THE FILIPINO BIOLOGY TEACHER

Translation of Antoni Quintana-Mari’s Valor de la Historia de la Ciencia como media de Edicacion Integral y Especifica del Individuo (1935) By Antoni Roca-Rosell and Hans Schneider Science and Education (2010) 19:919-923 DOI 10.007/s11191-010-9245-2 Springer Science + Business Media B.V. 2010 Published online: 30 March 2010 SUMMARY The article answers the question: “What is the value of teaching history of science?” Following the works of Sarton , the value of HOS was distinguished across three components: scientific, psycho-sociological and pedagogical. Among them, pedagogical value was thoroughly explained giving readers a glimpse of Spain’s science education, 75 years past. Pedagogical issues on HOS were also raised but suggestions were forwarded to address concerns like the appropriate educational level for HOS introduction, teaching methodology, coverage, treatment as single or integrated subject, and topic selection for the specific and integral education of man.

By Geilsa Costa Santos Baptista and Charbel Niño El-Hani Springer Science + Business Media B.V. 2008 Science and Education (2009) 18:503-520 Published online: 25 February 2009 SUMMARY This case study investigated the role of ethnobiological research in relating science education to traditional knowledge in a multicultural classroom in Brazil. It focused on the efficacy test of the didactic material and learning sequence designed to promote discussion between scientific and traditional knowledge in the context of biology teaching. The material was based on interviews from farmer students and was internally validated by biology teachers. Seventy-two high school students were the subjects of the two-phase intervention composing of a group work surveying their previous knowledge on local crops, and construction of the ‘table of comparative cognition’ grounded from the didactic material. The intervention was reported to have created possibilities of discussing in the classroom the si...

By Aviezer Tucker The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science July 18, 2011 SUMMARY Tucker analyzes the method of how Darwin inferred the origin of species from his major works. Two philosophical theses are highlighted: overdetermination and undetermination. Tucker discloses Darwin’s three-consecutive-stage-approach in inferring origins. First, Darwin inferred that homologies have common cause rather than separate cause, a case of overdetermination. Next, he developed possible causal nets to infer the origin of species sharing common cause, but acknowledged this approach to be an interplay between over and underdetermination depending upon the causal models. Third, Darwin avoided overdetermination in inferring the character traits of the ancestor species implying that some information might have been lost overtime such that the current evidences are insufficient to characterize the traits of the origin. Based on this case, Tucker concludes that inferences in historical scie...

Pre-Clinical and Clinical Safety Studies on DNA Vaccines Johanna A.C. Schalk, Frits R. Mooi, Guy A.M. Berbers, Leon A.G.J.M. Van Aerts, Hans Ovelgonne and Tjeerd G. Kimman Human Vaccines 2:2 45-53, March/April 2006; Landes Bioscience The topic under review is the safety issues on the use of DNA vaccines. There are a number of studies cited by the authors. Findings from these were used in organizing the paper based on the major safety issues (genetic, immune-mediated and environmental) surrounding the preclinical and clinical use of DNA vaccines both in animal models and humans.

Article Review: The importance of plasma membrane coenzyme Q in aging and stress response Placido Navas, Jose Manuel Villalba and Rafael de Cabo Elsevier B.V. and Mitochondria Research Society February 3, 2007 The article is a review of different studies that focus on the importance of coenzyme Q in cell aging and stress response. Coenzyme Q is the only lipid antioxidant in the mammalian cell characterized by its ability to exchange two electrons simultaneously or sequentially in a redox cycle between its oxidized and reduced forms. It also acts as a cofactor for uncoupling proteins and enhances the survival of cells subjected to chemotherapy. In the mitochondrial respiratory chain complexes, CoQ acts as an electron carrier.

NOTE: :Lifted from Sir Baggy Evolutionary Highlights and Plant Diversity Plant evolutionary process leads to the diversification and increasing complexity of plant species. As what has been commonly accepted, the process started with the earliest form of algal mats and ended up with the recent angiosperms. Moreover, the new grade of organization of plants were believed to have become successful than its predecessors. Though a continuing debate, most scientists accepted that all forms of plants begun with an algal scum formed on land around 1,200 million years ago. Through the years (i.e. about millions of years), this scum has evolved into the first land plants. These plants then evolved and diversified further producing more new structures, as evidenced in fossil assemblages. Currently, there were several aspects in plant life that have become the focus of investigation to come up further evidences of the process of its evolution. In this module, you will study how plants evolv...