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53 interesting communication exercises for science students
104
The Citric Acid Cycle - - Magic Wheel Here is a Krebs Cycle that actually goes round! It is meant to be a serious teaching aid and is basically two pieces of card with a central rivet (see picture). As you move one against the other, the names of the enzymes, coenzymes, and reactions and structures, come up in little windows. Also on the front is a plan of numbers of carbons as the cycle proceeds.
I find it somewhat perverse that the acids are given as acids rather than as ions. A number of us have been trying to teach that these acids will be largely ionized at physiological pH for some years now, and this is the practice in most text books. Krebs himself originally called it the citric acid cycle rather than the citrate cycle (or the tricarboxylic acid cycle). However, I do not think this is sufficient to warrant giving acids rather than ions, especially as the enzymes are named by the ion eg succinate thiokinase. Finally, a bad point from both the design and didactic points of view. The biggest thing to be seen is the name of the enzyme and effectively the smallest, the structures of the intermediates. In my opinion this is exactly the opposite of the importance of these. Had the structures been put on the 'outer circle' they could have been a lot larger: even in their present window they could have been almost double their present size. (Older members of staff will certainly need their reading glasses.) More thought could have been put into the sizes within the design. A final point is that I don't think the 'middle-class wallpaper' background makes for clarity when reading the reactions out of the windows. The 'Cycle' is 20.5 cm in diameter and is available from Metabaid, PO Box 359, Cardiff CF2 6YD, UK, price £1.50 or £1.30 for orders of ten or more, including post and packing. E J Wood
Book Reviews 53 Interesting Communication Exercises for Science Students I suppose that anything that attracts, interests or informs younger students in relation to biochemistry must have something to be said for it. This is certainly a Good Idea, but it has some good points and some bad: in any case it is not to be taken too seriously. It would be a good present for the student who asks whether the Cycle goes clockwise or anti-clockwise. Good points are that it would amuse students and so get them to spend time on the Cycle/Biochemistry rather than something else (and we should remember that it is primarily aimed at highschool students taking Biology, but who are somewhat reluctantly getting involved in biochemistry and chemical structures). Also it would serve as a learning aid: it could be used to self-test in the sense of predicting or remembering what is coming up in the windows next. Perhaps to be set against this is that it might be preferable for students 'see' the Cycle as a whole, rather than to try to remember it in bits. It might be said that the printed cycle in terms of carbons does this, but I suspect some students find it difficult to make the connexion.
BIOCHEMICAL EDUCATION 17(2) 1989
by S H a b e s h a w and D Steeds. pp 235. Technical and E d u c a t i o n a l Services Ltd, H a r p e r & R o w Distribution, Estover, P l y m o u t h P L 6 7 P Z , U K . 1989. £7.95 ISBN 0-947885-20-X This little book is well described by its title. It is not specifically designed for biochemistry students at the tertiary level. In fact some of the examples are biochemical, but it would be better to treat these examples as examples and devise your own material for biochemistry courses. Communication is an important part of science. Getting results is one thing but until they have been communicated they are of little use to science as a whole and cannot be corroborated or refuted. However, in many, perhaps the majority, of institutions, communication skills are either not taught at all or are imparted in a rather haphazard fashion. The approach in this book is fairly comprehensive but not particularly systematic, and the authors say that this is a text for dipping into. It would work splendidly as a resource, giving ideas for what might be done in tutorials and small groups as a positive measure to enhance communications skills. There is very little educational or communication theory, simply comrnonsense advice in the following areas, each set out as a possible exercise for students: communication theory, thinking about science, study skills, using the library, the language of science, technical writing, writing up practicals, report writing, writing instructions, data presentation and interpretation, oral presentations, and self presentation (eg applying for a job). In each of these sections there are several exercises with subheadings 'How to run the exercise' and 'Getting the most of the exercise'. Obviously much more could be written about in any of the sections or exercises but would the busy teacher/researcher have time to read it in that case? A quick flip through the book will in fact give tutors plenty of ideas for use in a tutorial and by using their own examples they will be able to teach biochemistry simultaneously.
105 Here are a few items from exercises to give the flavour of the book. Under 'writing', students can be asked to indicate the difference between: accurate, precise, reliable, exact, and specific. This will obviously give rise to difficulties and discussion. Under 'television' students are required to ask themselves, whilst watching a science programme: 'How is the link person used?', 'How are the experts used?', 'How are complex ideas explained?', 'How far is the visual potential of the medium exploited?', and so on. In 'The Perchloric Acid File' the students have to write a report recommending the purchase of a new fume hood. They have to extract information from accident reports, manufacturer's literature, recommendations by professional and governmental bodies, and make the report persuasive to a sceptical safety officer. (All the literature is supplied in the book). In another exercise, the students are given a short report of an experiment which is badly written and contains inappropriate abbreviations and incorrect unit designations, etc. They have to 'spot the errors' and write an improved version. There again one could provide one's own examples taken from biochemistry. You may not agree with everything in this book and you may find some of the examples a bit trivial if you teach tertiary level biochemistry. This does not matter: the book is a very good source of provoking ideas that will set you designing your own exercises. E J Wood
53 I n t e r e s t i n g T h i n g s T o D o in Your L e c t u r e s G Gibbs, S H a b e s h a w and T Habeshaw. pp 160. Technical and Educational Services Ltd, H a r p e r & R o w Distribution, Estover, Plymouth PL6 7PZ, UK. 1987. £6.95 ISBN 0 - 9 4 7 8 8 5 - 0 1 - 3
A lecture is an uninterrupted discourse read or delivered before an audience or a class of students. It is the traditional and the commonest form of teaching used in tertiary-level educational institutions. In fact, students attending such institutions on a fulltime basis may be required to attend several lectures a day and a few hundred every year. This has led some skeptics to suggest that students at such institutions are lectured to death! The lecturer is the most active person present at a lecture, the audience being essentially quiet and passive although it may be expected to be involved in note-taking. Unless they are endowed with exceptional memories, few of those who attend a lecture are likely to remember much of the discourse. In fact little is actually learned during a lecture, and the activity is quite wasteful of the students' time. The learning that results from lectures usually occurs later, when the student reviews the points made by the lecturer, or analyses the notes that were taken, or discusses points raised with other students who also attended. Many teachers at such institutions are fully aware of the limitations of formal lectures. By incorporating ways of achieving audience participation as an integral part of the lecture experience, and by its emphasis on active involvement of students in the process, the lecture method is much more effective than the formal lecture, and makes the experience much more interesting and satisfying for the students. This little book is the first one in a series entitled 'Interesting Ways to Teach.' It has been written primarily for teachers in tertiary-level institutions by three educators associated with Polytechnics at Oxford and Bristol (UK). Its concern is mainly with the lecture method. The 53 practical suggestions it contains offer alternative ways of teaching within a lecture setting and thereby to support and enhance student learning. Suggestions are grouped under the following headings: (i) Structuring the Process, (ii) Improving Students' Notes, (iii) Using Handouts, (iv) Structuring and Summarising Content, (v) Linking Lectures, (vi) Holding Attention, (vii) Active Learning
BIOCHEMICAL EDUCATION 17(2) 1989
During Lectures, and (viii) Checking on Learning. The largest number (eleven) is, significantly, concerned with Active Learning During Lectures. Other sections contain four to eight suggestions each. This book is recommended for those entering, or who recently entered, an academic teaching career and for more experienced faculty members who are looking for ways of revitalising or renovating their teaching. Each suggestion is in itself very simple. The incorporation of some of them by a large number of faculty members would go a long way towards the improvement and enhancement of learning that is so heartily desired by so many students. F Vella
Genetic Engineering: Catastrophe or Utopia? by P R Wheale and R M McNally. pp 332. Harvester Wheatsheaf, England, and St Martin's Press, New York. 1988. $29.95 ISBN 0 - 3 1 2 - 0 0 4 7 9 - 6 I start by quoting from the Preface: "The genetic engineer, like a contemporary Daedalus, claims to be providing society with a vast range of innovations, such a s . . . " and then " . . . as a result of the application of genetic engineering, worldwide pandemics caused by newly created pathogens, the triggering of catastrophic ecological imbalances by the release of novel organisms into the environment, the creation of new agents of biological warfare and the increased power to manipulate and control people, may each become realities in the near future." The " . . . book is intended for students of science, social studies and business and the lay r e a d e r . . . " "It is our hope that it will contribute to an improved dialogue between the individuals comprising these different groups." "No specialist knowledge in the sciences or humanities is required to understand the ideas, arguments and discussions presented." The authors are at the Oxford School of Business, Oxford Polytechnic and are Directors of Bio-Information (International) Limited. Wheale is concerned with the structure and organisation of science and technology while McNally is a science writer specialising in genetics. The book is packed with material, has a glossary, 16 pages of references and is divided into three parts entitled 'Revolution in Genetics', 'The BioIndustrial Complex' and 'Perfectability versus Responsibility'. Almost everything I could think of is covered from the Double Helix, Jumping Genes, Regulatory Policy, Commercial Applications, Biowar, Gene Therapy, Genetic Screening and Eugenics. The hope in the Preface that the book will improve the dialogue between the different groups is a forlorn one since for this one would require, and surely expect from authors at a School of Business, a balanced account. The bias of this book is heavily 'anti' which the authors may justify on the grounds that they wish to provide a counterbalance to overenthusiastic scientists, seeking fame, and industrialists, seeking profits-- but this is not an acceptable excuse when writing for readers with no specialist knowledge. It would take a long time for me to check the validity of every statement, so I can only report that I gained the impression that most of the facts were correct. Coming from the Courtauld Institute where Sir Charles Dodds discovered diethylstilboestrol(DES), I would have liked a reference to the statement on page 166 that "in 1980, it was discovered that one of the steroid hormones, called DES (the authors don't know much chemistry) that was being administered to calves to enhance their growth, contaminated baby food in Italy by way of cheaper cuts of veal causing infant cancers and the onset of secondary sexual characteristics, such as menstruation and breast development, in young children".
The Citric Acid Cycle - - Magic Wheel Here is a Krebs Cycle that actually goes round! It is meant to be a serious teaching aid and is basically two pieces of card with a central rivet (see picture). As you move one against the other, the names of the enzymes, coenzymes, and reactions and structures, come up in little windows. Also on the front is a plan of numbers of carbons as the cycle proceeds.
I find it somewhat perverse that the acids are given as acids rather than as ions. A number of us have been trying to teach that these acids will be largely ionized at physiological pH for some years now, and this is the practice in most text books. Krebs himself originally called it the citric acid cycle rather than the citrate cycle (or the tricarboxylic acid cycle). However, I do not think this is sufficient to warrant giving acids rather than ions, especially as the enzymes are named by the ion eg succinate thiokinase. Finally, a bad point from both the design and didactic points of view. The biggest thing to be seen is the name of the enzyme and effectively the smallest, the structures of the intermediates. In my opinion this is exactly the opposite of the importance of these. Had the structures been put on the 'outer circle' they could have been a lot larger: even in their present window they could have been almost double their present size. (Older members of staff will certainly need their reading glasses.) More thought could have been put into the sizes within the design. A final point is that I don't think the 'middle-class wallpaper' background makes for clarity when reading the reactions out of the windows. The 'Cycle' is 20.5 cm in diameter and is available from Metabaid, PO Box 359, Cardiff CF2 6YD, UK, price £1.50 or £1.30 for orders of ten or more, including post and packing. E J Wood
Book Reviews 53 Interesting Communication Exercises for Science Students I suppose that anything that attracts, interests or informs younger students in relation to biochemistry must have something to be said for it. This is certainly a Good Idea, but it has some good points and some bad: in any case it is not to be taken too seriously. It would be a good present for the student who asks whether the Cycle goes clockwise or anti-clockwise. Good points are that it would amuse students and so get them to spend time on the Cycle/Biochemistry rather than something else (and we should remember that it is primarily aimed at highschool students taking Biology, but who are somewhat reluctantly getting involved in biochemistry and chemical structures). Also it would serve as a learning aid: it could be used to self-test in the sense of predicting or remembering what is coming up in the windows next. Perhaps to be set against this is that it might be preferable for students 'see' the Cycle as a whole, rather than to try to remember it in bits. It might be said that the printed cycle in terms of carbons does this, but I suspect some students find it difficult to make the connexion.
BIOCHEMICAL EDUCATION 17(2) 1989
by S H a b e s h a w and D Steeds. pp 235. Technical and E d u c a t i o n a l Services Ltd, H a r p e r & R o w Distribution, Estover, P l y m o u t h P L 6 7 P Z , U K . 1989. £7.95 ISBN 0-947885-20-X This little book is well described by its title. It is not specifically designed for biochemistry students at the tertiary level. In fact some of the examples are biochemical, but it would be better to treat these examples as examples and devise your own material for biochemistry courses. Communication is an important part of science. Getting results is one thing but until they have been communicated they are of little use to science as a whole and cannot be corroborated or refuted. However, in many, perhaps the majority, of institutions, communication skills are either not taught at all or are imparted in a rather haphazard fashion. The approach in this book is fairly comprehensive but not particularly systematic, and the authors say that this is a text for dipping into. It would work splendidly as a resource, giving ideas for what might be done in tutorials and small groups as a positive measure to enhance communications skills. There is very little educational or communication theory, simply comrnonsense advice in the following areas, each set out as a possible exercise for students: communication theory, thinking about science, study skills, using the library, the language of science, technical writing, writing up practicals, report writing, writing instructions, data presentation and interpretation, oral presentations, and self presentation (eg applying for a job). In each of these sections there are several exercises with subheadings 'How to run the exercise' and 'Getting the most of the exercise'. Obviously much more could be written about in any of the sections or exercises but would the busy teacher/researcher have time to read it in that case? A quick flip through the book will in fact give tutors plenty of ideas for use in a tutorial and by using their own examples they will be able to teach biochemistry simultaneously.
105 Here are a few items from exercises to give the flavour of the book. Under 'writing', students can be asked to indicate the difference between: accurate, precise, reliable, exact, and specific. This will obviously give rise to difficulties and discussion. Under 'television' students are required to ask themselves, whilst watching a science programme: 'How is the link person used?', 'How are the experts used?', 'How are complex ideas explained?', 'How far is the visual potential of the medium exploited?', and so on. In 'The Perchloric Acid File' the students have to write a report recommending the purchase of a new fume hood. They have to extract information from accident reports, manufacturer's literature, recommendations by professional and governmental bodies, and make the report persuasive to a sceptical safety officer. (All the literature is supplied in the book). In another exercise, the students are given a short report of an experiment which is badly written and contains inappropriate abbreviations and incorrect unit designations, etc. They have to 'spot the errors' and write an improved version. There again one could provide one's own examples taken from biochemistry. You may not agree with everything in this book and you may find some of the examples a bit trivial if you teach tertiary level biochemistry. This does not matter: the book is a very good source of provoking ideas that will set you designing your own exercises. E J Wood
53 I n t e r e s t i n g T h i n g s T o D o in Your L e c t u r e s G Gibbs, S H a b e s h a w and T Habeshaw. pp 160. Technical and Educational Services Ltd, H a r p e r & R o w Distribution, Estover, Plymouth PL6 7PZ, UK. 1987. £6.95 ISBN 0 - 9 4 7 8 8 5 - 0 1 - 3
A lecture is an uninterrupted discourse read or delivered before an audience or a class of students. It is the traditional and the commonest form of teaching used in tertiary-level educational institutions. In fact, students attending such institutions on a fulltime basis may be required to attend several lectures a day and a few hundred every year. This has led some skeptics to suggest that students at such institutions are lectured to death! The lecturer is the most active person present at a lecture, the audience being essentially quiet and passive although it may be expected to be involved in note-taking. Unless they are endowed with exceptional memories, few of those who attend a lecture are likely to remember much of the discourse. In fact little is actually learned during a lecture, and the activity is quite wasteful of the students' time. The learning that results from lectures usually occurs later, when the student reviews the points made by the lecturer, or analyses the notes that were taken, or discusses points raised with other students who also attended. Many teachers at such institutions are fully aware of the limitations of formal lectures. By incorporating ways of achieving audience participation as an integral part of the lecture experience, and by its emphasis on active involvement of students in the process, the lecture method is much more effective than the formal lecture, and makes the experience much more interesting and satisfying for the students. This little book is the first one in a series entitled 'Interesting Ways to Teach.' It has been written primarily for teachers in tertiary-level institutions by three educators associated with Polytechnics at Oxford and Bristol (UK). Its concern is mainly with the lecture method. The 53 practical suggestions it contains offer alternative ways of teaching within a lecture setting and thereby to support and enhance student learning. Suggestions are grouped under the following headings: (i) Structuring the Process, (ii) Improving Students' Notes, (iii) Using Handouts, (iv) Structuring and Summarising Content, (v) Linking Lectures, (vi) Holding Attention, (vii) Active Learning
BIOCHEMICAL EDUCATION 17(2) 1989
During Lectures, and (viii) Checking on Learning. The largest number (eleven) is, significantly, concerned with Active Learning During Lectures. Other sections contain four to eight suggestions each. This book is recommended for those entering, or who recently entered, an academic teaching career and for more experienced faculty members who are looking for ways of revitalising or renovating their teaching. Each suggestion is in itself very simple. The incorporation of some of them by a large number of faculty members would go a long way towards the improvement and enhancement of learning that is so heartily desired by so many students. F Vella
Genetic Engineering: Catastrophe or Utopia? by P R Wheale and R M McNally. pp 332. Harvester Wheatsheaf, England, and St Martin's Press, New York. 1988. $29.95 ISBN 0 - 3 1 2 - 0 0 4 7 9 - 6 I start by quoting from the Preface: "The genetic engineer, like a contemporary Daedalus, claims to be providing society with a vast range of innovations, such a s . . . " and then " . . . as a result of the application of genetic engineering, worldwide pandemics caused by newly created pathogens, the triggering of catastrophic ecological imbalances by the release of novel organisms into the environment, the creation of new agents of biological warfare and the increased power to manipulate and control people, may each become realities in the near future." The " . . . book is intended for students of science, social studies and business and the lay r e a d e r . . . " "It is our hope that it will contribute to an improved dialogue between the individuals comprising these different groups." "No specialist knowledge in the sciences or humanities is required to understand the ideas, arguments and discussions presented." The authors are at the Oxford School of Business, Oxford Polytechnic and are Directors of Bio-Information (International) Limited. Wheale is concerned with the structure and organisation of science and technology while McNally is a science writer specialising in genetics. The book is packed with material, has a glossary, 16 pages of references and is divided into three parts entitled 'Revolution in Genetics', 'The BioIndustrial Complex' and 'Perfectability versus Responsibility'. Almost everything I could think of is covered from the Double Helix, Jumping Genes, Regulatory Policy, Commercial Applications, Biowar, Gene Therapy, Genetic Screening and Eugenics. The hope in the Preface that the book will improve the dialogue between the different groups is a forlorn one since for this one would require, and surely expect from authors at a School of Business, a balanced account. The bias of this book is heavily 'anti' which the authors may justify on the grounds that they wish to provide a counterbalance to overenthusiastic scientists, seeking fame, and industrialists, seeking profits-- but this is not an acceptable excuse when writing for readers with no specialist knowledge. It would take a long time for me to check the validity of every statement, so I can only report that I gained the impression that most of the facts were correct. Coming from the Courtauld Institute where Sir Charles Dodds discovered diethylstilboestrol(DES), I would have liked a reference to the statement on page 166 that "in 1980, it was discovered that one of the steroid hormones, called DES (the authors don't know much chemistry) that was being administered to calves to enhance their growth, contaminated baby food in Italy by way of cheaper cuts of veal causing infant cancers and the onset of secondary sexual characteristics, such as menstruation and breast development, in young children".