Thanks for the help all, I ended up using Protopedia for the list of Nobel Prizes but I really like the Oxygen We Breathe tutorial and I've bookmarked it for future use.
In the end I had them read Ed Yong's article in The Atlantic about the inevitable evolution of bad science. We talked about the transfer of models (evolution model transferred from biology to social science) and the problems and solutions for science listed in the article. I then used those as a segue to talk about how one field, structural biology, actually had already implemented several of those solutions and how successful the field was, e.g. Nobel Prizes. The solutions were sharing models, sharing data, cross-validation. And we also talked a bit about how there are too many degrees of freedom compared to observations but we can add information about order/connectivity of atoms, bond angles, bond lengths, etc. Even something as simple as the rule that two atoms can't be on top of each other is a lot of information. Unfortunately, I ended up with too much information for 45 minutes. I could have taken out the stuff about destructive and constructive interference and why we chose x-ray over visible light without losing the points I wanted to make. And I could have to sharpened up the lesson by spending more time thinking about the take home message. Cheers, Morten On 19 September 2016 at 15:09, Joel Sussman <joel.suss...@weizmann.ac.il> wrote: > 19-Sep-2016 > Dear Morten > Please consider looking at *Proteopedia*: http://proteopedia.org, e.g. > see: > * 3D molecular models: an introduction > *http://www.proteopedia.org/w/3D_Molecular_Models > <http://www.proteopedia.org/w/3D_Molecular_Models>* > * HIV-1 *protease http://proteopedia.org/w/HIV-1_protease > <http://proteopedia.org/w/HIV-1_protease>* > * Group:SMART:A Physical Model of the β2-Adrenergic Receptor > *http://www.proteopedia.org/w/Group:SMART:A_Physical_Model_of_the_%CE%B22-Adrenergic_Receptor > <http://www.proteopedia.org/w/Group:SMART:A_Physical_Model_of_the_%CE%B22-Adrenergic_Receptor>* > * Tutorial:How do we get the oxygen we breathe > *http://proteopedia.org/w/Tutorial:How_do_we_get_the_oxygen_we_breathe > <http://proteopedia.org/w/Tutorial:How_do_we_get_the_oxygen_we_breathe>* > best regards, > Joel > ------------------------------------------------------------ > -------------------- > Prof. Joel L. Sussman > joel.suss...@weizmann.ac.il *www.weizmann.ac.il/~joel > <http://www.weizmann.ac.il/~joel>* > Dept. of Structural Biology tel: +972 (8) 934 6309 > *www.weizmann.ac.il/ISPC > <http://www.weizmann.ac.il/ISPC>* > Weizmann Institute of Science fax: +972 (8) 934 6312 *www.proteopedia.org > <http://www.weizmann.ac.il/~joel>* > Rehovot 76100 ISRAEL mob: +972 (50) 510 9600 > ------------------------------------------------------------ > --------------------- > > On 19Sep, 2016, at 13:53, Morten Grøftehauge < > mortengroftehauge.w...@gmail.com <mortengroftehauge.w...@gmail.com>> > wrote: > > Hi everybody, > > I am teaching a single 45 minute lesson about models in natural science in > a week long module on models and cognition. The students are in a science > high school, age approx. 17. I thought xtallography would be a good example > because it's very model-oriented, there's some stuff about validation and > model precision indicators (e.g. r-values), models that build on other > models (e.g. bond angles and lengths), data sharing vs not sharing etc. > They can open PyMol and see some electron density, and I can automate a lot > with scripts. > > Now I've googled a bit and looked at the teaching resources at RCSB PDB > 101 but I can't seem to find anything that helps with what I want to show > them. The guide to understanding PDB data looks like it has some useful > things but it's very practically oriented (http://pdb101.rcsb.org/learn/ > guide-to-understanding-pdb-data/introduction). What I need to teach is > more meta. > *Does anyone know of any teaching resources that uses x-ray > crystallography models as a basis for talking about scientific models in > general?* > If anyone has any great examples, specific structure-wise then please > mention them. But I may just use some of my own as examples. > > Sincerely, > Morten > > >
