessity of emptying culture vials on a timely basis and allows students to collect their own without the necessity of coming to class at odd times of the day. Note that virgin females are much larger than older females and do not have the dark coloration of mature females. In addition, in the early hours after eclosure, there will be visible a dark greenish spot (the meconium, the remains of their last meal before pupating) on the underside of the abdomen.

I thought, “Could this be true?”.  After having this method confirmed by Dr. Susan Abmyer at the Stowers institute, I had my students looking for meconium spots on the ventral abdomen of flies.  I haven’t found any images on the web, so here are a few examples of what we found:

So, for those that don’t have access to heat shock flies, and don’t have time to clear vials two times a day, I hope this method proves helpful to you.  I’ll let you know how our crosses come out.

Image is linked to Amazon.com if you'd like to purchase the book or read reviews

George Price and the Evolution of Altruism

Speaker: Paul Decelles – Johnson County Community College

Date: January 10, 2012

Time: 6:30 pm

Location: Coaches Bar and Grill, 9089 W. 135th Street, one block west of 135th and Antioch, south side of 135th St.
Please note, this is a new location. Still Coaches, but they have moved

Ever since Darwin, biologists have puzzled over how evolution could favor the spread of “altruistic” behavior. The development of our understanding of this topic is itself a fascinating story. Orem Harman’s 2010 book, the Price of Altruism introduces us to one of the least known and yet important contributors to our understanding of the biology of altruism, George Price. Paul Decelles will use this book as a starting point to introduce some of the main controversies about the evolution of altruistic behavior and its implication for our species.

Paul Decelles is a biology professor at Johnson County Community College. His area of expertise is in population genetics and entomology, especially social insects. He did his undergraduate work at Cornell University, MS at the University of Georgia and PhD at the University of Kansas. He has been involved in Kansas science education issues especially related to the teaching of evolution and has served on the board of Kansas Citizen’s for Science.

For more information: biologycctrack@hotmail.com

If I were still teaching I’d probably apply for this….I really love the upper Mississippi and have long been fascinated by the archeology of the area.  By way of Randy Dix and Bonnie Jancik…..

Exploring the Past: Archaeology in the Upper Mississippi River Valley

Walking beside thousand-year-old burial mounds, flaking raw stone into tools, learning how potsherds tell us about human behavior, and understanding how humans adapt to complex, ever-changing environments­our 2012 NEH Summer Institute features all this and more.

The Mississippi Valley Archaeology Center at the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse will offer a three-week NEH Summer Institute on July 9–27, 2012.  This dynamic learning experience for K-12 teachers will explore how Native Americans and Euro-Americans have adapted to the Upper Mississippi River Valley over the past 13,500 years, and how archaeology leads to an understanding of how human cultures change and adapt through time.

The Institute will feature a one-day excavation experience, field trips to archaeological sites, hands-on laboratory and workshop activities, demonstrations, and classroom activities. Individual projects will help participants tailor the content to their own teaching areas. NEH Summer Scholars receive a $2,700 stipend to help offset their expenses.

Application and other information on the Institute will be available online at http://www.uwlax.edu/mvac/neh.htm.   The deadline for applications is March 1, 2012.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily reflect those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Bonnie L. Jancik
Director of Public Education
Mississippi Valley Archaeology Center
at the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse
1725 State Street
La Crosse, WI 54601
Phone: 608-785-6473
Fax: 608-785-6474
E-mail: bjancik@uwlax.edu

Visit the MVAC World Wide Web site at:
http://www.uwlax.edu/mvac

Visit the UW-L Archaeology Studies Program at:
http://www.uwlax.edu/Sociology/Archaeology

Educational partnerships between scientists/faculty and K-12 teachers
offer mutual professional benefits.The National Institute for
Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS) bringsthe two
communities together through its Teacher Collaboration Program
<http://www.nimbios.org/education/teacher_collaboration> (TCP). The
program pairs K-12 teachers with interest in mathematics and biology
with active researchers in the math biology community including:
faculty, post-docs, and educators from the institute and recruits from
the math biology community.

Collaboration activities can include electronic emails, phone sessions,
teaching projects, classroom visits (in person or via web), cooperation
for after school activities (in person or via web), curriculum
discussion, enhanced applications to math biology, and discussions on
work assignments.

Partnerships promote the unity of science and math education. Through
their partners, teachers gain access to resources and knowledge of the
latest science and math research and perspective on education at the
university level. And through their K-12 teacher partners, scientists
and university faculty improve communication skills, learn the latest in
pedagogy, and gain insight into education at the K-12 level.

NIMBioS also maintains a TCP Wiggio, an online collaboration community,
for the purpose of sharing ideas, information, resources and event
schedules.

For more information about the program and a link to request a partner,
go to http://www.nimbios.org/education/teacher_collaboration

*****************************
Catherine Crawley, Ph.D.
Communications Coordinator
National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis
University of Tennessee
1534 White Avenue, Suite 400
Knoxville, TN 37996-1527
e ccrawley@nimbios.org <mailto:ccrawley@nimbios.org>
t +1 865 974 9350 <tel:%2B1%20865%20974%209350>
f +1 865 974 9461 <tel:%2B1%20865%20974%209461>
http://www.nimbios.org
http://twitter.com/nimbios
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<http://visitor.r20.constantcontact.com/manage/optin/ea?v=001RgvbKVLa7a4Psoj8H7c43A%3D%3D>.

Back in the fall of 1969 I arrived on KU’s campus.  One of the first stops for me was the Museum of Natural History but I only viewed the famous dioramas along with horse, Comanche.  Like many during those times I was uncertain about what I wanted to study.  I tried out a number of possible fields like engineering and physical anthropology but I finally found my true calling late in my sophomore year when I started realize that KU was a great place for biology and field biology in particular.  I discovered the Miscellaneous Publications from the museum.  Mammals of KS, Fishes of Kansas, Unioid Mussels of Ks, Gastropods of Ks, Spiders of the Natural History Reservation, and so on.   For a small town Kansas kid these books and pamphlets were inspiring and motivating.  I decided then and there to work at becoming a field biologist.

For the last few years I have been thinking about scanning my collection of these publications (all pre-1975) in order to share.  This fall I asked around to see if I could get permission to do so.  Low and behold, I found that I didn’t need to—it was already done!  Woo Hoo.  I’m not sure how you may or may not want to use these resources but you can find them at the Biodiversity Heritage Library’s web site:

University of Kansas Museum of Natural History Miscellaneous Publications

In the top bar you’ll find a scroll down menu that will allow you to view all the available documents and download them as PDF’s.

Here’s a list of some of the earlier publications:

For those KABTer’s that author on this blog I have implemented a significant update.  WP3.3 has a number of new features but I think the one you’ll most like is the updated Media uploader.  You can now just drag and drop files from you computer.  This should make including files in your posts much easier.  From WordPress:

Drag-and-Drop Media Uploader

Adding photos or other files to posts and pages just got easier. Drag files from your desktop and drop them into the uploader. Add one file at a time, or many at once.

Johnson County Science Cafe’

It is for real!! We are back in business. Coach’s is open. I have actually been inside and eaten a meal.

Near-Earth Asteroids and the Nov. 8 Flyby of 2005 YU55

Speaker: Jackie Beucher and Dick Trentman – Astronomical Society of Kansas City

Date: December 6, 2011

Time: 6:30 pm

Location: Coaches Bar and Grill, 9089 W. 135th Street, one block west of 135th and Antioch, south side of 135th St.
Please note, this is a new location. Still Coaches, but they have moved

Kansas Citizens For Science and the Astronomical Society of Kansas City invite you to attend a presentation on asteroids and the flyby of near-Earth asteroid 2005 YU55. The asteroid passed within 0.85 lunar distances from the Earth on November 8. The ASKC is providing two speakers, Jackie Beucher and Dick Trentman, who will give an overview talk about asteroids with special attention to the asteroidal orbit-refining work done at the ASKC’s Powell Observatory.

The presentation will begin at 6:30 PM on Tuesday the 8th at Coach’s Bar & Grill, in its new location on the south side of 135th just west of Antioch in Overland Park. Weather permitting, around 8:00 we will go up on the roof and observe various celestial objects, including the Moon and Jupiter, through telescopes provided by ASKC members.

Special note: Thank you all for your patience in waiting for our cafes to return. The new Coach’s is very nice and will make a wonderful home as we go forward.

For more information: biologycctrack@hotmail.com

You should consider taking advantage of this offer.  Evolution:  Education and Outreach is an excellent resource journal for teaching evolution.

From Ensi:

Evolution: Education & Outreach Journal

Offering Free Access to its Articles in 15 Issues
Until 2012

This journal, with its many excellent articles on evolution and the teaching of evolution, is kindly allowing

FREE downloads of any of the 350 articles  (as PDF files) in their 15 issues, from now until December 31, 2011.

DON’T MISS THIS OPPORTUNITY!
Click Here For Details
http://www.indiana.edu/~ensiweb/EvoEdOut.Notice.html