I love that I can wake up at 3 a.m. with an "Aha!!" moment, and rather than get up and scramble for a piece of paper and a pen, I can just grab my cell phone and text it to myself so that I don't forget what it was once I go back to sleep.
Technology is great.
Suck on that, Darwin!
Showing posts with label Darwin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Darwin. Show all posts
Friday, July 10, 2009
Thursday, February 28, 2008
We can't live on science alone
I spent several hours yesterday grading exams. When we grade exams, everyone who is associated with the class picks a question, then we all sit in a room and grade until everything is done. We try to make the best of it, usually by making fun of students' answers. Sometimes we make fun of students for how wrong they are. Other times, we just make fun of the wording they use.
For example, the question I graded asked the students to list several influences that Darwin had on contemporary thought. One student wrote, "Another thing Darwin put out there for us all is . . ."
It was awkward wording, so I read it aloud because I wanted to see how it sounded. As I did so, somebody interrupted me.
"Darwin put out. What a ho!"
Somebody else added, "Hey, there was nothing else to do on the HMS Beagle."
For example, the question I graded asked the students to list several influences that Darwin had on contemporary thought. One student wrote, "Another thing Darwin put out there for us all is . . ."
It was awkward wording, so I read it aloud because I wanted to see how it sounded. As I did so, somebody interrupted me.
"Darwin put out. What a ho!"
Somebody else added, "Hey, there was nothing else to do on the HMS Beagle."
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
We know everything
Yesterday we had to grade the first midterm of the semester. While these grading sessions are time consuming, and nobody really wants to be there, we always end up having a good time. This is mostly because of all the funny things that students write in their answers. I'm sure that I enjoy it more than most people would, but that's because I'm an asshole and feel better about myself when I make fun of other people's stupidity. For example, here are a few of the new words I learned about yesterday: Fitist, conceps, flud, prodided. Yes, I understand that these are just misspellings, and that would be understandable if they were typos, but these answers were hand written.
One of the questions was about a paper the students were assigned to read, and it asked them to list three influences that Darwin had on contemporary thinking. One student began their essay with this: Darwin's writings and recordings . . .
I chuckled and read it aloud to the other people who were grading. My friend laughed and said, "What did he use to record on? A parrot?"
Another student took issue with the paper that he was assigned to read, and instead of answering the question just railed on about how it was a waste of time. This was because he doesn't believe in organic evolution. I'd like to ask him what exactly he hopes to accomplish with a degree in biology if that's the case. The professor commented that he didn't necessarily care if his students left the class believing in evolution, because really he has no control over that, but that they had better at least leave the class understanding it. If it were me, I wouldn't be willing to sacrifice my grade by not answering the question that was asked, but that's just me.
I also get a laugh from the students who admit defeat without even trying, but still take time to write down answers such as this one: I have no clue. This sucks.
My very favorite answer to the question, however, was this one (written exactly as it was on the exam): Reject all the spourtial of pheoneon refute trypologit Production of variation is matter chermose. Reject typological thinking interduce concept now populale thineom. Theor of natural select invociation theleology unnecessary.
The sad thing is, I had to give partial credit for it, even though the person is obviously incapable of stringing together any kind of coherent thought.
One of the questions was about a paper the students were assigned to read, and it asked them to list three influences that Darwin had on contemporary thinking. One student began their essay with this: Darwin's writings and recordings . . .
I chuckled and read it aloud to the other people who were grading. My friend laughed and said, "What did he use to record on? A parrot?"
Another student took issue with the paper that he was assigned to read, and instead of answering the question just railed on about how it was a waste of time. This was because he doesn't believe in organic evolution. I'd like to ask him what exactly he hopes to accomplish with a degree in biology if that's the case. The professor commented that he didn't necessarily care if his students left the class believing in evolution, because really he has no control over that, but that they had better at least leave the class understanding it. If it were me, I wouldn't be willing to sacrifice my grade by not answering the question that was asked, but that's just me.
I also get a laugh from the students who admit defeat without even trying, but still take time to write down answers such as this one: I have no clue. This sucks.
My very favorite answer to the question, however, was this one (written exactly as it was on the exam): Reject all the spourtial of pheoneon refute trypologit Production of variation is matter chermose. Reject typological thinking interduce concept now populale thineom. Theor of natural select invociation theleology unnecessary.
The sad thing is, I had to give partial credit for it, even though the person is obviously incapable of stringing together any kind of coherent thought.
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
It's evolution baby
I have just finished reading The Reluctant Mr. Darwin by David Quammen (and if you can't tell by reading that sentence, this is going to be a boring post so feel free to stop now). It's a short (but interesting) read, and sheds some light into the period of Darwin's life between his return on the HMS Beagle until his death. It focused mostly on the reasons why it took Darwin so long to publish his theory, something I have often wondered about.
Most people are aware that he didn't publish On the Origin of Species until 1859, yet his idea had begun to solidify in his mind a good 30 years prior. Quammen lists several possible reasons for the delay including fear of the outrage it would cause, the political climate, fear of loss of status and/or wealth, bad health, his desire to gather more data, family life, etc. The one that added a human element to the story (at least for me) was the fear of how it would affect his wife.
Emma was a devout Christian, and he had told her his views on species early in their marriage. Shortly after that she wrote him a letter expressing concern for his ideas. "Don't think that it is not my affair and that it does not signify me," she wrote*. "Everything that concerns you concerns me and I should be most unhappy if I thought we did not belong to each other forever." She added that it had caused "a painful void between us."
Darwin saved that letter, and occasionally would re-read it. At some point he wrote a note back to Emma on the bottom of the letter: "When I am dead, know that many times, I have kissed and cried over this. C. D."
*Most if this post, including the quotes, has been taken straight from Quammen's book.
Most people are aware that he didn't publish On the Origin of Species until 1859, yet his idea had begun to solidify in his mind a good 30 years prior. Quammen lists several possible reasons for the delay including fear of the outrage it would cause, the political climate, fear of loss of status and/or wealth, bad health, his desire to gather more data, family life, etc. The one that added a human element to the story (at least for me) was the fear of how it would affect his wife.
Emma was a devout Christian, and he had told her his views on species early in their marriage. Shortly after that she wrote him a letter expressing concern for his ideas. "Don't think that it is not my affair and that it does not signify me," she wrote*. "Everything that concerns you concerns me and I should be most unhappy if I thought we did not belong to each other forever." She added that it had caused "a painful void between us."
Darwin saved that letter, and occasionally would re-read it. At some point he wrote a note back to Emma on the bottom of the letter: "When I am dead, know that many times, I have kissed and cried over this. C. D."
*Most if this post, including the quotes, has been taken straight from Quammen's book.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Three legged animals
Yesterday afternoon I had to help grade an exam. Like a fool, I volunteered to grade the long essay question. It took a while to do, and it got seriously depressing after a while. Let's just say that I'm really hoping people have always been this stupid and I just didn't realize it before. That sure beats the alternative (i.e. people are getting dumber) and its implications for the future.
Some of the answers were so bad that no matter how hard I looked to see if I could even give them a mercy point I just couldn't. Some of the answers made me laugh outright (such as the student who made up the word autohomocentriphism because they couldn't remember anthropomorphism). I'm sharing the funniest answers with you, but first you need to know what the question asked. Students were asked to list and describe three (out of six) influences that Charles Darwin had on contemporary thought.
Some of the answers were so bad that no matter how hard I looked to see if I could even give them a mercy point I just couldn't. Some of the answers made me laugh outright (such as the student who made up the word autohomocentriphism because they couldn't remember anthropomorphism). I'm sharing the funniest answers with you, but first you need to know what the question asked. Students were asked to list and describe three (out of six) influences that Charles Darwin had on contemporary thought.
- Darwin showed that humans are not centric
- This revolution of evolution . . .
- 55% of Americans are still skeptical about accepting evolution as a valid possibility solely due to their religiosity
- We evolutionized from animals
- This idea has haunted Christians to this day because it is simple and even they can understand it (emphasis added)
- Atheists believe that evolution was caused by God
- Darwin didn't understand evolution, so he did his own mating with pigeons
The last one had one of the professors laughing so hard that he had to wipe the tears from his eyes. Darwin was a pigeon fucker? Who knew?
Sunday, February 12, 2006
Darwin Day
Charles Darwin was born on this day in 1809. His birthday is celebrated in circles where his discoveries still have a heavy influence on research (but most of you already know this). Sometimes I wonder how guys like him did it. If you've ever read The Voyage of the Beagle (or any of his books really) you have an appreciation for the breadth of Darwin's knowledge. The man was an expert on many things.I've been studying biology almost half my life, yet I still don't feel like I have what it takes to become an expert. I know there are those who will disagree with that, but I think that is part of what drives me. I'm afraid of looking like an idiot, so I try to learn more in order to prevent my peers from thinking that. Is that healthy? Not really.
I once heard that in order to be a leader of this field you have to be willing (and able) to put in 120 hours a week. This was from E. O. Wilson who most certainly understands what it takes to succeed. The man is one of the greatest thinkers of our time, and when I met him at a meeting a little over a year ago, he spoke about having 5 books at some stage of publishing within a single year. I have my name on three publications so far (once my latest one comes out that is), with a fourth being prepared for submission. However, I have yet to successfully apply for a grant larger than $750. Do I ever expect to get to such a high level in my career? No. But I would like to get to where I'm competetive enough to actually get a job, and be successful enough to get tenure once I do.
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