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SUMMER INSTITUTE ON
SCIENCE AND A SENSE OF PLACE


DAY EIGHT
"MAPPING THE GENOME"

(Click on images for enlargements)



WITH TAMARA "junk is
turning out to be really
important" DAVIS


AND WILL
"Rapunzel becomes
a snot ball"
FRANKLIN



"What are some good metaphors for teaching this subject?"
(Consider, for instance "reading," vs. "mapping" the genome,
vs. "blueprints" and "executors.")

What is important is the structure. The locus. The place.
What is important is the transcription and the translation.

Different sorts of language can used to describe mutation:

"Mutations can be beneficial. They are the only way to create diversity of life."



DNA, in and of itself, is "nothing." It "sits there waiting to be used." It needs to be decoded.

"What was discarded as unimportant (in the early stages of studying the genome) is playing a larger part in growth and development than we imagined."

"We were historically constrained in our understanding. We're learning more and more that the 'junk' is important."

What different language has been used, throughout the Institute, to describe what we do not (yet) understand?
  • "being on the boundary of knowledge" (of cosmology)
  • "finding use for the junk" (in the genome)
  • ....?

    "The genetic difference between individuals is miniscule."

    "Whoosh. Now I know what my kids feel like."

    "Was this a set-up?"

    "The particular pattern has a lot to do with what we are."

    "Evolution is a re-shuffling of things."

    "The Y-chromosome used to have more on it. The information is moving to other places."

    "It is not simple to engineer a new kind of human being; most traits are not controlled by a single gene."

    "Too much of a cooking show is boring. Let's just make the cake."

    When does "enthusiasm" become a performance of "expertise"?

    To what degree has our series of guest speakers become a line-up of experts?
    How have they been useful as models for our own teaching?

    • For a teacher, "the task is not to create meaning,
    but to change the air so meaning can occur."-- Todd Hedo



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