Alison Campbell • Aug 10, 2011 •
A couple of days ago Grant sent me a link to a guest blog by biolgist & biology educator Joanne Manaster, on the Scientific American website . (There's also an interesting commentary by George Musser.) Both resonated a lot with me... Read More
Alison Campbell • Jul 18, 2011 •
Sometimes I think that the word 'theory' has to be one of the most misunderstood, and misused, words in science. A couple of science concepts that people often seem to have difficulty with are fact and theory: what the terms... Read More
Alison Campbell • Jun 30, 2011 •
Hot on the heels of the paper on methods for improving learning in first-year physics (Deslauriers, Schelew & Wieman, 2011), comes one by Haak, HilleRisLambers, Pitre & Freeman (2011) that casts a critical eye on methods for teaching first-year biology... Read More
Alison Campbell • Jun 27, 2011 •
... and I don't know why the media continue to give attention to claims about its influence on earthquakes & weather. Or at least, why they do so without applying a modicum of critical thinking.... Read More
Alison Campbell • Jun 24, 2011 •
Young-Earth creationist Ken Ham proudly teaches children to ask 'were you there?' of anyone making statements about evolution, the age of the Earth, or indeed of any scientific statements involving long periods of time. This isn't a genuine question, as... Read More
Alison Campbell • Jun 11, 2011 •
I know I'm creeping into Marcus's territory here but the research I'm going to discuss today would apply to pretty much any tertiary classroom :-)This story got a bit of press about a month ago, with the Herald carrying a story... Read More
Alison Campbell • Jun 08, 2011 •
Thus said a headline in today's on-line Herald. Presenting the report, Commissioner from the Environment, Jan Wright, commented that "without 1080, our ability to protect many of our native plants and animals would be lost."So I thought this was a good... Read More
Alison Campbell • Jun 06, 2011 •
From time to time I am happily diverted into watching funny videos. Many of them use that humour to communicate a serious message. Yesterday (egged on by friends Annette & David) I discovered the goodness that is Mitchell & Webb,... Read More
Alison Campbell • May 25, 2011 •
This 'bad science' letter popped up in the Waikato Times a couple of days ago. It was actually entitled "Democratic right"...[A previous writer] condoned governmental blackmail in his letter in which he accused me of irresponsibility for defending the democratic right... Read More
Alison Campbell • May 23, 2011 •
This one seems to be firmly in the 'nature good, man-made bad' camp.Doctors, drug companies and journalists alike refuse to acknowledge that what they manufacture, prescribe and pontiificate about is harmful to each and every human being. If children become... Read More