A Report from BioEd 2009

The International Union of Biological Sciences’ annual educational meeting, BioEd 2009, was held in Christchurch, New Zealand, from Feb. 12-15. These dates were chosen to coincide with the 200th anniversary of Darwin’s birth, and 2009 also marks the 150th anniversary of the publication of The Origin of Species. The conference’s theme, Evolution in Action, was thus highly appropriate.

The conference opened with a powhiri, a traditional Maori welcome featuring a ritual challenge, singing, and feats of agility. Several brave participants also volunteered to take part in a haka or posture dance, with greatly entertaining results. After cutting a birthday cake and pulling crackers for Darwin, participants had the opportunity to see the premiere of the play “Collapsing Creation,” about the challenges Darwin faced in publishing his theory.

Conference participants represented a unique balance between evolution research and teaching: high school biology teachers comprised about 25% of the participants. Sessions on preparing teachers for evolution education and Darwinian medicine helped bridge this divide, interweaving insights from current research with new pedagogical strategies. For example, an overview of human settlement patterns in the Pacific based on genetic and archeological data (Elizabeth Matisoo-Smith, Allan Wilson Centre, New Zealand) might be followed by a lesson plan for speciation in which students conduct experiments that directly challenge their own naïve views of unchanging species (Lee Traynor, Leibniz University, Germany). This mix of topics led to some fascinating teatime and dinner discussions on methods for bringing current research into the classroom and engaging students in active and collaborative learning.

The four plenary lectures were also well chosen to span a diversity of topics while representing the organization’s international character. Presentations included Darwin’s systematics work on barnacles (John Buckenridge, RMIT University, Australia), strategies for adapting primary literature for classroom use (Anat Yarden, Weizmann Institute, Israel), evolution education and the nature of science (Douglas Futuyma, SUNY, USA), and sexual selection in the evolution of human mating systems (Alan Dixson, Victoria University, New Zealand). The conference wrapped up with the play “Unnatural Selection”, performed by four very talented New Zealand high school students, and a preview of October’s IUBS meetings in Cape Town, South Africa.

Several high school teachers in attendance mentioned how much they enjoyed the opportunity for in-depth conversations with researchers, and many research-oriented participants equally appreciated the ideas for new teaching strategies. In response to this demand, the organizers established a blog to help maintain the collaborations begun at the conference. The conference also highlighted one other challenge common to many international societies, including SMB: the language barrier. The IUBS has taken an excellent first step by linking their website and associated materials to a web-based translator. Given the international nature of such conferences, any additional strategies for facilitating multilingual presentations could greatly enhance the experience for speakers and participants alike.

Dr. Anton E. Weisstein
Biology Department
Truman State University
weisstae@truman.edu
http://www2.truman.edu/~weisstae/

Editor’s Note:

Thanks to Tony for sharing this meeting wrap-up. The following links have more information:
BioEd 2009 – the meeting website.
The Allan Wilson Centre for Molecular Ecology & Evolution – hosted meeting (they will have links to the meeting resources posted soon).
The International Union of Biological Sciences (IUBS) – sponsored and organized meeting. IUBS is a non-governmental, non-profit organization, established in 1919 that promotes international and interdisciplinary cooperation in biological sciences research.

This report was originally written for publication in the Society of Mathematical Biology Newsletter edited by Holly Gaff. Thanks to Tony and Holly for making it available for posting here as well.

You can find our original posting on the meeting here.

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Apply Now for the 2009 BioQUEST Summer Workshop:

Green Architecture – Green Curriculum

This year we will take advantage of Beloit College’s new LEED certified Center for the Sciences to explore ways that our facilities provide us with opportunities to ask scientific questions and collect data as well as address sustainability issues. The BioQUEST Summer Workshop will be proceeded by a separate PKAL Meeting on Planning Facilities for Undergraduate Science.

Title: Green Architecture – Green Curriculum

Dates: June 15-21, 2009

Location: Beloit, Wisconsin

Featured Projects: This summer’s workshop will feature Numbers Count! and Investigative Cases.

More Information and Application: http://bioquest.org/summer2009

Also see the BioQUEST Calendar for other upcoming events.

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The 2009 PKAL Summer Workshop on Planning Facilities is an opportunity for faculty and administrators to explore approaches to shaping spaces that serve institutional goals for student learning in STEM fields and for environmental sustainability.

Workshop participants (individuals and teams) will have first-hand experiences with contemporary pedagogical practices that require learning spaces that easily accommodate collaborating, problem-solving teams of undergraduate learners and that enable easy access to tools, technologies and instrumentation needed by learners/practitioners in 21st century STEM fields. Participants will explore intersections involved in planning curricula, pedagogies and spaces designed for undergraduate STEM learning communities.

This meeting will be directly followed by the BioQUEST 2009 Summer Workshop

Workshop Title: PKAL Summer Workshop on Planning Facilities

Dates: June 13-15, 2009

Location: Beloit College, Beloit, WI

Application Deadline: Monday April 6, 2009

Contact: Please call at 202-232-1300 or write to applications@pkal.org

See the workshop homepage for more information and the BioQUEST Calendar for other events.

Sponsors:

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The Allan Wilson Centre (AWCMEE) is pleased to host BioED2009 – one of six coordinated international events celebrating the birth of Charles Darwin: “Darwin 200 Symposia”. These meetings are being run under the auspices of the International Union of Biological Sciences (IUBS), Commission on Biological Education (CBE) and the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The aim of “Darwin 200 Symposia” is to celebrate the impact of Darwin’s ideas on current scientific knowledge, with scientific symposia and satellite meetings taking place on five continents. BioED2009 will bring together an international community of individuals interested in science, secondary and tertiary education. Since February 12, 2009, is the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth and is 150 years since the publication of the “Origin of Species,” the life and legacy of Charles Darwin is at the heart of the proposed meeting. BioEd 2009 will promote understanding of biodiversity and the importance of evolutionary biology through an international exchange of ideas and knowledge about current research and education. It will embrace multiple cultural perspectives, technological advances, curricular practices and materials, informal education, and curiosity of the natural world.

Workshop Title: BioEd 2009 – Darwin 200 Symposia

Dates: February 12-15, 2009

Location: Christchurch, New Zealand

Project: International Union of Biological Sciences (IUBS)

Contact: BioQUEST@beloit.edu

See the workshop homepage for more information and the BioQUEST Calendar for other events.

Sponsors:

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The ASM Summer Bioinformatics Institute aims to meet the need for more undergraduate faculty in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) disciplines to understand, interpret, and use molecular sequence information to solve problems. The Institute features the analysis of microbial genomes, molecular sequences, and structural data, providing a framework for developing classroom activities and research projects for undergraduate students.

The Institute is directed to STEM faculty who teach undergraduate courses at community colleges, 4-year colleges, and research universities and who consider themselves true beginners when it comes to understanding and using bioinformatics tools. Preference will be given to faculty with limited or no previous training in bioinformatics and the genomic sciences.

There is a registration fee of $649 for ASM members or $799 for nonmembers to attend the Summer Bioinformatics Institute. The fee includes meals, beginning with dinner on the first day and ending with breakfast on the last morning.

Workshop Title: ASM Summer Bioinformatics Institute

Dates: June 14-17, 2009

Location: U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, CA

Application Deadline: February 15, 2009

Contact: facultyprograms@asmusa.org

See the workshop homepage for more information and the BioQUEST Calendar for other events.

Sponsors:

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This workshop is for faculty interested in addressing the gap between mathematics and its application in biological problem solving. To support the observation, experimentation and modeling of data, the Numbers Count workshop will provide an introduction to data, tools, and curricular materials for use with undergraduates. We will also address the lack of context that impedes student learning—students rightfully ask themselves why should they need to integrate arcsin x if they want to become a physician?

Workshop Title: Numbers Count at the University of Tennessee – Knoxville

Dates: May 29-31, 2009

Location: Knoxville, Tennessee

Application Deadline: April 13, 2009

Project: Numbers Count! – data, tools, and curricular materials for use in the classroom to support student observation, experimentation and modeling

Contact: BioQUEST@beloit.edu

See the workshop homepage for more information and the BioQUEST Calendar for other events.

Sponsors:

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We are excited to announce the 2009 BioQUEST Summer Workshop:

Green Architecture – Green Curriculum

For More Information see http://bioquest.org/summer2009

You can also look at information about past BioQUEST Summer Workshops

• 2008: Problem Solving in Biology: Data, Tools and Resources from Plant Science
• 2007: Exploratory Evolution Education
• 2006: Exploring Complex Data Sets
• 2005: Investigating Interdisciplinary Interactions
• 2004: Systems Biology
• 2003: Enabling Exploration for Everyone…
• 2002: Biocomplexity in Undergraduate Education
• 2001: Microbes Count!
• 2000: Developing Curricular Resources…
• 1999: Evolution: Laboratory Field
• 1998: Persuasion in Biology
• 1997: What Can We Learn From Math

Also see the BioQUEST Calendar for information on other events.

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