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...

NOTE: Lifted from Sir Baggy Biological Control Aside from the principles of DNA, protein synthesis, or ecological interactions, some other biological concepts were utilized to improve production. One concept that is being applied is predation. The idea of predation has been used more particularly in controlling unwanted organisms in the production spectrum. The practitioners refer to this application as the Biological Pest Control (BPC) or simply Biological Control (BC). In general, BC has been widely used in agricultural production to limit the impacts of pests in yield. The idea is to produce or reproduce the natural predators of these pests so as to limit their population. The relationship could be stated simply as follows: "As the population of predators increases, the population of prey is reduced." But in the field, this is not simply a linear relationship. There are other factors that need to be considered in the implementation of this tecnology. In this module, you w...

NOTE: Lifted from Sir Baggy Bioremediation One approach to clean up a contaminated environment is the use of microbes, the technology now known as Bioremediation. Bioremediation is the use of microbes to clean up hazardous contaminants such as oils and gasoline. Certain microbes will completely digest these chemicals, and transform them in to harmless water and gases such as carbon dioxide. However, for these microbes to work efficiently, certain environmental conditions should be met. Factors like temperature, nutrients, oxygen, and other chemicals needed for their work must be present. These factors when present in right amount will allow rapid growth and reproduction of these microbes, and thus, rapid process of cleaning up the contaminants. But the process is more than this. In this module, you will study the principles behind this technology, how it is currently practiced, and the factors that affect the process. To further your learning, a case study is presented to allow y...

NOTE: Lifted from Sir Baggy Environmental Issues and Concerns Environmental and natural resources conservation and management have been the focus of efforts currently. Countries throughout the globe have developed international partnerships in dealing with the issue of environmental destruction, natural resources degradation, biodiversity loss, climate change, massive deforestation, and the like. The impacts of anthropogenic activities on ecosystem structure and functions call for a widespread environmental awareness campaign, and a deeper study on the issues and concerns that beset the environment. This module will help you explain the ecological problems that beset our environment at present. You will study in this module some environmental problems and the strategies that were employed to address these problems. You will also review certain approaches in managing environmental and natural resources.

NOTE: Lifted from the site of Sir Baggy DNA Technology DNA technology has received a wide acceptance among geneticists, and other disciplines of Biology. Its widespread application in various fields (e.g. biology, engineering, medicine) has revolutionized how scientists study the genetics, biochemistry, and other aspects of organisms. The industrial sector has also benefited from its development. Recently, stem cell therapy is only one of the outcomes of DNA technology. In this module, you will study the important techniques in DNA technology, its various applications, and some arguments on its use.

NOTE: Lifted from the site of Sir Baggy . The Central Dogma of Molecular Genetics The Central Dogma of Molecular Genetics provides the information on how DNA controls the expression of certain hereditary traits in a form of proteins. Conventionally, the flow of information from DNA to proteins is simplistic, i.e. from DNA to RNA to proteins. However, current studies reported several special cases where the information is reverted back to DNA from RNA, the process of which is known as reverse transcription. This special case is known to occur in retroviruses such as the human immunovirus (HIV), as well as in eukaryotes such as the case of retrotransposons and telomere synthesis. In this module, you will study the general and special cases of information transfer. You will explore how the information stored in the blueprint is being replicated, transcribed, and translated into proteins. Below is the list of topics that you will study in this module. Click on each topic or link to access...

NOTE: Lifted from the site of Sir Baggy . DNA: Blueprint of Heredity The deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is considered by biologists as the blueprint of heredity. As the blueprint of heredity, it contains the information for the development of each type of cells in a body of organism based on which everything about the organism will be built over time. Its structure is so designed to produce the necessary proteins that are needed for the building up of the various parts of an organism. Based on the stored information of the blueprint, the kind of organism, its physique, and the processes that each part should perform are organized into an integrated whole. In this module, you will explore why DNA has been considered as the blueprint of heredity, and how it was being accepted by the scientific community. You will also study the structure of the DNA, how it is organized, and how such organization influence its basic function. Lastly, you will study the process of DNA replication. Below is ...

NOTE: Lifted from the site of Sir Baggy . Video 1 Video 2

NOTE: This is lifted from the site of Sir Baggy . Plasma Membrane Plasma membrane is the outer membrane of a cell. Though it is so thin, it screens out substances that enter and get out of the cell. This function is necessary to maintain the cell's precise chemical environment. Likewise, as a membrane, it separates the cytoplasm from its environment so that the cell can maintain its own integrity as a living component. In this module, you will review the basic relationship between structure and function, and we will use plasma membrane as a starting model for this study. Thus, at the end of the module, you should be able to describe the structure of plasma membrane, and related this structure to its function. You should also be able to evaluate the importance of these structures and functions in maintaining life including that of human beings. Below is the list of topics and resource materials for this module. Click on the topic to access the material.