Bioteach Objectives and Rationale

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What is BioTeach?

The goal of this project is to provide a broad range of information and teaching resources on subjects in biotechnology. Specifically, this site will present one, three, and five page treatments of interesting and important biotechnology issues and topics. Most articles will be written for the educated layman (Grade 12 to 1^st year undergraduate level) and will be associated with references that high school teachers may find useful in presenting this information to their classes.

The articles will explain issues and techniques that we find important and exciting. ... What is cancer? How does one sequence DNA? What are local BioTech companies in Vancouver working on? What's the big deal about stem cells? What does 'genetic engineering' really mean? ... The list goes on.

Articles and information within the BioTeach website will be arranged around nine different subject areas.

Alright, so who's in charge here?

Team '03
Dr. David Ng is our fearless leader (project supervisor). He kicked this off and still shepherds the project along as needed. Other key members in the team are Ron Turner (project co-supervisor), Dave Secko (head editor), Artemis Calogeros (project management), Chris Grant (project management), Jane Wang (Graphics), Jiang Long (Graphics), Fan Sozzi (Graphics), Clive Glover (editor), and Michelle Wyse (editor).

Team '04
Dr. Dave Ng. remains our fearless leader. The team is comprised of: Jen Philpot (graphics), Caley Howard (editor), Andrew Wylie (editor), Letitia Henville (editor), Momoko Price (editor).

Of course at the heart of this project are the many volunteers and contributors who actually create the copy, graphics, and educational resources.

How can I get involved?

We are looking for volunteers, interns, or directed studies students who are interested in education material development, science writing, graphic design. In particular, writers will be requested to provide a treatment of a particular biotech topic. In terms of science writing, we are hoping to collect material in three levels of expertise. Click on the title for examples. See Submission Guidelines for more information.

L1 - BIOPERSONALITIES: written in a one page format, graphics heavy, for easy layman reading, and focusing primarily on research faculty within campus. This is an area we are currently lacking in.

L2 - VIRTUAL TEXTBOOK: written in a 2-3 page (single spaced) format for the educated layman. ~grade12 and 1^st year undergraduate level. This is the level that will form the primary focus of the site.

L3 - BIOTEACH REVIEWS & READINGS: written in a 5+ page treatment (single spaced) for audiences of upper science levels (~3nd to 4th year sciences). This can even be a paper that you have previously written with a decent grade awarded (subject to your instructor's approval)

C1 - CLASS NOTES: (preliminary stages): Authoring or write up of notes for a particular course, related to biosciences or other applicable biotechnology areas. This year we have focused on first year courses, and have already obtain participants for BIOL112, BIOL120, and CHEM121. At this stage, we will ONLY be interested in an individual who wishes to adopt a first year physics course. NEXT september, we will accept volunteers for 2nd year courses.

T1 - TEACHING RESOURCES: material directly related to educator/classroom use. This is a fairly open category with the design of teaching resources aimed at high school to university levels. This can take the form of an activity package, or simply as a gathering of interesting resources. This section is limited to students interested in doing a Directed Studies with Dr. Ng..

Individuals interested in graphic design should be capable of images reflecting the following look and quality :

Applicants can submit a short CV (one page please) to Dr. David Ng (237-6174 University Blvd, Vancouver, BC or via email db@interchange.ubc.ca). NOTE that plagurism will NOT be tolerated, and suspicious material will be checked out using detection services.

APART from general submissions as outlined above. We are also currently looking for core team members who can act as editors, graphic coordinators, and computer administrators. These select positions will be advertised in classes and will come with a small honorarium payable at the end of the school year. <click here for more details>

Motivation

Fun. Exploration. Curiosity. If you are interested in DNA chips, what better way to explore the subject than to learn, synthesize and share this information with others. If you can explain a complex topic accurately in simple terms then you probably have a good handle on that subject. Not only are you learning, you are sharing your expertise and helping others to explore the subject as well.

And there's a definite need! People have very strong opinions about biotechnology. All of this passion is great, but unfortunately many people hold fervent views on <insert BioTech subject of your choice here> with only a cursory understanding of the nuance and complexities behind that topic. Case in point.

Date:
From: rebecca (name and email info withheld)
Subject: biotechnology teaching
To: db@interchange.ubc.ca

Biotechnology is ethically and morally wrong!!!! How dare you act and perpetuate Frankenstein mentality to promote splicing animal and plant genes. What gives you the right to force GMO foods down our throats! Did anyone ever stop to think of the consequences of altering human genes, or crossing the animal/plant barriers--the negative affects on people who have allergies,--nuts, fish/shellfish, etc.etc. The idea of Biotechnology is unthinkably abhorant and strikes of mad-scientist way of raping mankind.

(Dr. Ng's reply)

If people are both passionate and informed great things can happen.

"Wisdom begins in wonder." — Socrates