http://developer1.hhmi.org/coolscience/resources/SPT--Home.php Channel Description http://developer1.hhmi.org/erlDB/SPTUI--CWIS/images/cwis_logo.gif http://developer1.hhmi.org/erlDB/SPTUI--CWIS/images/cwis_logo.gif 69 21 Image Description en-us kucerar@hhmi.org kucerar@hhmi.org Sat, 20 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0400 Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0400 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 http://developer1.hhmi.org/coolscience/resources/SPT--FullRecord.php?ResourceId=162 This 36-minute video examines the annual seminar process in the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute, a long-running educational partnership between Yale University and the New Haven Public Schools that puts teachers and teaching at the center for school reform. The Institute serves as a model to strengthen teaching and learning in local schools and, by example and direct assistance, in high-need schools across the country. Yale faculty members present seminars that provide up-to-date information on topics in the sciences and humanities and work as colleagues with New Haven school teachers. Each participating teacher becomes an Institute Fellow, studies the seminar subject, and prepares a curriculum unit on that subject to be taught the following year. Teachers have primary responsibility for identifying the subjects the Institute addresses. The film highlights the process, beginning with the planning of seminars (in October and November) and the applications of teachers (in January and February), continuing through the seminar meetings and the writing, testing, and revision of curriculum units (from March through July), and concluding with the classroom use of those units during the following year. The program also includes comments on the Institute process and its results by a wide range of participants and observers: students, teachers, and administrators in the New Haven school system; members of the Yale University faculty; and persons active in nationally known educational organizations such as the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. 2010-03-15 10:32:28 http://developer1.hhmi.org/coolscience/resources/SPT--FullRecord.php?ResourceId=163 The Clinical and Translational Science Network (CTSciNet) is an online community for scientists and science trainees in basic and clinical fields who want to work with patients or develop medical therapies. The network welcomes scientists at every level—from undergraduates to experienced researchers—from every relevant discipline. Its goal is to help people help each other to develop rewarding careers in clinical and translational science while expanding America's clinical and translational research capacity. The site offers users opportunities to network and have discussions with other scientists; join virtual groups on specific subjects or for specific organizations; read articles and find relevant information on navigating a career in clinical or translational research and on career development; and access information and resources from the network’s partner organizations, which include HHMI. 2010-03-01 15:48:09 http://developer1.hhmi.org/coolscience/resources/SPT--FullRecord.php?ResourceId=160 This website from the first RECOMB (Research in Computational Molecular Biology) Satellite Conference on Bioinformatics Education contains video talks from a broad range of scientists and science educators in bioinformatics, bioengineering, and computer science. The conference organizers, HHMI Professor Pavel Pevzner of the University of California, San Diego, and Ron Shamir of Tel Aviv University, note that biology has been transformed into an informational and computational science in the last decade, but the college biology curriculum has not kept pace. To address those issues, the 2009 conference showcased best practices, and participants discussed existing challenges in bioinformatics education, particularly those affecting undergraduate education. Some presenters gave introductory-level lectures on problems in biology and the computational concepts needed to address them. Others described their experiences in developing computational biology programs or projects at their respective institutions. For example, Steffen Heber, assistant professor of computer science at North Carolina State University, talked about his institution’s “Bioinformatics in Motion” project, which has developed bioinformatics animations as a teaching tool. Four discussion sessions, also available online, allowed participants to delve into the many educational questions raised by the conference, centering around: “What is bioinformatics and how should it be taught?” A second bioinformatics education conference is scheduled for May 22-23, 2010. 2010-03-01 15:42:47 http://developer1.hhmi.org/coolscience/resources/SPT--FullRecord.php?ResourceId=161 This website features articles from Science's monthly Education Forum. Published in the last issue of every month from January 27, 2006, through December 18, 2009, the Forum contains articles on the multifaceted world of science education and the science of education. The concise (one- or two-page) articles showcase innovative approaches to teaching science or discuss the science and policy of education. They provide a forum for sharing ideas and sparking discussion. The Forum article feature peer-reviewed research as well as scholarly literature reviews, essays, and other original writing on science education. The section focuses on undergraduate and graduate level education but also showcases innovations in K-12 science education. Supporting online materials are available for most of the articles. HHMI Professors Pavel Pevzner, Jo Handelsman, Sarah Elgin, and Yi Lu, and HHMI Investigator Michael Summers are among the contributors. The series was published in collaboration with HHMI and with the guidance of an advisory committee. 2010-02-25 12:09:21 http://developer1.hhmi.org/coolscience/resources/SPT--FullRecord.php?ResourceId=159 The Biology Project is an interactive online resource for learning biology, developed at the University of Arizona. Although designed for college-level biology students, it is also useful for high school students, medical students, physicians, science writers, and the public. The website includes tutorials on eight subject areas—biochemistry, cell biology, chemicals and human health, developmental biology, human biology, immunology, Mendelian genetics, and molecular biology—that are found in an introductory biology course. The tutorials contain real-life applications of biology. For most topics, the tutorials are structured as a series of problem sets, based on multiple-choice questions, that direct student learning. Correct answers are reinforced with a brief explanation, while incorrect answers are linked to tutorials with text and graphics to explain the concept being assessed. The developers say that the multiple-choice format creates an interactive learning instrument rather than a testing instrument. Teachers can assign problem sets for review before exams, or may want to assign an activity (such as DNA profiling) before students cover that topic in their laboratory. Several tutorials are available in Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian as well as in English. In addition to the biology units, the website also contains a variety of lesson plans and activities—such as “The Behavior of Ants”—developed for middle and high school teachers. The Biology Project, which started in 1995, received the 2009 Biology Classics Award from MERLOT, an online community of educators and institutions working to increase quality Web-based resources designed to enhance teaching and learning. However, the project website is no longer being maintained or updated. 2010-01-28 16:42:10 http://developer1.hhmi.org/coolscience/resources/SPT--FullRecord.php?ResourceId=157 The Microarray Spot Synthesizer, developed at Davidson College, is an electronic resource that permits faculty to generate simulated DNA microarray data for use in their teaching. The Spot Synthesizer is not intended to produce real data; its purpose is to enable teachers to help students improve their ability to work efficiently with experimental data by giving them practice with known outcomes. With this Web-based tool, educators can quickly generate intensity data in the form of images of spots with known gene expression ratios. The Spot Synthesizer requires only a Web browser, a program (such as Excel) that can produce tab-delimited text files, and access to the Internet to produce tiff files and a gene list. The Web application will produce paired tiff files that students can use to measure predictable ratios, and one merged JPG file for verification. To analyze the tiff files, students can use the free, research-quality software program MAGIC Tool (see related links). In addition to producing spots with constant pixel values, the spot synthesizer can also generate spots with random variation or with one of six predetermined patterns. Students can experiment with various algorithms for quantifying spots and can determine whether the shape of the spot affects the outcome. Educators can use this tool to test student competence and/or can use it as a training set with expected ratios. Make Microarray Data with Known Ratios, a Letter to the Editor in the fall 2007 issue of CBE Life Sciences Education, explains the purpose and operation of the Spot Synthesizer. It is available online (see related links). 2010-01-25 14:52:06 http://developer1.hhmi.org/coolscience/resources/SPT--FullRecord.php?ResourceId=155 In this video lecture, HHMI Investigator Randy Schekman, Ph.D., explains the secretory pathway, which all cells use to deliver proteins, lipids, and other molecules to different parts of the cell and outside the cell. It is involved in everything from cell surface growth to the construction of organelles. Studies using genetics and biochemistry have revealed that the mechanisms of this process are conserved among all organisms, particularly eukaryotes. Defects in this process underlie many human diseases. In Part 1, “Studying Protein Secretion in Yeast,” Dr. Schekman explains how using genetics in Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Baker’s yeast) allowed scientists to dissect the secretory pathway in all eukaryotic cells. This section of the lecture is suitable for undergraduates. In Part 2, “Biochemical Reconstitution of Transport Vesicle Budding,” he describes how protein biochemistry provides additional information to explain how secretory vesicles are formed and fuse with other membranes. This lecture focuses on the in vitro reconstitution of transport between the endoplasmic reticulum and the Golgi apparatus. Part 2 is appropriate for advanced undergraduates or graduate students. In Part 3, Dr. Schekman discusses his more recent experiments, explaining how basic science and medicine converged when a mutation in the Sec23 protein was identified as the cause of a rare human craniofacial disease. Part 3 is aimed at graduate or medical students. Teaching tools include four short video clips, lecture notes, review and facilitator questions, a feature called “Explain/teach these concepts to a friend,” and recommended reading. To view answers to the review and facilitator questions, educators must register on the site as teachers. Users studying on their own should send an email to ibioseminars@cmp.ucsf.edu with a request for the answers. This seminar is featured at iBioSeminars, which offers a series of free video talks by leading biologists, with accompanying educational materials. 2010-01-25 14:29:30 http://developer1.hhmi.org/coolscience/resources/SPT--FullRecord.php?ResourceId=158 This Flash animation from Davidson College demonstrates how DNA microarray experiments are performed and can be used as a starting point to teach students the basics of microarray technology. The microarray allows scientists to measure simultaneously the expression of the entire genome in one experiment. One common use of microarrays, or DNA chips, is to determine which genes are activated and which are repressed when two populations of cells are compared. The animation uses yeast as a model system to determine gene expression in yeast grown in two different experimental conditions: aerobic (in the presence of oxygen) versus aerobic (in the absence of oxygen). The animation explains all the steps of the process, but focuses, for the sake of simplicity, on the expression of three genes. The animation uses sound, which can be turned off, and mouse-over identification to help students learn and retain the information. Users can also replay any section of the animation. A more detailed explanation of the microarray methodology, with text files, is available in the “methods” section of the Microarrays MediaBook, a Davidson College resource contained within this database. 2010-01-25 14:20:33 http://developer1.hhmi.org/coolscience/resources/SPT--FullRecord.php?ResourceId=156 In this 66-minute video talk, replete with slides and photographs, HHMI Investigator Sean Carroll, Ph.D., describes the progress that has been made in understanding the process of evolution. Expanding upon his 2006 book, The Making of the Fittest, he emphasizes the lessons drawn from the DNA record of three billion years of evolution. Dr. Carroll offers numerous examples of the precise changes in DNA that have enabled Earth’s creatures—from the ice fish of the Southern Ocean to the rock pocket mouse of Arizona to the kestrel of Northern Europe—to adapt to changing and often harsh environments. The DNA record underscores three themes: Earth and the life on it evolve together; shifts in lifestyle are reflected in the DNA of pertinent genes; and Darwin’s principles of natural selection are in operation. Dr. Carroll also discusses the concept of “fossil” genes, using the Antarctic ice fish as one example. Today, that fish has no red blood cells. However, a fossilized hemoglobin gene remaining in its DNA shows that the fish has adapted over 55 million years to very cold water by losing its red blood cells but developing an “antifreeze” gene containing proteins that prevent ice crystal growth. “Fossil” genes reveal the genetic history and lifestyle of an organism, although they no longer matter to the organism’s survival. Dr. Carroll says that the existence of fossil genes demonstrates a cardinal rule of genetic evolution: use it or lose it. Using numerous other examples, he shows that variations arise by random mutations, and that selective conditions (such as habitat and predators) determine which variants are favored. Dr. Carroll concludes his talk by noting that similar selective conditions favor similar genetic variations in different species at different times and in different parts of the world. Evolution, he says, is more reproducible and more predictable than scientists had ever realized. 2010-01-25 13:43:14 http://developer1.hhmi.org/coolscience/resources/SPT--FullRecord.php?ResourceId=153 In this set of video lectures, HHMI Investigator Jeremy Nathans explores the molecular mechanisms within the retina that mediate the first steps in vision. The first lecture focuses on the structure of the light-sensing receptors, the intracellular signals that are triggered by light absorption, and the ways in which the retina extracts information from a complex scene. In Part 1a, Dr. Nathans uses several optical illusions to further explain how the vertebrate eye functions. Human color vision is the focus of Part 2. Dr. Nathans begins with Newton’s prism experiments and moves forward to describe the genetic basis for normal color vision and the common variations. These segments are appropriate for undergraduate or graduate students of cell biology or neuroscience and medical students. In Part 3, the speaker describes recent work on the evolution of trichromatic color vision, showing how differences in the color vision of New and Old World primates illuminates the evolution of trichromatic color vision in humans. Part 3 is suitable for cell biology or neuroscience undergraduate and graduate students. Teaching tools include the lecture transcript, nine short video clips and descriptions, lecture notes, review and facilitator questions, a feature called “Explain/teach these concepts to a friend,” and recommended reading. To view answers to the review and facilitator questions, educators must register on the site as teachers. Users studying on their own should send an email to ibioseminars@cmp.ucsf.edu with a request for the answers. This seminar is featured at iBioSeminars, which offers a series of free video talks by leading biologists, with accompanying educational materials. 2010-01-04 17:12:21 http://developer1.hhmi.org/coolscience/resources/SPT--FullRecord.php?ResourceId=152 How do simple cells differentiate, assemble into communities, and cope with change? A video seminar by HHMI Professor Richard Losick of Harvard University addresses these questions in the spore-forming bacterium Bacillus subtilis, a model organism for prokaryotic cell differentiation and development. In Part 1, Dr. Losick provides an introduction to the process of spore development in B. subtilis, including a discussion of the transcription factors that drive gene expression and the signaling pathways that regulate transcription factor activation. In Part 2, which presents research on the capacity of B. subtilis cells to form architecturally complex communities, Dr. Losick discusses the formation of biofilms and gives details of the gene network regulating this process. Part 3 presents research showing that B. subtilis uses a bet-hedging strategy for coping with uncertainty. Dr. Losick provides a number of examples of stochastically determined cell fate decisions in both unicellular and multicellular organisms. Parts 1 and 3 are suitable for undergraduates, while Part 2 is aimed at advanced undergraduates and graduate students. Teaching tools on the site include lecture notes, review and facilitator questions, a feature called “Explain/teach these concepts to a friend,” recommended reading, papers for a journal club, and seven short (one- to two-minute video clips). To view answers to the review and facilitator questions, educators must register on the site as teachers. Users studying on their own should send an email to ibioseminars@cmp.ucsf.edu with a request for the answers. This seminar is featured at iBioSeminars, which offers a series of free video talks by leading biologists, with accompanying educational materials. 2010-01-04 13:34:27 http://developer1.hhmi.org/coolscience/resources/SPT--FullRecord.php?ResourceId=150 In this short video produced by Teachers' Domain, HHMI Professor and Investigator Catherine Drennan of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology explains her research into microorganisms that survive on greenhouse gases, which are widely believed to accelerate global warming. Specifically, she is investigating how a protein inside these microorganisms converts carbon dioxide into energy. Ultimately, Dr. Drennan says she hopes humans might apply what they learn from microorganisms to remove carbon dioxide from the environment. This video is part of a series of digital media produced for high school classrooms by public television. Educators and students can view the video with or without captions. A background essay, questions for discussion, and links to related resources are also on the site. Educators must register for unlimited free access and to download, share, and save the resources available on Teachers' Domain. 2009-12-31 13:48:21 http://developer1.hhmi.org/coolscience/resources/SPT--FullRecord.php?ResourceId=149 In this three-part lecture, HHMI Investigator Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado discusses many aspects of regeneration, a process that has long fascinated philosophers and scientists. In Part 1, Dr. Sánchez Alvarado provides a general history of regeneration research from ancient Greece to the beginning of the 20th century. He introduces key concepts in their appropriate historical context and discusses many of the unanswered questions put forward by the problem of regeneration. He explains why planarians (flatworms that are a simple type of multicellular animal) have attracted the attention of generations of biologists: Cut a worm into two fragments and each fragment regenerates a complete organism. Cut it into 8 fragments and each individual fragment will go on to regenerate a complete animal. In Part 2, he briefly reviews the history of planarian research and summarizes the central principles of planarian regeneration that have been derived from this extensive body of experimental work. In Part 3, Dr. Sánchez Alvarado introduces the model system he has developed to study animal regeneration, the planarian Schmidtea mediterranea. He reviews its anatomy and the biological attributes that make these animals extraordinarily well suited to dissect the molecular and cellular basis of regeneration. He also discusses recent work from his laboratory aimed at identifying molecules associated with regenerative capacities. Five short clips are available for classroom use, and a speaker biography and related articles are also on the site. His talk is part of iBioSeminars, a series that offers free lectures from the world’s leading biologists, with accompanying educational materials. 2009-12-28 16:46:12 http://developer1.hhmi.org/coolscience/resources/SPT--FullRecord.php?ResourceId=151 This 13-minute from the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Center for Life Science Education, in conjunction with the School of Medicine, explains systems biology—the way complex systems and patterns emerge out of many relatively simple interactions to order to model and discover life. In the video, VCU Professors Tom Huff and Greg Buck shed light on the benefits and challenges of the systems biology approach, contending that the new generation of scientists will need to look at biology as an informational science and to use quantitative and computational approaches. The film also highlights the work of Jeff Elhai of VCU’s Center for the Study of Biological Complexity; he has helped to develop BioBIKE, a programming language that incorporates concepts familiar to molecular biologists and is accessible through the Web to scientists without programming experience. Using BioBIKE, students at Chesterfield Technical Center in Chesterfield, Virginia, teamed up with Elhai and VCU students to conduct original research into virus samples. The video is part of a larger public education campaign called “Secrets of the Sequence,” a series of more than 50 downloadable videos and accompanying lessons for science educators worldwide. The videos help teachers apply genetic research across the biology curriculum and create an avenue for students to learn from leading scientists and ethicists about the moral, ethical, and legal impacts of recent discoveries in the life sciences. A lesson plan for “A New Frontier” video (one of five videos being produced to explain concepts in systems biology) is under development. 2009-12-28 16:38:56 http://developer1.hhmi.org/coolscience/resources/SPT--FullRecord.php?ResourceId=148 A video tour of the Washington University Genome Sequencing Center—supplemented by additional films and classroom activities—can help advanced high school students and college undergraduates understand the classical techniques of genome sequencing. Developed under HHMI Professor Sarah Elgin’s Genomics in Education project, the 30-minute video, “Sequencing a Genome: Inside the Washington University Genome Sequencing Center,” introduces students to the technology, equipment, and people who performed the high-throughput sequencing used to sequence the human genome, while describing the science at each step. The video tour shows the steps taken to produce the raw sequence component of a genome project, beginning with the cloned DNA of an organism and ending with a complete genome sequence. Animations appear throughout the video to explain the more detailed and molecular scientific processes. Interviews with Center staff illustrate different entry levels for a career in genome science. The website also contains a host of other resources for educators, including a complete script of the tour, diagrams of the Genome Sequencing Center pipeline, and a glossary of genomics terms. Classroom activities, such as “Paper PCR” and “Paper Terminators” lessons, help students integrate the concepts seen in the video. The developers, who seek feedback, encourage educators and students to complete the feedback forms on the site. 2009-12-10 10:12:21