SEB Bulletin Contents - March 2008
The Association for Science Education
Travelling to Liverpool on the 7.02 from Lancaster via Preston and Ormskirk in early January is not the most glamorous journey I've ever taken. However, despite the dreary vista and less-than impressive European City of Culture 2008, it was definitely worth it to witness the two SEB-sponsored talks at the annual ASE (Association of Science Education) Meeting. Delivered by Professor Jim Lynch and the new chair of the EPA Section, Dr Jeremy Pritchard (Birmingham), both talks fared well against tough opposition in the form of a programme of over 50 parallel sessions back-to-back!
Firstly, Jim was our invited speaker in the NUCLEUS* group's annual 'Biology in the Real World' session which 'takes the theory of science and puts it into context of our everyday lives' to support the school curriculum and provide teachers with real examples to inspire their students about subjects such as photosynthesis and physiological processes. Following on from the first talk by his long-term friend and colleague, John Grainger (former Director of the National Centre for Biotechnology in Education, NCBE), Jim presented the very latest research and initiatives related to Bioenergy with a glimpse of the government's latest Big Idea to establish an International Institute of Sustainability in the South East of England. As well as taking the lead on this huge project, Jim is also professor Emeritus of Life Sciences at the University of Surrey and provides expert advice to organisations through the Biomass Energy Centre (www.biomass energycentre.org) at Forest Research, where Jim was the Chief Executive until recently, and C-Questor. During his talk Jim took the audience through the definitions of first and second generation biofuels explaining their various advantages and disadvantages and environmental costs and benefits. By talking through the policies, economics, land requirements, nature protection and key environmental issues, Jim provided a very rounded and informative overview of the pros and cons of this 'new' energy technology.
Jeremy's talk was scheduled for 2.00pm and we were delighted when 40 teachers arrived, a couple of whom knew him as their lecturer from their student days (this is when you start to feel old, Jeremy!). He presented some ideas and resources to help in teaching evolution, specifically in overcoming the misconception that evolution by natural selection is not a random process but a combination of random mutation and non-random selection. The mechanisms that complex organs can easily arise through natural selection were cleverly demonstrated using an innovative (unique) excel programme which allows students to compare the difference in the rate of evolution of complex organs driven by mutation, or mutation plus selection.
Jeremy argued that by taking an historical perspective of the origins of the recent intelligent design concepts, which argue that complexity cannot have arisen by Natural Selection, can minimise misunderstandings, allowing the underlying causes of the problem with evolution to be identified. This may go some way to helping teachers explain evolution to their students whilst being able to field questions relating to creationism and ID.
The SEB would like to thank our two speakers for their quality presentations, in particular Jim for overcoming the nightmares of Network Rail to reach his destination against the odds! Jeremy is developing his excel model further and the resources are already available for use by teachers in schools.
Sarah Blackford
Education & Public Affairs
*The NUCLEUS group comprises:
- Society for Experimental Biology
- Biochemical Society
- Association of British Pharmaceutical Industry
- British Ecological Society
- Institute of Biology
- Microbiology in Schools Advisory Committee
- Royal Botanic Gardens Kew
- Society for General Microbiology
- Science and Plants for Schools
- Wellcome Trust
- Physiological Society
- BBSRC