Teaching Resources

In the course of the work undertaken in the AWC we produce or contribute to many resources that may be valuable to teachers. These are listed below. Along with most of the resourcse are contact details for the person responsible for that resource. Please feel free to make contact with that individual should you wish further information.

Resources from BioEd

Most of the speakers who spoke at BioEd have agreed that their talks can be listed on the AWC website so that teachers can access the material and use it in the classroom.

The presentations use the Microsoft Silverlight browser plug-in. If your Mac or PC does not have Silverlight installed you will be prompted to download and install it. Once installed you will need to restart your browser.

To access the presentations click here.

Teachers Blog

From Ally Jerram, Marlborough Girls" High School, a particiant at BioEd 2009:

"BioEd 2009 provided a productive interface between international scientists and secondary teachers. There was a huge amount of learning, networking and interaction, and a flow of ideas and new material relevant to teaching programmes. For teachers it represented a rare chance for contact with
scientists working in evolution around the globe, and for the scientists, an opportunity to see how teachers use the research data that they generate. In this ever-changing subject, new ideas need to move quickly from the research lab to the classroom and BioEd provided a vehicle for investigating ways of achieving that.

As we all know, the networks established at conferences frequently prove to be ephemeral and despite the best will in the world, they do not often survive the subsequent return to the workplace. After our time at BioEd 2009, we wanted to create a place where these networks could remain live, and continue to be a source of inspiration - a place where the dialogue could continue".

To this end this Allan Wilson Centre website is facilitating a blog for teachers - a forum where teachers can create networks and source inspiration - a place for dialogue to begin.

To enter the blog click here.

Recreate the Research

Allan Wilson's research was exciting in many different ways; it addressed interesting questions and used scientific techniques in novel ways or before they were in common practice. Associate Investigator Howard Ross has developed some resources which allow you to participate in Wilson's research by re-assessing the data which Wilson and his colleagues obtained. Take a closer look at some interesting questions he asked and gain an appreciation of Wilson's science.

To recreate some of Wilson's research click here.

Contemporary New Zealand Scientists

http://www.natlib.govt.nz/collections/online-exhibitions/contemporary-scientists

The National Library of New Zealand has produced a page on contemporary New Zealand Scientists. Find out what is happening in New Zealand science today? Conservation, physics, climate research, forensics, and more. Also includes studies on evolution by Allan Wilson Centre members:
http://www.natlib.govt.nz/collections/online-exhibitions/contemporary-scientists/evolution

Mollusca Website
http://www.molluscs.otago.ac.nz/

The Mollusca website contains information on New Zealand Mollusc biodiversity. For further information contact Hamish Spencer on hamish.spencer@stonebow.otago.ac.nz.

New Zealand Plant Species Radiation Group
http://nzprn.otago.ac.nz/wiki/bin/view/NZPRN/WebHome

Understanding how global plant biodiversity arose and is maintained requires an understanding of plant species radiation. This is a phenomenon in which genetically similar, but morphologically and ecologically diverse species arise and go extinct over short periods of geological time. These radiations provide unparalleled opportunities for studying how evolution works. Studies of macro- and micro-fossil record, genetics of plant development molecular ecology and systematics converge in helping to explain how explosive radiations have occurred in certain places and times in the past. New Zealand is one of those places. The radiation is happening now, and there is at present great potential to study to it. For firther information contact Pete Lockhart p.j.lockhart@massey.ac.nz

AWC@ Canterbury

http://www.math.canterbury.ac.nz/bio/pages/AWCMEE/index.html

Welcome to the Allan Wilson Centre for Molecular Ecology and Evolution's home at University of Canterbury. Here you will find information on the research and activities of Christchurch's branch of the AWC. For further information contact Mike Steel on M.Steel@math.canterbury.ac.nz.

© 2009, Allan Wilson Centre for Molecular Ecology & Evolution