For
this current event, I chose to discuss a program, founded by Wake Forest University
Professors and students, aimed at teaching high schoolers the science behind
genetics and genetic variation, while at the same time opening them up to the
conversation surrounding GMO’s. Professors Gloria Muday and Carole Gibson lead
the initiative, which is currently funded by the American Society of Plant
Biology Education Foundation. The two professors pick fresh, mutant tomatoes
from the University campus itself, then use them to covey the idea of genetic
variation to students. With college students leading the activities, high
school students learn through a problem-based learning exercise that highlights
a purple (mutant) fruit to help them understand genetic inheritance. Students
also learn about the dominant and recessive human genes and the influence they
have on visual characteristics. The college students then teach them to use
Punnet Squares to better absorb this idea, predicting gene combinations and
even extracting DNA from mutant tomatoes to compare to that of regular
tomatoes. Professor Muday describes the workshop by explaining, “The material
we teach is integral to high school biology curriculum; they [students] just
might not have gotten there yet. Our goal is to provide memorable examples, so
that when the students reach their genetics unit, they can call on this
experience to build a stronger understanding of these critical course
concepts.” This quote summarizes the program quite well, as its sole aim is to
educate students before they learn about genetics in class, and excite them about
the topic by performing intriguing experiments in their presence.
This
article is obviously relevant, because although it does not highlight a serious
scientific crisis or enigma, like many scientific journals do, it describes a
way in which intelligent scientists and their students are educating on a high
school level to get younger people more interested in the biology behind
genetics. In addition, having taken APES, I am aware of the controversy behind
the GMO’s that are used to produce greater amounts of food on a large scale.
Unfortunately, although not alluded to in the article, many small farmers
cannot afford GMO’s, so large corporations have spearheaded such endeavors.
Moreover, with this information, students can form their own opinions of the
subjects.
In
terms of the way the article was written, I found it was quite easy to follow.
It simply enough discussed a topic, then would go into greater detail to
describe the different processes the students performed to gather information.
In addition, the integration of quotes made it clear from the accounts of the
professors what the main goals of the program were, and clearly conveyed the
ways in which the experiments performed would improve student understanding.
However, one thing the article lacked was comments and opinions from the
students taught by the program. With these the article would have been stronger
because the program would be supported by the views of the students.
Citation:
Citation:
"Teenagers
and Mutant Tomatoes." ScienceDaily. Wake Forest University, 21 Oct.
2015. Web. 21 Oct. 2015.
Link:
I felt that Cameron did a good job of reviewing this article. First, I enjoyed how he used a quote from Professor Muday explaining the program. It helped a lot to get a perspective from within the organization with regards to their goals. I also enjoyed how, in the second paragraph, he included that GMOs are a large farmer’s crops, not something that small farmers can afford. This extra outside information helped me get a greater view of what the article was about. Lastly, i enjoyed how Cameron explained that, even though this article was not about “a serious crisis or enigma”, it is still important because it is inspiring young people to learn more about biology. This cleared any doubt in my mind that the article was about something that was important, even though it was not what some people would call a real scientific article.
ReplyDeleteOne this that I think could be improved was how Cameron simply mentioned a purple mutant fruit and did not elaborate upon it. I would have liked to know more about the purple mutant fruit, and I think that simply explaining more about its mutation would be enough. I also would have liked more background information on the controversy over GMOs, as Cameron simply states that having been in APES he knows a lot about it. It would be nice to have a small background segment on GMOs for those of us who have not taken APES.
This article resonated with me more than any of the other articles I have commented upon. All of the other articles discussed scientific findings or crises that were already being dealt with by actual scientists. This article, however, discussed how we can actually make more scientists by inspiring high school students to pursue careers in science. Going forward, I will pay more attention to little things that inspire students, such as purple mutant tomatoes, as they help us in the long run more than hearing about scientific disasters.
Cameron,
ReplyDeleteI thought you did a great job in reviewing this article, especially in the first paragraph. Here, you summarized who and what you were talking about very well, making the rest of your review much easier to understand. Specifically, I liked how you implemented the quote from Professor Muday that described what the program’s goal was, and then restated it in your own words. Secondly, I liked how you explained the relevance of this article in a new way; you clearly stated that it the article did not highlight a serious crisis or enigma, but it described the importance of educating high school students on genetics and GMOs. Another great thing you did was that you provided personal insight into the topic of GMOs not talked about in the article, and you backed this up by saying you had taken AP Environmental Science. Honestly, however, I chose this article because I thought the title read “Teenage Mutant Turtles” and I was intrigued. Nevertheless, when I started reading, I found your review to be easy to follow and not hard to grasp due to your writing and explanation.
One thing I thought you could have improved upon is that, given your background in APES, you could have provided more background on GMOs. This would have helped us readers to better understand the experiments that the program did with the high school students and to get an general idea of what they (the students) were learning. Another thing I noticed was that you left out the citation for the article. I would have like to see this so that I wouldn’t have to look up the article myself.
Finally, I liked reading your review because it made me happy to see scientists and college students working together to educate high school students on relevant topics like GMOs. I also was interested in your comments about small farmers who are being out-competed by larger corporations that are able to use GMOs. This made me think about the importance of the debate on GMOs, which you acknowledged in your review.
Citation:
Wake Forest University. "Teenagers and mutant tomatoes." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 21 October 2015. .
ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily. Web. 29 Oct. 2015. .
ReplyDeleteCameron,
I thought your review was really interesting and very well-written. The summary was very succinct yet had nice detail to help us further understand what is happening at the program in Wake Forest University. It’s interesting to see how this college-student-taught class is able to be incorporated into the high school curriculum and how using these experiments with the tomatoes can help understand about genetic inheritance. Also, you only used one quote, yet I thought that it was sufficient enough because, like you said, it perfectly summarizes the program, and is more impactful and meaningful than just quoting many useless and irrelevant facts. Lastly, I like how instead of talking mostly about the findings, you talked more about the program and the process that they used. Many other reviews were the exact opposite, so I think it’s a nice change to see sort of the “behind the scenes” and especially how it’s the kids who are being guided in this process.
I liked how you sort of incorporate some of your APES knowledge in this review. However, it would be awesome if maybe you got more in depth about the GMOs and the genetics itself. Also, I think I would have liked to know more about the mutant tomato and the purple mutant fruit because just the words mutant and purple interests me. Do you know what it was about or was it not discussed much in the article itself?
I was first drawn to this review because the title “Teenagers and Mutant Tomatoes” seemed interesting. Upon reading it, I saw how it was more than that and that it was also about kids learning about GMO, which is a huge issue at the moment. It is such a controversy, since as you said, it helps farmers with their crops and overall helps the economy in some ways, yet the chemicals injected into these fruits have many harmful side effects. It shows how by having kids, especially high schoolers do the experiments with these college kids and professors, the kids can better understand the situation and provide backup to any claim they make. Overall, this review was really entertaining to read, so good job!