tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post2337686545803740446..comments2024-03-27T14:50:47.345-04:00Comments on <center>Sandwalk</center>: I'm Starting an Evolution RevolutionLarry Moranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05756598746605455848noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-50220236912424993722009-10-10T10:43:50.355-04:002009-10-10T10:43:50.355-04:00What would be good topics for these four half-cour...What would be good topics for these four half-courses? The goal is to maximize student exposure to the big picture and give the students the tools they need to interpret modern biological science and a solid foundation for further study. <br /><br />1) Molecules to Organisms (first year half course)<br />How information in DNA goes to RNA, to protein, to cells. How differentiation changes gene expression to diversify cell types. Pattern establishment in development. epigenetic gene regulation.<br /><br />2) Interconnected Biodiversity (first year half course)<br />The observed diversity of life, and how diversity combined with environmental constraints leads to ecosystems. Also going in reverse, how changing the environment impacts ecosystems and biodiversity.<br /><br />3) Biology Over Time (second year full course)<br />How biology changes over time.<br />i) molecular: mutation rates, genetic sequence drift, mechanisms of allele fixation (drift and drift influenced by selective effects). Homology and phylogenetic tree construction and interpretation based on genetic sequences.<br />ii) organismal: fossil record, carbon dating and calibrating the rate of species change. population extinctions and population explosions. the integration of paleontology with phylogenetics.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-86021840258649195302009-10-10T03:48:36.244-04:002009-10-10T03:48:36.244-04:00BIO150 is the best way to turn people off of evolu...BIO150 is the best way to turn people off of evolution, and this new course seems to butcher it some more. Good luck fighting that system, Larry. Wasn't hitting at the sciences when I was hitting at things but I'd have supported you unreservedly on this one.Noaman G. Alihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10629642220928069120noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-43505753993033068832009-10-09T22:26:01.577-04:002009-10-09T22:26:01.577-04:00Anonymous asks,
Can you recommend any resources t...Anonymous asks,<br /><br /><i>Can you recommend any resources that I can use to teach myself?</i><br /><br />Just reading the blogs is a pretty good way to start. Provided you read the "right" blogs. :-)<br /><br />If you want a popular version of evolution then Jerry Coyne's "Why Evolution Is True" is the best book to buy. It's not perfect but the mistakes aren't as bad as those in other popular books.<br /><br />If you want to spend more money then buy <a href="http://sandwalk.blogspot.com/2008/07/good-science-writers-douglas-j-futuyma.html" rel="nofollow">Douglas Futuyma's</a> book "Evolution."<br /><br />I have a bunch of essays you can read. They're somewhere in the left sidebar. You might have to scroll down a bit. <br /><br />Maybe others can direct you to more resources on the web?<br><br>Larry Moranhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05756598746605455848noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-78704524774639638972009-10-09T20:35:14.771-04:002009-10-09T20:35:14.771-04:00I'm an undergraduate student studying Biomedic...I'm an undergraduate student studying Biomedical Science. I won't have the opportunity to study evolution formally during my course, but I have become convinced that I need to understand it. Can you recommend any resources that I can use to teach myself? I am reluctant to try choosing any for myself given what I have read about how even some textbooks get things wrong or take an unhelpful approach to teaching evolution.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-67734083200195437522009-10-09T18:32:37.783-04:002009-10-09T18:32:37.783-04:00I can see why you'd be concerned with the teac...I can see why you'd be concerned with the teaching of evolution, but I'm more puzzled by the fact that they want to either teach all of, or the first half of, BIO250 in first year. I'm not sure how this would work considering the course relied a lot on us being in BCH210/242.<br /><br />It seems like this entire plan is based less on teaching undergrads better and more on making the program seem impressive.LostMarbleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07123440130769897997noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-73436968075449241292009-10-09T12:31:29.852-04:002009-10-09T12:31:29.852-04:00When I took BIO150, it was Spencer Barrett and Loc...When I took BIO150, it was Spencer Barrett and Locke Rowe. If they are at all representative of the faculty, then you have your work cut out for you. Good luck<br /><br />Can you describe BIO220 and 230? It sounds like there would be a lot of overlap between "Genes to Organisms" and "Genomes to Ecosystems"Andrewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10131817444483544280noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-28753375938122609562009-10-09T12:20:45.418-04:002009-10-09T12:20:45.418-04:00Are all life science students required to take an ...Are all life science students required to take an introductory English course? I hope so because then they would learn that there is no apostrophe in Tim Hortons and that "Principles and concepts of evolution and ecology related to origins of adaptation and biodiversity" is not a sentence; it lacks a verb. Taking an introductory English course would help prepare these students to be effective science writers.Veronica Abbasshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07037599323472646996noreply@blogger.com