Ben Burrows

I also think that they care, but have soooo many issues thrown at them there isn't the space to deal with it!

I am finding it more difficult to sell these types of careers. But pay is awful, not a guaranteed job, with £10'000s of debt. Why would you?

100% agree with this!

Definitely more difficult. Even hard selling Attenborough series to them these days!

Once you get the hang of pymol..... It can get very interesting and the manipulation for what is shown is awesome.
So useful for looking at things like the Lac repressor, polymerase and also enzyme substrate interactions

You need a Mac or Windows (iPads don't work). You can get a free license for education. More than happy to send across everything if you want.

This is where @kfbiology.bsky.social mentions mol*.... I am a big advocate of pymol though. Really helps with visualization of molecules

A well designed practical is great, but so many of the CP's are just an exercise. Take the temp and amylase with iodine... So confusing in the first place. Takes away any gains

We are looking at how we can use CRISPR on yeast for this too

I found the same when doing CIE for bio. Much more frees m!

Focus e-learning is useful! I hate teaching the elodea and bubbling photosynthesis experiment. Never works! Has a great simulator for KS3/4.
Also wonderful little clips of the heart

Also, if life did arise in a different form, would we recognise it? I am so used to thinking that genetics (on Earth at least) must be universal....

I am aware of Nick Lane's writing, I try to use his chapter on photosynthesis to get my A level students to think about the evolution of chloroplasts.

It just raises some fascinating questions, and actually we shouldn't teach any of it as 'cement and fact'. I always joke with our chemistry teachers that they do nothing but lie about orbitals ,,🤣. Fully appreciate that it takes time and knowledge to build complexity. But this one really shook me!

So when we tell students that life's code is universal it isn't entirely true?

How do you ensure they know the details of what is happening at each step? Or is this just an overview of the system?

Although I suspect, just the order they were predicted and then discovered.

No idea! However, I believe that Omega loops are named as such because they look like an omega.

The other one around this is that collagen, even though it is a nothing more than helices, is in fact not alpha....

Good luck ,,,🤣

Yeah, exactly.
Also trying to justify with 'but would it 'want' to do x, y or z...

With any likely misconception I try to highlight it as we go....
Explicitly state what mistakes are common. Show them examples of misconceptions in answers and get them to find them

Yes... When it comes to adaptations, they all think that it would be from a human perspective

Just had a test with our Y12, biggest was that all proteins have beta pleated sheets...
Also confused between alpha helix and beta sheet with alpha and beta subunit in haemoglobin....

Fair point, but that just adds to the case of having specialists teaching early on. Or at least departments forming their own SoW

I always start topics and lessons with the 'big picture'. Look as to why alongside the how/what. I suspect a chemistry and physicist would look at it the other way around.

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But there are differences in the way each subject approaches things. Chemistry is very much more interested in mechanisms for example. Whereas biology is so much more application

To be fair, physics have some big concept questions too...

We have three teachers, three separate lessons
Although, at KS4 we quite often will have some teaching outside of their specialism.

Let's face it.... Chemistry is just the application of physics and the foundation of biology anyway....