http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Bad_Science

There’s a few pages where the format needs sorting out, and the random number game defeats my efforts to transfer it, but it’s a start.

Now, who’s going to be first to add a new topic? MMR? Fish oil ‘research’? Homeopathy?

He teaches high school at an Aboriginal community (total population 880) just east of Kakadu, isolated enough that for 6 months of the year the only way in or out is by light aircraft. Resources of all types are pretty thin on the ground out there, so everything that can help is good to have.

Don’t be surprised if you find your lessons translated into Kunwinjku at some point in the future…

i suggest as an example the wavicle controversy: light’s a particle, no light’s a wave! resolution: it’s a bit more complicated than that. you can probably think of better ones…

creationism is not too complicated to use – it’s just too emotive. people, including adults, can’t listen when they get riled up and upset. better to teach good science first and let them look at such issues for themselves afterwards.

http://www.ase.org.uk

http://www.schoolscience.co.uk/e-source_xpress.cfm

It would be good to have an online library of actual classroom activities, free access and all that. Like many teachers who may be reading, I’m afraid although it’s a great idea, I’d have no idea how to set it up or go about running it.

Chapter 7 is now available at:

http://maccruiskeen.wordpress.com

http://maccruiskeen@wordpress.com

As a means of “improving” exam results, it strikes me as akin, in ethical considerations, to the cynical pocket-lining machinations that have led to the current financial crisis.

I suspect that those responsible for the Durham “Fish Oil Farce” believe that ethics is a county near London.

Wonder Woman was made of clay. One version of the story has her as the reincarnation of the unborn child of a prehistoric murder vactiim, if I followed. The origin and constitution of other human beings is different.

We’re mostly water – come to think that is not in the bible.

Further information: what’s in the resource?

The lesson plans cover a range of abilities from Key Stage 4 pupils up to A-level. These include:

Roleplay: an exercise where pupils play the different roles of researcher, editor and reviewer, experiencing the different stages that a piece of research must pass through in order to be published.

Science in the media: a look at how science stories are reported in the news using real-life examples such as mobile phones and cancer, cloning, and the HPV vaccine. Students are encouraged to question the nature of the research behind the story, identify who carried it out and most importantly, ask whether it has been published in a peer-reviewed journal.

The Process and its Challenges: intended for advanced students, this exercise looks at the limitations of peer review. Students learn about real-life cases such as the scandal surrounding Korean cloning expert Hwang Woo-suk, and learn what role peer review has to play in these events.

The resource fits into the curriculum requirement (introduced in 2006) that secondary school children must be taught “how uncertainties in scientific knowledge and scientific ideas change over time and the role of the scientific community in validating these changes.” As part of the new STEM Directories project, details of the resource will be distributed to schools throughout the country

The resource is located at http://www.senseaboutscience.net

I’ve recently been teaching a bit of human biology to Year 11 kids, 15/16. We were looking at enzymes and the digestive system, trying to explain why it’s important we have a mucus lining in the stomach. I asked what people are made of, hoping to get the idea of protein (i.e. meat!). The answer I got? “Clay.” He’s been taught it and *had no idea* that this was a religious metaphor. Imagine how tricky evolution is!

On a more positive note – and more relevant to Ben’s original post – I have a few resources, worksheets, activities, powerpoints – that I use to try and teach about the real processes of science and how we examine ideas to see if they are useful. Recent examples include “mobile phone masts cause cancer” and “results of the MMR hoax”. I’m happy to email them as attachments if someone can make them accessible to all, ideally with contributions from the many other teachers who are no doubt around…