Ask A Scientist - Review

With the death of the former heavyweight-boxing champion, Joe Frazier early last week, many questions surfaced about his condition and how much of it was due to his prolific career as a hard-punching athlete. One of the major accomplishments in his illustrious career was his victory over the very flamboyant Muhammad Ali, who is currently suffering from Parkinson’s disease. Both athletes were known for their powerful punches, but more importantly, their ability to take numerous blows to the head.

The question I submitted was based on the inability of brain cells to regenerate. Brain cells are one of the only specialized cells not able to repair or replicate after a person is born. According to Bryson (2008), a person is born with 100 billion or so brain cells at birth and that is the most they will ever have. I have heard that brain cells never complete the cell cycle and that they usually stay in the interphase stage of mitosis for the duration of their lives.

What differentiates a brain cell, specifically the neuron, from other body cells (skin, hair, fingernails, etc.) that make it unable to complete mitosis?

I have yet to hear back from the scientists at Ask a Scientist and I am looking forward to their reply and explanation. Several questions surfaced during our discussion session in class that prompted me to do further research. Dr. Lyman posed a very interesting question linking dementia and Alzheimer’s disease to boxing related injuries. Here is what I found:

According to the American Academy or Neurology, boxing related injuries are common triggers for dementia and Alzheimer disorders (among boxers with more than 12 professional bouts) , but little information has been found that links Parkinson's, the disorder that Muhammad Ali is stricken with, with boxing. The reason stems from the location in the brain where these diseases arise. Parkinson's results from damage to the mid-brain, while dementia and Alzheimer's derives from damage to the temporal and frontal lobes respectively (Clancy, 2006). The research goes on to imply that Muhammad Ali would have been fated with his disorder even if he had been a lawyer. Despite this claim, there appears to be a genetic link between Alzheimer's and traumatic brain injury. One common gene variation known as ApoE4, a genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's, has been linked to an increase in the severity of brain damage experienced by boxers (Clancy, 2006).

I initially had two questions when I started the search for answers, but was not willing to wait for a reply. I took it upon myself to research and find the answer to my question. The other question that stemmed from my study had to do with the size of our brains and heads. This may seem like a silly question, but I had a genuine curiosity about it. Effective learning requires that students take control of their own learning (BSCS, 2005).

An adult’s brain case is much larger than a newborn’s. If neurons do not regenerate, then what fills in the space?

After some investigating, I found the answer to my question about brain size. There is no doubt that neurons do not regenerate after birth, but what I found is that there is another type of brain cell called glial cells that are used in myelination of neurons (insulation/transmission). These cells continue to reproduce well into adulthood and are responsible for the white matter in the brain. It is also the major cell involved in individuals with multiple sclerosis.

Prompting discussion questions that are open to variations of interests allow students to “take control” of their learning. These discussion questions seem much more engaging because it allows us to search and study topics that pique our interest. Websites like “Ask a Scientist” allow students to connect with real scientists in the field. Being able to utilize this in the classroom can have major benefits to a student’s learning. Not only does it bring science to life, but also this communication between professional and student can turn out to have a lasting impact in the student’s pursuit of a STEM career. If the turn around on the replies were not too long, it would be a wonderful tool to use in the classroom.

Reference:

Bryson, B. (2008). A really short history of nearly everything. New York, NY: Delacorte Press.

BSCS. (2005). Information about the process of scientific inquiry (pp. 1–3). Retrieved from http://science.education.nih.gov/Supplements/NIH6/inquiry/guide/info_process-a.htm

Clancy, F. (2006). The Bitter Science: Head blows from boxing can cause dementia and Alzheimer's. Can the same chronic brain injury also lead to Parkinson's?. American Academy of Neurology. Neurology Now. March/April 2006; Volume 2(2); p 24-25.

Evaluating Web 2.0 Presentation Tools

Educators, nowadays, have access to many different tools to showcase the content they are teaching. Just recently have I discovered presentation tools that were not named, Powerpoint or Keynote. In fact, there are a plethora of web based presentation tools available online...for FREE! Ones that allow us to share our presentations over the web with educators across the world. What better way is there to make a global impact in the educational community? With the help of these tools we can create, present, and share without leaving the comfort of our homes or classrooms! In this blog, I will evaluate 3 different presentation tools available on line and give feedback of the features and capabilities of each. Like many educators, most of my experience with presentation tools have come from Powerpoint. As I evaluate Zoho, Prezi, and Google Docs, I will often compare their features with the features available from Microsoft Powerpoint.

From my limited experience with Zoho, I have surprisingly gained a lot of knowledge about Web-based presentation tools. The more I "messed around" with creating a presentation the easier and more comfortable I felt. Although it is very similar to powerpoint, it seemed to offer a lot more background designs and features. It was very easy to use and I found myself experimenting with different backgrounds and tools. On their website they offered a tutorial video, but for some reason it did not work or load, so I'm not sure how much more knowledge I would have gained from watching it. The website if absolutely free, you just need to create an account with them. I used my existing google account information to log on to their website and utilize the presentation tool. Just like other popular presentation tools, Zoho is capable of embedding a wide variety of multi-media files into the presentation, including images, sounds, and videos.

Google sites or google docs was very appealing to me, mostly because my teacher website is a google site. Although I have never used the google doc presentation tool, it would probably be much easier to share the presentation on my website if I were to choose to showcase my project using google docs. Compared to Zoho, google sites, although free, did not come with all the bells and whistles. This site offered basic background features and, from what I gathered, there were no tutorials or training of any kind available. Due to the simplicity of the site, I could understand why a tutorial was not set up. I found it very easy to use and very similar to Microsoft Powerpoint. Sharing a presentation using google docs seems very easy, especially if you already have a free account and website.

Prezi, by far, is the most unique presentation tool I have had the experience to deal with. The concept map configuration is a brand new concept for me in terms of the way a presentation is set up. I am used to the slide by slide presentation offered by the tools mentioned above. Prezi offered a wonderful training video that allowed me to start creating right away. I found myself experimenting with different looks and configurations, and honestly, found it very easy to use. The grid allowed me to link different "slides" together and gave me full control of the design and look of the texts and images.

Right now it is a toss up between Prezi and Zoho for the presentation tool I will use for my course project. Although I feel very familiar with the set up of Zoho, there is something about learning a new way of presenting that is appealing to me. Prezi gives me that feeling. All three of the tools evaluate are easy to use and very reliable. The all work on the current browsers and operating system I use (Mac OS, Safari and Firefox). The best feature of these sites are there ability to share and collaborate via the internet. The accessibility from any place that has an internet connection makes it much more useful to create presentations. I often use a flash drive to transfer presentations from home to school, or at times, if I have enough memory on my account or my file is not too large, transfer files via email. With these web-based presentation tools, I no longer have to worry about having a file to big or enough memory on my flash drive. The fact that these tools can potentially make a global impact in the educational community is by far the best feature. Students and teachers can learn and benefit from presentations created anywhere in the world. Who knows? Your presentation may be educating students you will never get the chance to meet or know!