Tuesday, November 12, 2024

Reading In The Content Area - Science


                                        READING IN THE CONTENT AREA - SCIENCE

While looking over my reading list, I was reminded that there was a book I had read, which was not on my list.  When I looked up the book on Goodreads, I discovered that no one had written a review, so I am taking it upon myself to provide a review because The Human Environment by Michael Treshow is a book that I highly recommend for a variety of reasons.  I also wanted to review the book because I actually knew and worked with Dr. Treshow.  The book and the writing in it reflect his talent in teaching environmental biology.  

Dr. Treshow was a highly admired professor of botany for 35 years at the University of Utah.  He received his biological training at UCLA and earned a Ph.D. at UC Davis.  He also taught other courses from time-to-time, including Mycology and Human Ecology.  He wrote The Human Environment as the text book that he used to teach Human Ecology.  Additionally, Dr. Treshow studied the effects of gaseous air pollution and he served as a consultant to US Steel in assisting to mitigate damage to vegetation from air pollution.  His research was internationally recognized and helped us to understand the effects of acid rain and air pollution. 

As a student of Dr. Treshow’s, I took his Field Botany, Mycology, and Human Ecology courses and I was a graduate student in his laboratory where I studied the causes of the decline of the Cattail population in marshes adjacent to the Great Salt Lake.

The book is a perfect example of an introductory textbook.  The writing is conversational, thoughtful, and thought provoking.  The ideas are presented, in brief, with classic examples of basic concepts in environmental and human biology.   There are relevant black-and-white photographs, and graphic illustrations to assist with understanding.  The beginning of each Chapter begins with an interesting author’s quote.  Each chapter is summarized with a brief conclusion.  At the end of each chapter, there are a few selected readings, which are original source articles that have become classic and must-read papers and books in environmental science.  I’ve kept my copy of the book because it contains valuable resource material and excellent explanations of humans and their relationship with Earth’s ecosphere.  The book is also a superb example of scientific writing for the purposes of teaching.  One of the most valuable explanations in the book is the explanation of The Laws of Thermodynamics and how these laws apply to living systems.  I have never found a better explanation.  I was witness to many days of discussions about the book between Dr. Franklin K. Anderson who was Dr. Treshow’s Ph.D. student at the time; they took great care to make sure every sentence, word, and especially the section on thermodynamics, was perfectly written. They also made sure the writing was factually correct and checked all the references.

This book does need an improvement.  Because it was published in 1976, it is out-of-date by nearly 50 years.  It would be helpful to publish an updated edition, if someone had a mind to do it and could get permission to update the material in the same style in which the book was written.  As it is, the book can be a good teaching lesson. A teacher could have students read a chapter as science history, and students could present in some way what has happened, since the 1970’s, to add to our understanding of the given topic.   The book can be read on the Internet Archive https://archive.org/details/humanenvironment0000tres/mode/2up

The contents of the book begin with:

Preface

Introduction

                PART ONE/FROM OUR BEGINNINGS

Here are the titles of the chapters:

                CHAPTER 1/The Unity of Life

                                Energy

                                Order

                                Environmental Perturbation

                                Ecosystems

                                Entropy

                                Conclusions

                                Selected Readings

                CHAPTER 2/The Exchange of Information

                                Communication

                                Information

                                Error Control

                                Higher-Order Systems

                                Proteins

                                Chromosomes and Genes

                                DNA

                                Conclusions

                                Selected Readings

                CHAPTER 3/Stability and Variation

                                Variation

                                Natural Selection

                                Variability versus Reliability

                                Cybernetic Systems

                                Fire as a Regulating Mechanism

                                Predictive Information

                                Ecological Niche

                                Regulation in Ecosystems

                                Conclusions

                                Selected Readings

                CHAPTER 4/The Behavior Strategy

                                Survival

                                Behavior and Environment

                                A Model:  Dog Drinking Water

                                A Generalized Model

                                READ Subprogram

                                Conclusions

                                Selected Readings

                CHAPTER 5/Emergence of Culture

                                Living in Groups

                                Parent-Infant Bond

                                The Emergence of Homo Sapiens

                                Conclusions

                                Selected Readings

                CHAPTER 6/Agriculture and Population Growth

                                Meeting Basic Energy Needs

                                Primitive Agriculture

                                Population Surges

                                Growth and limits to Biological Populations

                                Cultural Influences on Population Projections

                                Conclusions

                                Selected Readings

                PART TWO/TOWARD ENVIRONMENTAL HOMICIDE

                CHAPTER 7/Industry and Agriculture

                                The Rise of Technology

                                The Labor Supply

                                Environmental Effects

                                Agricultural Growth

                                Conclusions

                                Selected Readings

                CHAPTER 8/Carrying Capacity of the Land

                                Malthus’s Dismal Theorem

                                Food Needs

                                Improving Productivity

                                Water Limitations

                                Farming Practices and Land Use

                                World Production Potential

                                Conclusions

                                Selected Readings

                CHAPTER 9/Seafood, Synthetics, and Other Protein Sources

                                Producers and Consumers of the Sea

                                Increasing Yields

                                Potential Protein Sources

                                Conclusions

                                Selected Readings

                CHAPTER 10/Agricultural Pest Control

                                Plant Pests as Part of the Environment

                                The Need for Pest Control

                                Pesticides in the Ecosystem

                                Conclusion

                                Selected Readings

                CHAPTER 11/The Energy Era

                                Energy “Needs”

                                The rise of Industry

                                The Emergence of Electricity

                                The Internal Combustions Engine

                                Technological Man

                                Fossil Fuel Resources

                                Nuclear Power

                                Winds and Water

                                Geothermal Power

                                Solar Energy

                                Conclusions

                                Selected Readings

                CHAPTER 12/The Pollutions Associated with Energy Production

                                Power Generation

                                Sources of Pollution

                                Conclusions

                                Selected Readings

                CHAPTER 13/Mineral Wealth and Waste

                                Historical Significance

                                Environmental Impact

                                Mineral Resource Depletion

                                Mineral Reserves of the Sea

                                Conclusions

                                Selected Readings

                CHAPTER 14/The Environment of the City

                                Historical Background

                                The Urban Environment

                                Conclusions

                                Selected Readings

                CHAPTER 15/The Transportation Spiral

                                The Railway

                                The Automobile

                                Conclusions

                                Selected Readings

                PART THREE/THE PRICE OF SURVIVAL

                CHAPTER 16/Happiness is an Elusive Quality

                                Measures of Quality

                                Conclusions

                                Selected Readings

                CHAPTER 17/The Economics of Growth

                                Economic Dependence

                                The Bases for Economic Systems

                                Economic Growth

                                Gross National Product

                                Steady-State Economy

                                Conclusions

                                Selected Readings

                CHAPTER 18/Quality of Life in the City

                                The Character of the City

                                Urban Limitations

                                Solutions

                                The Stability of the City

                                Conclusions

                                Selected Readings

                CHAPTER 19/The Need for Nature

                                Biological Need

                                The Conquest of Nature

                                Further Description

                                Conclusions

                                Selected Readings

                CHAPTER 20/The Utopian Dream

                                Spirit of Cooperation

                                Utopian Thinking

                                The Supernatural as a Governing Force

                                Emergence of Free Thought

                                Sharing the Profits of Technology

                                Conduct between the Individual and the Species

                                Solutions

                                Conclusions

                                Selected Readings

                CHAPTER 21/Our Genetic Future

                                The Gene Pool

                                The Social Environment

                                Genetic Manipulation

                                Psychological Control

                                The Future

                                Moral Judgements

                                Conclusions

                                Selected Readings

 

                CHAPTER 22/Confidence of Tomorrow

                                The Stages of Civilization

                                Resource Adjustment

                                Social Conditions

                                Competition and Cooperation

                                The Individual, the Unit of Society

                                Environmental Conscience

                                Future Quality of Life

                                Ecological Laws

                                Conclusions

                                Selected Readings

                APPENDIX

                                Background Information

                                                The Laws of Thermodynamics

                                                Entropy

                                                Essential Amino Acids

                                                The Productive Capacity of a Nation

                GLOSSARY

                INDEX

Friday, July 28, 2023

Reading in the Content Area - Science

Black Apollo of Science: The Life of Ernest Everett Just

Science is a human endeavor. The facts written in a biology textbook came from people who collaborated and worked together to answer questions about the nature of living organisms and what makes the living different from nonliving materials. The facts are the result of the human endeavor in science. Ernest Everett Just (1883-1941) was one of those extraordinary scientists whose discoveries are written into textbooks as facts without the human background being mentioned as part of the established body of factual knowledge. Dr. Just studied sea urchin egg cells, cytoplasm of cells, and fertilization. He coined the word "ectoplasm" to denote the part of the cell's cytoplasm near the cell's surface. The previously mentioned areas of study are just part of his contributions to science. Mr. Manning, the author of Black Apollo of Science, has written a detailed and comprehensive biography of Dr. Just. The biography was thorough in its research and includes the story of Just's life, the time in history during which Just lived, and the people involved in Just's career. Everything, both good and bad is included. It is no wonder that the book won a Pulitzer Prize. At the back of the book, there is a complete bibliography of Just's published works. The bibliography is followed by 53 pages of research citations and acknowledgements; an index is included. I purchased and read the paperback version and am disappointed in Oxford University Press. The print is way too small to be comfortably read; smaller than newsprint or the phone book, and the pull quotes are even smaller; the paper is low quality. Therefore, I recommend getting a version that can be read electronically, so that the type can be adjusted to a larger size. I recommend this book to students (and their teachers) who are seriously thinking about a career in science. They will certainly have something to think about, after they have read about Just's career and life. There are shorter and more easily read biographies about Just for younger or curious learners on the internet. Some Locations: [South Carolina: Charleston, James Island, Colored Normal Industrial Agricultural and Mechanical College (now South Carolina State University) at Orangeburg; New Hampshire: Kimble Union Academy at Meriden, Dartmouth at Hanover; Chicago: University of Chicago; Washington D.C.: Howard University; Massachusetts: Woods Hole in Falmouth; Germany: Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institute in Berlin, Dahlem; Austria: Graz; Italy: Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn of Naples; Switzerland; France: The Station Biologique at Roscoff]



Friday, November 26, 2021

Climate Change and The Great Salt Lake

 https://www.sltrib.com/news/environment/2021/11/22/great-salt-lake-is-dying/

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/148700/record-low-for-great-salt-lake


CATTAIL DECLINE AT FARMINGTON BAY WATERFOWL MANAGEMENT AREA

https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/gbn/vol37/iss1/2/ or https://www.researchgate.net/publication/243963123_CATTAIL_DECLINE_AT_FARMINGTON_BAY_WATERFOWL_MANAGEMENT_AREA'


Utah's Great Salt Lake shrinks to unsustainable levels amid a decades-long megadrought
The PBS News Hour    October 18, 2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsBXpt5RIsQ

In June of 1975, when I was doing my research near the Great Salt Lake on the decline of cattails, the Great Salt Lake water level was 4201.3 feet (U.S. Geological Survey).  As of today (October 24, 2022), the water level is 4,185.6.    https://www.usgs.gov/centers/utah-water-science-center/science/great-salt-lake-elevations


The link below will take you to a summary article on inland water changes that have occurred because of climate change.  Included with the summary article, is a link to a PDF of the cover article that can be downloaded.  Along with world-wide inland water problems caused by drought, the water levels of the Great Salt Lake are described.  Also included, in the PDF, are stunning photographs of the Great Salt Lake's environmental and ecosystem changes.  One photograph of a thunderstorm  shows how harmful dust can be spread into the air.

CLIMATE CHANGE

Water worries

As the climate changes, scientists study how droughts affect our inland waters

Howes, Laura. 2022. Chemical and Engineering News, 100(38), pp 26-33, October 31, 2022

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/cen-10038-cover


Great Salt Lake Levels are Rising - January 2023

     Great Salt Lake may disappear in 5 years 

https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/06/us/great-salt-lake-disappearing-drought-climate/index.html

     Water Levels have risen 1 foot because of winter storms

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/great-salt-lake-water-levels-135103623.html

https://www.abc4.com/news/local-news/rainy-days-in-utah-are-raising-water-levels-at-great-salt-lake/

https://www.sltrib.com/news/2023/01/18/celebrating-small-wins-great/#:~:text=%7C%20Jan.,%2C%202023%2C%201%3A18%20p.m.&text=From%20the%20depths%20of%20Utah's,reached%20in%20early%20November%202022.



Monday, March 16, 2020

Textbook Scavenger Hunt - Electricity

I am posting a textbook scavenger hunt that I designed on the topic of electricity.  I designed this to assist students in learning skills for nonfiction reading.  I try to train my students to understand that their learning is greatly enhanced by reading and looking through the material before the lessons.  It helps one pay attention and process information about a given topic.  It also assists students in learning how the textbook is organized.  The worksheet can be viewed, downloaded, and printed here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=13hYGa3bkwXfTg8Ur4yTICBXTCN1OgFZl


There are some similar activities on this blog that can be found here:






If you find any links on my blog that do not work, please let me know by leaving a comment. I would like to keep my blog up-to-date and relevant.

Wednesday, March 04, 2020

The Effects of Asbestos on Health

I am posting a paper that I wrote on the topic of Asbestos back in 1974.  Perhaps some might find the information and bibliography of interest.  There may be a historical aspect to the information that the paper summarizes  Keep in mind that the information provided and conclusions reached may be unreliable and out-of-date for the present time  You can view, download, and print the paper here:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1-1DoBrTUTDEpXAftKzJPLpPi6faJwUTG

Do not plagiarize the paper.

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. 

Creative Commons License
The Effects of Asbestos on Health by Anderson, Christine Minton is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.


I like to keep the information on my blog up-to-date, so if there are any links that you discover are not working, please let be know by making a comment and I will try to find a way to update the information.

Monday, January 20, 2020

Evolution Workout Activity - Worksheet and Answer Key

This activity can be used to introduce and review Evolution concepts.  If you like this activity, there are some other "workout" activities on different topics that can be found in this blog at these links:


The Evolution Workout Worksheet and Answer Key can be printed out from here:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=16ol4f4llxwN8Wb2Is13HTDNYYpUFc--j




I am posting the directions here so that you can read through them and get an idea about how the activity works.  I got some great comments from administrators who observed my classroom because the activity engages every student.  Even the students who didn't want to participate were engaged because classmates were seeking them out to get the answers on the worksheet.


SUGGESTED RULES ~ OR HOW THE GAME WORKS


Explain to students that this is a cooperative learning activity, which requires all to participate.  By participating in this process, students will have some feeling for how a scientific community of experts works together to produce solutions to problems, and a body of scientific knowledge.  Each student will become an expert in an area of biology, and will be given an opportunity to share their knowledge with every other member of the class.  When students participate in this activity at the beginning of a course, the activity also serves as an “ice-breaker” and allows students to get to know each other and learn names.  As a role model, the teacher should also participate in this activity.
Each student needs: Evolution Workout sheet, his or her textbook, classroom references, notebook paper, and pencil.  Instruct students to number their paper 1. through 25., leaving enough room to write the answers to each question.
Behavior Expectations ~ for some groups of students, the teacher should explain that this activity requires some movement around the room and sharing of answers.  That this is an activity for serious learning and cooperation, and that students are to behave as professionals.  Disruptive students should not be allowed to ruin this activity and will be responsible for answering all the questions by themselves, if they choose to be removed from participation because of their disruptive behavior.   

1.      The teacher writes a number on each of twenty-five pieces of paper or index cards.  The numbers are mixed up and distributed to the students so that each student gets a number.
2.      The number, that each student receives, tells which question on the Evolution Workout sheet that he/she is responsible for answering.  The answers are expected to be clear and understandable enough to be shared with other students.  Students are to be instructed that they should take care to make sure the answer is correct because their answer is going to be used by every other student in the class.  Check their work.
3.      After students are given some time to research their answer, the teacher will instruct the students to move around the room collecting answers from other students.  They are to write the answers on their notebook paper; they may gather the answers in any order (but on the paper they hand in, the answers must be in order!).  After each answer is collected, the student who provided the answer to the question must write his/her name in the question square.  The goal is to have a classmate’s name in every square and the answer to every question.
4.      The time given to complete this activity can be flexible.  This can be completed during one class period or in short segments over several days.  The teacher can determine a due date that corresponds to the time it takes the class produce a completed worksheet.  Answers and worksheets can be turned in for a grade.  A shorter version of this activity is to have each student stand, in order, to share their answer with the class (some of the learning experience will be lost).  This activity can be used as an introduction, or a review of material.

If you find any links on my blog that do not work, please let me know by leaving a comment.  I would like to keep my blog up-to-date and relevant.