KABT BioBlog

When it snows, I can hardly wait to get out to the woods or to other natural areas just to see the record left by different critters as tracks.  For instance, yesterday at the Overland Park Arboretum I was wishing I had my normal camera along to record some of the tracks.  I saw bobcat tracks trailing along downed logs, coyote tracks on the ice and countless deer tracks.

Here’s a challenge—I finally remembered that I had my iPhone camera with me and recorded some very unusual tracks that I’m going to put out as an i.d. challenge.  I apologize for the quality of the iPhone camera.  I will tell you that occasionally these tracks would dive below the snow and they seemed to go all over the place.  Also the width of the track groove was just over an inch.  If my i.d. is correct these tracks were found in an atypical habitat for this species—in an open woodland of large willow shingle and white oaks with flower beds.  Here’s the images—let’s have your analysis:

next photo

Final photo:

Monarchs will be taking off to space, tomorrow–setting the alltime monarch record for migration miles…..

Here’s the details.

The following announcement comes from the Kansas OBTA director, Sandy Collins:

Congratulations to Eric Kessler, Kansas 2009 recipient of the National Association of Biology Teachers’ Outstanding Biology Teacher Award (OBTA).

Eric has been teaching at Blue Valley North High School since 1992. Since starting at Blue Valley North, he has taught a variety of classes, including AP Biology, Field Biology, Zoology and 9th grade Honors Biology. Most recently he has added the title of the Bioscience Strand Leader for the Blue Valley School District’s Center for Advanced Professional Studies (that will open in fall of 2010). As the Bioscience Leader he has been working with colleagues to develop courses for teaching the molecular, cellular, and ecological biosciences. Eric’s educational background includes both a BS in Zoology and a BA in psychology from U. of Texas-Austin. He has also earned a Master’s degree in biology from Emporia State University. Eric continues to strengthen his knowledge of biology through involvement in summer workshops (for example, Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellow, “Teaching in the Age of the Genome”) and presentations at state and national conventions. He is a recipient of yearly grants that enable him to enrich his students’ experiences (from supplies for molecular models to supplies for studying the Eastern Newt in Miami county). In 2007 he was awarded the prestigious Miliken Family Foundation National Educator Award.

Eric describes his teaching philosophy as “rather simple”. He likes for his students to enjoy themselves while they are being challenged by the content being taught. The techniques he uses are varied: if you were a student in his class you would experience lectures, discussion, thought experiments, and a diversity of laboratory activities. Eric incorporates authentic experiences as students explore biological content. For example, during the ecology unit, students visit a local pond to collect information on the pond’s aquatic organisms. The information is used to create food chains. In this unit students also participate in a Mark and Recapture activity to “work as scientists” to determine the size of a grasshopper population. Students are commonly asked to read primary literature to enhance their understanding of the nature of science and to deepen their understanding of the concept being studied.

Inclusion of technology to help students gain knowledge is also a component of Eric’s classroom. He maintains a web site that contains weekly review questions, online discussions, forums, chats and quizzes. Students use computers in class to enhance knowledge. One example is participation in the Milwaukee School of Engineering program in which students use computers to learn about and generate models of important biological molecules.

For Eric’s students, biology doesn’t end on Friday afternoon. Some of Mr. Kessler’s students spent six weekends on field trips to conduct research on the Eastern Newt in Miami County, Kansas. Other students worked with ecologists from Rockhurst University and KU to conduct research on a relocated population of timber rattlesnakes. Others helped remove exotic and invasive brush honeysuckle from a local natural area.

Eric has earned the respect and affection of students, colleagues and parents. A former student said “The passion and drive that Mr. Kessler displays in all his classes had an amazing effect on my future plans.” A parent of two students said that Eric has “… shown his ability to create a learning environment of rigor and enthusiasm for learning while working to meet the individual needs of each child.” Finally a colleague stated that “On any given day, Eric can be found before, after and during school hours surrounded by students discussing, learning, and experiencing biology. Mr. Kessler’s dedication to improving education extends well beyond the walls of his classroom to impact students and colleagues throughout the building and district.”

The NABT recognizes Eric Kessler’s outstanding contributions to biology education in Kansas. Congratulations on being the Kansas’ 2009 recipient of the Outstanding Biology Teacher Award.

This is a quick attempt to see how if using Word’s blogging tool is useful. If this works and shows up, other KABT authors may wish to try it out.

I’m also trying out the auto uploader for images.

It worked….Published from Word and uploaded the image…..

I did have to log onto the blog to add these statements and edit the size of the picture—I left it too big but I could have taken care of it before posting…..cool new tool.

A Celebration of Charles Darwin and the Origin of Species:
An Exhibition of Rare Books from the History of Science Collection
by William B. Ashworth, Jr.

Where: Linda Hall Library
When: October 1, 2009 through March 27, 2010

• Monday: 9:00 am – 8:30 pm
•  Tuesday-Friday: 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
• Saturday: 10:00 am – 4:00 pm

A little over a week ago, on the evening of October 1, I had the pleasure of attending the opening of this wonderful exhibition.  My words would put the exhibit to shame so read the introductory words that the library has published in a brochure for the exhibit.

Charles Darwin was born on February 12, 1809.  When he was fifty years old, in 1859, he published On the Origin of Species, a book destined to radically change our view of the living world.  In 2009, we celebrate both the bicentennial of Darwin’s birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his great work.

Darwin began his scientific career as a naturalist, as someone who collected plant and animal specimens, studied and recorded the details of their structures, and attempted to identify and classify them.  He thus worked within the framework that was known as natural history.  Natural history had a vernerable pedigree, with its roots in Aristotle, but it especially flourished and matured in the four centuries before the Origin of Species.  Darwin was the direct heir of naturalists like Konrad Gesner, who published the first illustrated encyclopedia of zoology (1551-58), Carl Linnaeus, who successfully sorted out the plant and animal kingdoms with his influential taxonmic Systems of Nature (1735), Joseph Banks, who sought new species in the south seas on the first voyage of Captain Cook (1768-71), and Jean Lamarck, who made the study of invertebrates a respectable branch of zoology (1801).

We choose to honor Darwin, therefore, by showcasing the tradition out of which he himself evolved.  Fortunately, for exhibition purposes, the works we have chosen to display are not only important intellectually, but are also some of the most beautiful books ever published.  “There is gradeur in this view of life,” Darwin remarked in the last sentence of the Origin of Species.  We hope our exhibition captures some of the grandeur, and of Darwin’s great achievement.

I also had the pleasure of listening to Lyanda Haupt’s lecture on “Darwin’s Evolution as Naturalist: A Bird’s-eye View”, and have subsequently purchased and have begun to read her book, Pilgrim on the Great Bird Continent, that the lecture was based on.  It has been a good read so far…   Luckily for you there are two remaining lectures in the series honoring Darwin, on October 29th and December 3rd.  To learn more about these lectures visit Linda Hall’s Darwin Lecture Series site.

So, as we draw near to the anniversary of the publication of our Origins, take a few minutes and tour the grand exhibit at Linda Hall and please inspire your students to do the same.

At the NABT Conference in Atlanta in the fall of 2007, Brad Williamson talked me and a few others who were loitering around to come to a workshop presentation on Avida-Ed software as a means of fostering inquiry of evolutionary processes.  After the presentation, Brad suggested that I write a post about the experience.  At the time, I didn’t have much to say.

Having had time to play around with Avid-Ed and to make my way through most of the unedited model lessons downloadable from the Avida-Ed website, I have decided to make the post.  The best place to start is to download the software developed by Robert T. Pennock from the Avida-Ed website at Michigan State University, and to read the Discover magazine article written by Carl Zimmer highlighting Robert Pennock’s development and use of the research version of the software to study the process of evolution (The first activity below has pre-activity questions that require students to read this article).  The links below will get you that far.

1. Avida-Ed Website
2. Testing Darwin by Carl Zimmer in February 2005 edition of Discover magazine.

If you are a self learner, after downloading the Avida-Ed, open it, drag the @ancestor into the black area of the Petri Dish window to the right, select the play button, and have fun.  Otherwise, keep reading…

Well, as I said, I have had the time to make my way through the unedited model lessons posted on the Avida-Ed website.  In effort to prepare to introduce my freshman honors biology and AP Biology student for the software, I have cut and pasted, edited, and created (in some cases) more detailed step-by-step instructions for the activities presented in their models lesson.  In a few cases, I have even collected and attached data in a teachers section at the end of the student friendly documents that help you understand what the students will be doing prior to your own exploration of the software.

Explorations in Evolution Series

1. I – Introduction to Avida-Ed
2. II – Observing an Instance of Evolution in Avida-Ed
3. III – How do Resource Availability & Mutation Rate influence Avidian Fitness?
4. IV – Observing Mutations in the Genomes of Evolving Avidians
5. V – Common Misconceptions of Evolution

I look forward to your comments and criticism of the activities but realize that I am just beginning to use these activities in my class for a second time.

As a justification for activities such as these, if you take the time to read the Bio2010 published by the National Academies as well as the most recent bulletin from HHMI (read Thinking like an Engineer and Add 56), you will quickly learn that we should be doing more to motivate our keen biology students to appreciate the importance of other scientific perspectives (mathematics, computer science, physic and engineering).  Similarly, we should be reaching out equally to those that are already bent toward study in these other fields and show them that they can fulfill there interests while helping to make new discoveries in the biological sciences.

Download the non-education version of Avida.

Enjoy!

On Saturday, September 12, 2009 the annual KABT Fall Conference took place at Emporia State University. The conference had speakers give talks about H1N1 status, the new National Bioterrorism Agriculture Facility at KSU, Global Warming, Wind Energy, Nuclear Energy, Great Plains Nature Center, the Status of Biology Teachers in Kansas, and Collaboration in Biology Teaching. The agenda allowed for all to be able to listen to all of the topics that were presented. Another aspect that made this meeting special was that this was the 50th Anniversary of KABT! Some of the past members that have since retired were present and accounted for. The retirees added a special flair and it was a pleasure and honor to visit with previous members that built KABT into what it has become today. They were, in fact, the shoulders that biology teachers today stood on. There were quite a few Kansas biology teachers that attended the meeting and they are always given the opportunity to “freebies” from different area agencies.

If given the chance, and your schedule allows time, attending a KABT meeting provides an interaction among biology teachers that is hard to find in other gatherings. Listening to experienced teachers and young teachers allows a learning experience for all involved. Below are some photos from the conference.

KABT lunchtime

Bob Gress talking about the Great Plains Nature Center

Dr. Jerry Jax discussing the NBAR facility

Registration for KABT conference

Eric Kessler and Stan Roth discussing biology

Second Annual Merial Rabies Symposium

Saturday, September 19th, 7:30 am to 6:00 pm
Continental breakfast, lunch, and dinner pizza provided
Registration is free but the deadline is September 10th or until full

• Informational Flyer
• Preliminary Agenda

The symposium is sponsored by the KSU College of Veterinary Medicine and is being held in recognition of the World Rabies Day.  Topics of the symposium will include:

• Global Perspective and One Health Opportunities
• National and Regional Perspectives
• Recent Rabies Cases and Public Health Implications

The symposium will bring together noted public health and animal health speakers, veterinarians and veterinary students to discuss this public health issue from a global, national and local perspective. The event will heighten understanding of the impact of human and animal rabies, while encouraging prevention through education and vaccination.

Registration and more information can be found at: http://www.worldrabiesday.org/EN/Events/KSU_Symposium.html

If would like to know more about the event feel free to contact:

Joan Leavens
Integration/Outreach Leader
One Health Kansas
Kansas State University
Olathe Innovation Campus
18001 West 106th Street, Suite 130
Olathe, KS  66061
leavens@ksu.edu

Facebook
I don’t know about you, but I timidly joined facebook last fall to begin my journey in learning how this social networking resource might be of use both personally and professionally.  

Happily, I have discovered that there are educational relevant uses for facebook!  I will write a extended blog post on how I use it with students in the near future but today I read something on my facebook home page that I thought I should pass along.

As a member of facebook, one can join groups and follow updates on other people’s pages.  Some of these people happen to be practicing scientists or others on the periphery of the science community.  One individual I happen to follow is Carl Zimmer.  Most of you are familiar with Carl’s collection of quality books.   If you aren’t a member of facebook, you can follow his blog via his website (which links to the Discover’s blogsite – my how connected things are – if you have your own website you can add it with an RSS feed – maybe KABT should consider this).  

Well, the cool thing about reading Carl’s blog is that you are kept up-to-date on his insights into the active world of science, and don’t have to wait a year or two for such insights to be integrated into his next book.

Frameshift

In one of his posts from yesterday, Losing Teeth, but Keeping Genes, he reviews a recently published article Molecular Decay of the Tooth Gene Enamelin (ENAM) Mirrors the Loss of Enamel in the Fossil Record of Placental Mammals from the online journal PLOS Genetics.    Here is the gist of the story from Carl:

Their results were pretty much what they expected, but they’re still pretty amazing. There were no frameshift mutations in ENAM among the mammals with teeth. But 17 out of 20 species without teeth or enamel had at least one. In all 20 enamel-free species, a stop command (known as a stop codon) was present. These genes are shot.

I am certain that you all teach about “frameshift” mutations.  The two resources above could become additions to your bag of supplemental tricks that make such concepts come alive for your students.  They can also help in your integration of evolutionary biology throughout the curriculum, and to supplement topics like “adaptation, pseudogenes, purifying and neutral selection, molecular clocks, and radiation and convergent evolution”. 

Enjoy reading, and maybe I’ll see meet you in facebook someday soon!