Conferences
This page provides a link to resources from students and teacher conferences for the course.
2007
Two student conferences were held in November 2007. The first was in Birmingham on Monday 19th November and the second in London on Wednesday 28th November. Stephen Humphrey from the Forensic Science Service spoke about using bioinformation for forensic purposes such as DNA sampling and finger printing. Carole McCartney and Bronwyn Parry from the Nuffield Council on Bioethics working party spoke to the conference about their new report The forensic use of bioinformation:ethical issues.
June 26th
This teachers conference was held at Friend's House. Mark Haw spoke in the morning session about his study of the 'Middle World'. In the afternoon session Ben Goldacre spoke to the group about 'Bad Science'.
SPU teachers attending the conference had the chance to stay on for the RI lecture also held that evening at Friend's House.
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Paul Bowers Isaacson and Angela Melamed ran a session about the new Science in Society course at the ASE conference in Birmingham in January.
Copies of handouts and the presentation are available to download below:
2006
Teaching the Coursework (INSET)
30 November, 1 & 6 December 2006 and 5 February 2007
Provided by Nuffield alongside the standardising meetings organised by AQA were a series of afternoon sessions exploring some aspects of teaching the coursework which raise common questions. The presentation used by Paul Bowers Isaacson at these sessions can be downloaded
here (2.6 MB) - note that a few slides, particularly the cartoons, have been removed for copyright reasons.
November 8th and 22nd
Two student conferences were held in November 2006. The first was in Bristol on Wednesday November 8th and the second in London on Wednesday 22nd November. Catherine Moody and Linda Frank spoke about treating premature and seriously ill babies and Professor Ian Fells and David Ockwell spoke about future energy policy.
July 5th This teachers conference was held at Friend's House. Martin Westwell spoke in the morning session about a recent study conducted by the Institute for the Future of the Mind. In the afternoon session Dave Reay spoke about the latest research in climate change. Jocelyn Bell Burnell also spoke, updating the conference on present ideas in cosmology.
SPU teachers attending the conference had the chance to stay on for the RI lecture also held that evening at Friend's House.
2005
November 22nd and December 9th Two student conferences were held in November and December 2005. The first was in London on Tuesday 22nd November and the second in Durham on Friday 9th December. The two main speakers were Jim Smith and Tom Wakeford. Jim spoke about his work tracking post-disaster effects on the wildlife around Chernobyl including a valuable discussion of risk and radiation risk measurement. Tom, under the title, 'Illegal drugs: science and society', introduced a discussion on policy decisions relating to illegal drugs. Liz McKay from the organisation 'International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS' also joined the conference and was able to give students a personal insight on the effects of certain policy decisions.
Wednesday 22nd June This teachers conference was held at the Centre for History of Science, Technology & Medicine at the University of Manchester. Professor Nancy Rothwell, Vice President for Research at the University of Manchester welcomed teachers to the conference.
In the morning session, Dr David Kirby shared an analysis, with a number of teaching ideas, of science in the news media. The afternoon workshops were led by Dr Carsten Timmerman and Dr Jeff Hughes and looked at how resources on ethics might be developed around the vaccination debate while others considered how radioactivity might be used as a topic to raise issues about relative truth in science.
Teachers at the conference also got the opportunity to learn more about the facilities available at the museum for students, with a chance to look around the exhibitions there.
2004
Monday, 21 June This teachers conference was held at the National Maritime Museum. The day began with a presentation suggesting that students could explore ideas about evidence and uncertainty by discussing the evidence for and against the assertion that the Apollo programme really landed people on the Moon.
In the afternoon teachers moved outside for various outdoor activities, which included making a scaled model of the solar system and using digital cameras to record scripted dialogue.
Teachers were then given an opportunity to learn more about the telescopes and clocks at the observatory, with links to how these could be used to help teach SPU.
2003
June 17th This teachers conference was held at Friend's House. During the morning, Carl Djerassi spoke about his past and current work. Carl and his wife, Diane Middlebrook, read Carl's word-play 'ICSI' about intracytoplasmic sperm injection.
In the afternoon session Ken Webster gave a session about the use of fuels. David Lloyd also demostrated his software and a video that provide both the scenario and structure for a successful ethic discussion.
6th February Dr Tim Hunt spoke at this students conference which was held at the Cabinet War Rooms. He explored Ideas about Science with the group. He encouraged the students in the audience to harness their ambition to their talents and discussed the commitment of scientists driven by the need to know why things work.
2002
Wednesday June 19th Sir Richard Dawkins spoke to this conference for SPU teachers at UCL. The aim of the day was to examine the approaches to teaching evolution that are appropriate in a multicultural society. Professor Michael Reiss from the Institute of Education also spoke to the conference about separating empirical, objective 'scientific knowledge' from perceptual 'mathematical knowledge' and the more subjective 'religious knowledge'.
February 13th UCL hosted SPU's first student conference on xenotransplantation. Professor Robin Weiss from The Windemeyer Institute of Medical Science, UCL, and Professor Albert Weale from the Department of Government, University of Essex were the speakers for the day. Professor Weale chaired the working party on xenotransplantation commissioned by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics in 1994 and spoke to the conference about the reports findings.
He also discussed the risks from viral infection associated with xenotransplantation, and Professor Weale outlined the associated ethical issues.