Hominid Chromosomes Article:
Look for the February edition of the NABT journal,
The American Biology Teacher.  In that issue, you will find an article on
“Chromosome Connections: Compelling Clues to Common Ancestry” by ENSIweb Webmaster Larry Flammer.  Here’s the abstract of that article:

Students compare banding patterns on hominid chromosomes, and see striking evidence of their common ancestry.  To test this, the human #2 chromosome is matched with two shorter chimpanzee chromosomes, leading to the hypothesis that human chromosome #2 resulted from the fusion of the two shorter chromosomes.  Students test that hypothesis by looking for (and finding) DNA evidence of telomere segments at the fusion site, reinforcing the likelihood of our common ancestry with chimps, and showing us that we all carry the “molecular fossils” of telomere fusion!  Students see how multiple lines of evidence make a compelling case for common ancestry, and they experience an important element of inquiry: testing hypotheses.

28 November 2012
TWO NEW ITEMS ON BIAS

Alternative article to Women’s Brains: Confirmation Bias by Physicist Chris Lee (Go to Women’s Brains, scroll down to Extensions & Variations, then to Confirmation Bias in Science).

Here is an interesting (and perhaps easier-to-read) article describing two examples of confirmation bias. The article was written by a practicing scientist who points out the value of double-blind studies where judgment is involved in the results (as is common in many pseudoscience topics, where double-blind tests are not used, or used poorly).  Discussion questions provided.

He also shares one of his own experiences with a new scientific idea, develops a theoretical model, and tests the model (tries to destroy the model). He then shares what happened when he presented the idea to his peers at a conference. In this context, the author points a key difference between science deniers and scientists.

Investigative Study (New Lesson): Therapeutic Touch: An Inquiry
Students perform a single-blind study that tests the “placebo effect” in friends and family. The placebo effect is a form of confirmation bias. Class discussions follow.

27 October 2012

ADDITIONS TO SITE
Go to “What IS the Nature of Science?” page
to find these added pages:
NOS Ten Key Concepts
NOS Elements & Benefits
Science Assumptions & Limits
NOS-ENSI Lesson-Selection Matrix

STEM lessons already on the ENSI site
Science IS – is NOT new Summary Worksheet

These additions have come mostly from the field-testing of a forthcoming booklet for students on the nature of science: Science Surprises.  The Science IS – is NOT worksheet was developed by middle school teacher Christine Evans.  It was done to transfer the results of this lesson (in Sunsets, Souls and Senses) to a convenient Summary sheet for future reference.

The STEM lessons are those already on the ENSI site that satisfy some of the STEM expectations.

Finally, for teachers unsure about the need for taking 2-3 weeks to teach the nature of science explicitly, take a look at the number of Misconceptions by Teachers for Teaching the Nature and Processes of Science, by the Understanding Science team.

The Growing Need for Solid Introduction to
Evolution and Medicine
in High School Biology

1. We see an increasing need (and clear benefit) for the understanding of evolution in medical training.
2. However, medical schools and pre-med programs are already crammed, little room for adding extensive evolution content.
3. Medicine is becoming an increasingly useful application for evolution, with a growing number of examples that you could use.  Pre-college teachers should try to incorporate such examples into the biology/life science courses.
4. Using medicine as a major application of biology in general, and evolution in particular, can help to fill this educational gap.
5. Doing this fits closely with the growing focus on the use of STEMM (STEM+ Medicine) in pre-college science courses.
6. It turns out that medical applications of evolution provide an engaging and relevant approach to introducing and teaching evolution in high school biology, and even middle school life science. 
7. For several excellent, tested, useful (and free) materials for bringing real evolution applications in medicine into your biological science classes, click here.

25 July 2012

A Few New Additions – LINKS to…

New Site by Nate Fairchild:
with Effective Approach
Using ENSI and other Lessons for
TEACHING EVOLUTION IN MIDDLE SCHOOL
(scroll down to 7th Grade Life Science)

HHMI’s NEW RESOURCE GUIDE for
TEACHING EVOLUTION

New Lesson on
EXTENDED STUDY OF THE
ENSATINA RING SPECIES on the
Understanding Evolution Site.
Includes Phylogeny and DNA Work
(scroll down to Extensions and Variations #7)

NEW ILLUSION SITE in our
Perceptions Not Always Reality lesson
(scroll down to end of page: Other Resources)
Or See it at
BrainDen Optical Illusions

2 July 2012
An Engaging New Lesson on
Natural Selection
“THE GUPPY GAME”
on the Neuron website.

New HHMI Holiday Lecture DVDs:
BONES, STONES & GENES
The Origin of Modern Humans
October 2011
A REVIEW

Our Popular
PSEUDOGENE SUITE
With Three Lessons is Back.
Lessons A & B are good to go.
Lesson C still needs some work, but...
A & B alone are still effective in
demonstrating strong DNA evidence
for Common Ancestry

24 March 2012
NEW ADDITIONS AND REPAIRS
For the INVESTIGATING EVOLUTION QUESTIONS (Tutorial) lesson, we have added updated versions of the Student Instructions to this excellent intro to using online genomic databases and tools.

New PowerPoint added: ONE-GENE-ONE-ENZYME animation,
using the GULO Pseudogene as an example

To WOMEN'S BRAINS lesson (on S. J. Gould's essay on bias)
we have added a link to commentary on Gould's own bias in his essay
The Mismeasure of Man (interesting irony)

Added WORKSHEET EXTENSIONS INDEX for
3 worksheets on chromosomes and speciation
by ENSI contributor Tom Mueller:
Chromosome Shuffle,
Human-Chimp DNA, and
Strange Case of Oliver the Chimpanzee

Added CHROMOSOME SPECIATION DIALOG INDEX
for ongoing discussion on this subject with
Tom, Craig Nelson, and ENSI teachers
with an added link to Definitions & Explanations

In our QUICK SPECIATION activity, added this as an
example of Allopatry