Lab Out Loud

By Dale Basler and Brian BartelScience Education

Lab Out Loud episodes

February 18, 2008Episode 10 - Boston Here We Come
Get a preview of what's in store for you at the 2008 National Conference on Science Education, as we chat with conference chair Joyce Croce.
New to an NSTA Conference?
Visit the NSTA Conferences Newcomer's Page
Attend the First-Timers Session: Thursday, March 27th 8:00-9:00, repeated on Thursday, March 27th 3:30-4:30 free
Conference Links
Boston Convention Center
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Printable Conference Preview (PDF)
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Concurrent Sessions and Events
Presentations and Workshops
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Exhibitor Workshops
Ticketed Events
Science Assessment: Research and Practical Approaches
Professional Development Institutes
Science for Teachers of Young Learners
NSTA Symposia
Short Courses
Field Trips
Social Functions
Conference Strands
Using and Abusing Data
Sharpening the Edge in Science
Cutting-Edge Research: Foundation for the Future
Instructional Technology: Research and Applications for the Science Classroom
Special Programs
NSTA’s Exemplary Science Program (ESP)
Teacher Researcher Day
NSTA International Science Education Day
Informal Science Day
Centers for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence (COSEE) Program
NSTA / SCST College Symposium
Ultimate Science Classroom Giveaway
21 min
February 04, 2008Episode 9 - Blogging with PZ Myers
In this episode, we chat with PZ Myers - lead author of the blog Pharyngula (Pharyngula is hosted at Science Blogs - a project from Seed Magazine). Myers is a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris.
Contact
Information at UM Morris

Curriculum
Vitae

Personal Page

Profile
on Nature Network

Pharyngula Galleries

Articles
written by PZ Myers at Seed Magazine

2006
Weblog Award Winner: Best Science Blog
Preview from the Show:
Myers: What you want to do with a blog - it's
such an informal medium - if you get all stuffy and treat it as something where
you are going to write a formal treatise everyday, I don't think you'll
get as much interest. So by keeping it personal, keeping it human, what I think
I've done is open up a little window into a science professor's life,
which is sometimes scary, but fun.
Basler: Do you think that this type of casual
communication [blogging] is something really important that the students are going
to need in the future, or was it just an experiment to try out because you were
blogging?
Myers: Oh it's both. I mean,
this is a brave new medium. I'm trying new things; I wanna
explore this and see what we can do with our students. But I also
think it's important for the future of science and science education -
that what we want is active, involved learners at every stage of the
game. And if this is a way that we can get people talking about
science, then that's a huge step - that's important.
Myers: My schedule's turning into a
frightening thing; it's getting so packed full of requests to talk, but
I try to indulge in as much as possible.
Bartel: So you're working on Darwin Day instead of enjoying it, is what you're saying?
Myers: Well, getting up in front of
an audience and talking about evolution and talking about science,
talking about philosophy in these ideas - that's not working is it?
Links:
Wikipedia Entry

The Mad Scientist (from Minneapolis/St. Paul City Pages)

Monkey's Uncle (from Minneapolis/St. Paul City Pages)

PZ Myers on Richard Dawkins (from Seed Magazine)

Interview with DailyKos

Interview by John Horgan

DarwinDay.org

Darwin Day Celebration at Lawrence University - February 9, 2008
Books Discussed on the Show:
Your
Inner Fish by Neil Shubin

The
Reluctant Mr. Darwin by David Quammen
24 min
January 21, 2008Episode 8 - The Future of Particle Physics
In this episode, Dale talks with physicist Don Lincoln of the DZero detector experiment at Fermilab National Accelerator Laboratories. Don talks about physics, Fermilab, his books, and some opportunities for teachers and students with QuarkNet.
Preview from the Show:
Basler: Can you give
us an overview of what the [Fermilab] does, and what the facility’s goals are?
Lincoln:
My own lab, Fermilab, accelerates protons
and antimatter protons near the speed of light and collides them together. Fermilab
has some other programs also where we accelerate protons and smash the protons into
a target, which is usually some material - nickel or something. And from that, we extract other particles – which
could be neutrinos – which is what we’re doing mostly - and experimenting with
those as well.�?
Basler: What do you
say to the person that says “I hated Physics�??
Lincoln:
Well I ask them why they hated physics.
Usually they say “well, ‘cuz it was too math oriented and it was difficult�?. And I say, “let’s talk about the world. Have
you ever wondered why the sun came up?�? or things like that. And usually I can get them to talk about some
aspect of the world that they’re interested in, and show them that, in fact,
the study of physics really is interesting in that it explains an awful lot,
and shows these interconnections that they might not be aware of.
Basler: And you have a
book that could help out teachers… Tell us a little about that.
Lincoln:
Well actually I have two books. The first book…was written intentionally for
people who come to my public lectures, because the people who come to the
science lectures are usually of course very enthusiastic about science, and they’ve
read many of the popular books. This particular
book that I wrote, was actually aimed at them, for those who wanted to go a
little bit deeper. The second book is
not even out yet - it’ll be out in the summer of 2008 – details the new accelerator
that is going to be turning on this year in Europe – the large hadron collider,
and that one is also aimed at the general audience.
Lincoln:
High School teachers can join the QuarkNet
program. They will then go and work with the researcher, for perhaps a week
during the summer, and get a sense of what research is going on. Then they bring that information back to
their classrooms. And for many of the QuarkNet center - of which I think there are
50 currently in the country - they get funded to bring high school students in
the laboratory to work for the summer – and they get paid to work even.
Don's Books:
"Understanding the Universe: From Quarks to the Cosmos"
The target audience for this book is a lay audience of science
enthusiasts. I had high school teachers in mind as I wrote it. Find it at Amazon.com.
New
book: "The Quantum Frontier: The Large Hadron Collider" (name subject
to change, will be out summer 2008.) Maybe it's just better to say
that the new book "describes in layman terms the exciting new research
program about to start at the CERN laboratory in Switzerland."
Links from Don Lincoln:
http://particleadventure.org (just cool information about particle physics).

http://quarknet.fnal.gov (details quarknet and how to get involved.)

http://www.interactions.org/cms/ (a worldwide site for education and image resources)

http://www.scied.science.doe.gov/scied/PST/choose.htm laboratory opportunities

Slightly outdated database (geographically searchable): http://ed.fnal.gov/lasso/hep_search/search.html
Fermilab (Illinois) education office: http://ed.fnal.gov/index.shtml

Argonne (Illinois): http://www.anl.gov/Visiting/index.html

Brookhaven (Long Island): http://www.bnl.gov/education/

Jefferson Lab (Virginia): http://education.jlab.org/

Stanford (California): http://www-group.slac.stanford.edu/com/ed_educators.htm

Los Alamos (New Mexico): http://www.lanl.gov/education/

US Department of Energy (national) http://www.doe.gov/foreducators.htm

National Science Foundation (national): http://www.nsf.gov/news/classroom/physics.jsp

CERN (Europe) http://education.web.cern.ch/education/
Experiments:
CMS: http://cmsinfo.cern.ch/outreach/index.html

ATLAS: http://atlasexperiment.org/students.html

LHCb: http://lhcb-public.web.cern.ch/lhcb-public/

ALICE: http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/Public/

CDF: http://www-cdf.fnal.gov/

D0: http://www-d0.fnal.gov/
25 min
January 07, 2008Episode 7 - Cloning Monkey Embryos
On this week's episode, we talk with Dr.
Shoukhrat Mitalipov. Dr. Mitalipov is an Assistant Scientist and a Co-Director
of the Assisted Reproductive Technologies and Embryonic Stem Cell Core Laboratory
at the Oregon National
Primate Research Center, Oregon
Health & Science University. We talk with Dr. Mitalipov about his recent
breakthrough in cloning monkey embryos and the scientific methods that got him
there.
Top
10 Scientific Breakthroughs of 2007 (see #9)

Producing
primate embryonic stem cells by somatic cell nuclear transfer (Nature)

Scientists
Use Monkey Clones to Extract Stem Cells (NY Times)

Researchers
Clone Monkeys for Stem Cells (Reuters)

Stem-Cell
Researchers Clone Monkey Embryo (NPR)

Scientists
claim to clone monkey embryos (MSNBC)

Scientists
Claim to Clone Monkey Embryos (ABC News)

Scientists
Claim to Clone Monkey Embryos (CBC)

Oregon
Scientists Say They've Cloned First Primate and Generated Stem Cells (Wired
Blog Network)

If
Cloning Humans is Wrong, So Is Cloning Monkeys (Wired Blog Network)
25 min
December 17, 2007Episode 6 - Adam Rogers from WIRED Science
Adam Rogers discusses the new PBS show titled WIRED Science.
Links
WIRED
Science

WIRED
Magazine

Twitter
Dale's
account

Brian's
account

Dale's
Twitter project

Other
educators on Twitter
27 min
December 03, 2007Episode 5 - Sir Alec Jeffries and DNA fingerprinting
Professor Sir Alec Jeffries talks to us about the discovery of DNA
fingerprinting, its uses/abuses and its impact on society.
Preview from the Show:
I’ve been called the father of DNA fingerprinting - I think grandfather is
more appropriate. So basically the baby has grown up and spawned its own
offspring – so I’m now granddad – and they are thriving. …But obviously I keep a
very, very great interest in watching… just how it’s being used, and indeed, on
occasion how it’s being misused, or potentially misused. And on that point, I
will certainly stand up and raise these issues.
BARTEL: Can you tell us a little bit about how you
discovered the technology?
By glorious accident. The last thing on my mind in the lead up work to
developing that first DNA fingerprint was any thought of forensic investigation.
[Later]:
I went back that evening to my home and sat down with my wife Sue – very excited
– and said, look this is what we’ve come up with; I think we can use it for
this, that, and the other. And she said “yeah – that’s great, but you’ve
forgotten one thing.�? I said "what’s that", and she said “immigration disputes.�?
…And at that point, I remember my blood running cold. Because I suddenly
thought "immigration – that is seriously political; this not science anymore.
This is getting dangerously into the world of politics." But as history would
have it, the very first case was an immigration dispute, and the first
application was in immigration.
First, DNA fingerprinting wouldn’t have happened without
basic blue skies research; it came out of nowhere – it was unpredictable. And
secondly, science is a lot of fun. Without that sense of fun, I wouldn’t have
come up with this either. I think those are two important messages for the
policy makers, but certainly for the young people of today – tomorrow’s future
scientists.

Links:
Professor Sir Alec Jeffries, University of Leicester

The
Gene Genius (publication from the University of Leicester)

Sir Alec Jeffries entry on Wikipedia

Discovering DNA
Fingerprinting from the Wellcome Trust

Pioneering DNA Forensics (from NPR)

Privacy Fears Over DNA (article from BBC News)

The
Informer in your Blood (article from The First Post)
28 min
November 19, 2007Episode 4 - Science Education Myth?
This week we talk with Vivek
Wadhwa, columnist for Business Week, Wertheim Fellow at the Harvard Law
School and executive in residence at Duke University. Wadhwa will be discussing
his recent article (The
Science Education Myth) regarding science education in the United States.
Quotes from the show:

“It’s commonly accepted that the U.S. is falling behind other countries
because our children score badly on math and science test scores and so on.
The National Academies has sited this data; the President alluded to it in
his last State of the Union address in 2006, the U.S. Department of Education
talks about it. Everyone seems to accept the fact that the U.S. is falling
behind and there is something wrong with our education system...I had a suspicion
this was wrong.?

“We actually added up the numbers, and we found that the U.S. graduates
a comparable number [engineers] to India, and the Chinese numbers are bogus.
Basically they’re published from the Chinese government and you can’t challenge
it; the Chinese numbers are high, but there are huge quality issues in both
India and China.?

“The U.S is in pretty good shape. Maybe there are a few small nations,
like Latvia and Singapore that come in first place, but those are small countries
and you can’t compare a population of the size and the diversity of the U.S.A.
with countries like Singapore, which are small and have a different system
than we do.?

“Almost every indicator that they looked at showed the same trend – that
the U.S.A. was improving; it wasn’t getting worse. And that no other country
in the world was improving like the U.S.A. was.?

“If you look at what spurred the sciences, it was Sputnik. The Manhattan
project employed 100-200,000 engineers. Whenever there’s been a crisis, the
U.S. has responded to it by putting together national programs. The fact is
that global warming is a critical national program. The fact that we’re consuming
oil and burning up the world is a critical threat to the U.S.A. There are
so many diseases that need to be eradicated. Instead of spending another 100
billion dollars on Iraq, why don’t we take 100 billion dollars and spend it
on doing constructive research on eliminating diseases, of improving the world.?

“I think the U.S. really has to get its act together. We have to create
the demand for engineers and scientists, and create the excitement, and create
the motivation for our students to move into these fields. Just graduating
more doesn’t solve any it just creates unemployment. But create a demand,
create an excitement, is how you solve one of the problems.?
Links:
The Science Education Myth, by Vivek Wadhwa from Business Week

Assessing the Evidence on Science and Engineering Education, Quality, and
Workforce Demand, by
B. Lindsay Lowell,
Harold Salzman; report by the Urban Institute

Rising above the Gathering Storm; report from the National
Academies Press

State of the Union Address by the President; January 31, 2006

U.S. Must act to Close Dentist Gap from Pure Pedantry

A Silver Lining to Our Science Struggles by David Epstein, from SEED
Magazine (article
as podcast)

In Science Classrooms, A Blast of Fresh O2 by Natalie Angier
from the New York Times

Math and
Science Education from NPR's Science Friday; November 9th, 2007
22 min
November 05, 2007Episode 3 - Steve Squyres & Roving Mars
This week we talk with Steve Squyres, principal investigator
for the science payload on the Mars Exploration Rover Project,
& Professor of Astronomy at Cornell University in Ithaca, New
York.
Preview from the show:
"We have been so incredibly lucky with this mission. I mean,
to have that dead wheel, which we thought was a catastrophe at the
time, turn up one of the most exciting discoveries of the mission, was
very good
fortune."
"The next big thing, at least in mars exploration, along with the
continuing adventures of the rovers, is a mission called Phoenix. And
Phoenix is a lander mission that's going to land near the north polar
region of mars, and is going to dig down into the soil there, hope to
find ice and then, scoop up some of that ice, and put it into a little
chemistry set on top of the lander, and find out what's inside of that
ice."
"What we've tried to do is provide images, provide curriculum
materials, and provide information for educators as we go. And I think
that's actually the best way to do it, because the thing that makes
this exciting is not reading about it in the historical sense after the
mission's over, so much as being an active participant - you know
following the mission as it's going along. You can go to our website,
and you can download the latest pictures from Mars that have come down
in the last day or so."
Links:
NASA's Mars Exploration Page

Audio clips with Dr. Steve Squyres, Cornell
University, Ithaca, NY

Transcript: Mars Rover Update
with Dr. Steve Squyres

Steve Squyres on NASA Direct

Steve Squyres entry from Wikipedia

Steve Squyres: Man on a Misson
from NOVA

Steve Squyres Interview on
The Colbert Report

Steve Squyres on
NPR's
Fresh Air from WHYY,
March 29, 2004

ABC News Person of the Week Article

Father of Spirit and Opportunity,
an article from
Scientific
American, October 2004

Interview with Steve Squyres from
The
Cornell Daily Sun

Mars
Exploration Rovers Mission Update blog &
Way Cool Scientist!

UC Berkeley Distinguished Lecture in
Astronomy Lecture with Steve Squyres on Google
Video

Roving Mars, written by Steve
Squyres from
amazon.com
Brian's "Flaming
Pumpkin of Death"
Dale's Stop-motion
video project
15 min
October 22, 2007Episode 2 - Biologist Sean B. Carroll
Dr. Sean B. Carroll (Professor of Molecular Biology and Genetics and
an Investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at the
University of Wisconsin) talks to us about evolution, his new project, and science literacy.
Preview from the show:
"What
I am very convinced of, from all sorts of experiences of trying to
communicate science, is that storytelling is a really valuable
ingredient of that. And I don't mean storytelling in sort of a
simplistic way, but just engaging the audience, whether they are
students or teachers or laypersons, with the drama of scientific
exploration, scientific discovery, even scientific debate.
Because it's pretty darn common that when scientists find
something new, something unexpected, there's a wrestling match for a
while, figuring out whether a new view is emerging, or whether someone
else is off base. And all of this is a very human enterprise -
there's a whole lot of human nature in the game of science."
-Sean B. Carroll, discussing a textbook adjunct from Benjamin Cummings that will be available next year
"I really wish that teachers had fossil collections...I think that when kids put their hands on fossils - something happens."
-Sean B. Carroll, on a wish he has for teachers
"Scientific Literacy is broader
than just evolution. Evolution is perhaps the poster child for
the acute problem that we have. But I think that it's really hard
for a student to grasp, and I think it's really hard, I think for
a citizen to grasp, when they are just getting the moving banner at the
bottom of CNN - [like] "scientists say", "this fossil means that" or
"this gene discovery means that." Those are just punchlines and
don't really understand the size of the entire enterprise or the
cumulative knowledge that's built up and how that's tested and things.
Now you could say - how do you convey all that? Practically
speaking, I think part of the way you convey all that is that those who
are communicating to the public, and I would say especially the media -
have to have a better grasp of it."
-Sean B. Carroll, on scientific literacy
"I think getting the scientific
method, and knowledge of the scientific method across in the classroom
is really more important than any particular science content."
-Sean B. Carroll, on teaching science
"I can't encourage anyone more
strongly to read what the judge said about the intelligent design case
in Dover... It's a masterful opinion."
-Sean B. Carroll, on intelligent design in schools

Links:
Professional Information from UW-Madison:
Sean Carroll's Lab

Molecular Biology Department

Genetics Department
SeanBCarroll.com

Books by Sean B. Carroll (from Google Book Search)

Sean B. Carroll Books on Amazon.com

HHMI Holiday Lecture (FREE DVD!)
The Science of Evolution video from the New York Times

Interview from Discover Magazine
"One of the most rewarding aspects of writing for a general audience has
been the response of the biology teaching community. I think there is
an urgent need to get new, illuminating material into the hands of
teachers and their students. I am working on some new paths to do that."

Charmed by Snakes - Profile in Nature.
Q: What’s the one thing about science that you wish the public understood better? A: "The
depth and breadth of evidence supporting scientific ideas: compared
with, say, the absence of evidence in areas like astrology, UFOs and
ghosts."

PDF of decision of court in Kitzmiller, et al. v. Dover Area School District

Interview from Science Friday

Interview from Talk of the Nation

Article from The Scientist

Q&A Sean Carroll from Library Journal
27 min
October 09, 2007Episode 1 - Introductions and Gerry Wheeler
Meet the hosts of NSTA's Lab Out Loud podcast - Dale Basler and Brian
Bartel. Later, we chat with NSTA Executive Director Gerry Wheeler, as he
reflects on Sputnik and its impact on science education, the importance of
science literacy and 21st century skills, and how NSTA is helping science
teachers both young and old.
WSST
The Wisconsin Society of
Science Teachers

WSST's
Periodicity
Gerry Wheeler Reflects on Sputnik:
When Science Suddenly Mattered, in Space and in Class (NY Times)

Sputnik Left Legacy for U.S. Science Education (NPR)

Sputnik
heralded space race, focus on learning (USA Today)

Science:
Sputnik Redux (Edutopia)
Visit NSTA's new website at
www.nsta.org
NSTA's New Science Teacher Academy
With support from The Amgen Foundation, the program will support new middle and
secondary school science educators by providing opportunities for professional
development such as online mentoring and financial support to attend NSTA’s
national conference.
New Science Teacher Academy

The Amgen
Foundation

The
Science and Mathematics Teacher Shortage: Fact and Myth
Toyota Tapestry
Home

2008 Online Proposal
17 min

About Lab Out Loud

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Lab Out Loud is a show about science teaching in the classroom and beyond. Lab Out Loud seeks to explore science education through discussions with educators, researchers, leading scientists, science…

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