Science in the News

Fish who live in the deep ocean may say the world in a way we could never imagine. They have never seen sunlight so they see the world as no other animal in the world does. While scientists have usually understood that fish who live in the deep ocean do not require color vision, however a study involving 101 different fish proved that the silver spinyfish has more genes for discriminating dull light than any other vertebrate on the planet. These genes make it possible to see the whole range of residual daylight and the full spectrum of bioluminescense in the deep sea. Nothing has ever been seen like this before from vertebrate fishes. This completely goes against what we believed regarding the evolution of visual systems. Looking more closely at 101 genomes, they found that thee different lineages of deep sea fish had extra copies of genes for seeing dim light. These fish may use their extra genes for detecting subtle differences and see the world in shades of blue and green we can't even imagine. It's also possible that these fish may not utilize all this extra power. I selected this article because I have always enjoyed fishing, and I find fish very interesting. When I saw the New York Times published this article it was the one I wanted to review. I would be able to use this in a classroom by alluding to the fact that things are constantly being discovered, and we should continue to test things in order to make these discoveries. Much of the world is unknown, and through science we can learn new things.

Final Blog Post

Science Methods class has come to an end and I have learned a lot about science and myself as a teacher. For the last class everyone shared their efolios and discussed how this class furthered their knowledge to become a better science teacher. When I got to the front of the classroom to show the rest of the class my efolio I began to reflect on how I've come since I walked into class the first day of last semester for Social Studies methods. I was unsure of myself, and wasn't confident that I would be a good teacher. As I was talking about how my knowledge grew throughout my time in Dr. Smirnova's class I realized that I am a lot more comfortable talking in front of a classroom. One area I have always been concerned about is classroom management. Through practice and repetition I feel I am ready for student teaching. I was extremely nervous that I did not have what it took to be a teacher, but thanks to this experience I know I will be a good teacher who will do whatever it takes to do what is best for my students.