I have done this in classes many times. Also, I've been known to come in with three or four different versions of the same news story, hand each row of students a different version, and then ask them to defend and refute the statements in the respective articles, and to label the article as biased conservative, biased liberal, or relatively unbiased. This can be a pretty nifty way to get people talking. I like to get an article online from an MSNBC, Fox News, and then a very very strait unbiased article (often from BBC or one of the science news outlets).
Fun Fun FUn Malcolm McCallum P.S. - Just be sure you are not in conflict with your Dean's Spouse's platform in an election year when he is running for office. Unfortunately, the politicians would rather you just support their babble. :) On Mon, Jan 30, 2012 at 5:19 PM, David Inouye <ino...@umd.edu> wrote: > For the past several years I've tried to open each lecture in undergraduate > courses with a few slides about topics in the news since the last lecture > that are relevant to course I'm teaching. Students have responded well to > this, as it helps to demonstrate to them why the course content is relevant > to life outside the classroom and campus. I also see this as a way of > educating future (if not current) voters so they'll understand the science > for environmental issues they encounter on ballots in the future. It's > occurred to me that others teaching similar courses might either be doing > the same, or be interested in the slides I put together. I'm exploring some > options for how to facilitate sharing such resources (and am open to > suggestion about how best to do this). In the meantime, if you're > interested in 3 slides I just put together about the story today on All > Things Considered about pythons in the Everglades, contact me. The data are > from a new paper in PNAS: > http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/01/23/1115226109.full.pdf+html?sid=82c4ba20-d5de-4abb-9cde-78798bc1c20f > > David > > > Dr. David W. Inouye, Professor > Associate Chair, Director of Graduate Studies > Dept. of Biology > University of Maryland > College Park, MD 20742-4415 > > Rocky Mtn. Biological Laboratory > PO Box 519 > Crested Butte, CO 81224 > > ino...@umd.edu > 301-405-6946 -- Malcolm L. McCallum Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry School of Biological Sciences University of Missouri at Kansas City Managing Editor, Herpetological Conservation and Biology "Peer pressure is designed to contain anyone with a sense of drive" - Allan Nation 1880's: "There's lots of good fish in the sea" W.S. Gilbert 1990's: Many fish stocks depleted due to overfishing, habitat loss, and pollution. 2000: Marine reserves, ecosystem restoration, and pollution reduction MAY help restore populations. 2022: Soylent Green is People! The Seven Blunders of the World (Mohandas Gandhi) Wealth w/o work Pleasure w/o conscience Knowledge w/o character Commerce w/o morality Science w/o humanity Worship w/o sacrifice Politics w/o principle Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message, including any attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies of the original message.
