Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Websites of note

2013; Wiley; Volume: 41; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1002/bmb.20708

1539-3429

Graham R. Parslow,

Various Chemistry Research Topics

www.masterorganicchemistry.com James Ashenhurst grew up in Canada and gained his first degree from Queen's University. The rest of his experiences led to this website. Ashenhurst introduces his Master Organic Chemistry site with “Imagine having a comprehensive online guide to help you solve your own problems in organic chemistry. That's my mission with this site. After earning a Ph.D. at McGill and doing a postdoc at MIT, I applied to be a professor. That didn't work out. So I decided to teach organic chemistry anyway. Master Organic Chemistry is the site I wish I had when I was learning the subject. It's a common saying in academia that nobody teaches you how to teach. It's something you learn on the job. As a Ph.D. organic chemist accustomed to speaking to other Ph.D. organic chemists, there were a lot of finer details of learning organic chemistry that I did not appreciate when I set out 3 years ago with a weird idea of independently teaching organic chemistry via Skype and WordPress.” Currently you can retain Ashenhurst as a personal tutor using Skype for $70 an hour and it appears that business is booming. It may be fortunate that Ashenhurst was not elevated to the professoriate because this allowed him to create a simplified, yet comprehensive, textbook of organic chemistry that is completely free. All the functional groups and reactions are systematically dealt with. He has learnt from others' mistakes and gives a list of common errors including recognizing that Me, CH3, and H3C all refer to the same thing, identifying implicit hydrogens and lone pairs in line drawings and interpreting condensed formulae such as CH3CH2C(CH3)2C(O)CH3. “2,000 hours of 1-on-1 tutoring later, I have become a connoisseur of organic chemistry mistakes.” A user of the site commented “I've also met students in org 2 who still struggle with implicit hydrogens. Trying to teach the aldol to someone in that situation is like teaching Shakespeare to a kid who can barely read.” Many veteran teachers of biochemistry share the lament that students do not learn organic chemistry like they used to. You can comfortably add this site to your resource list for students. www.asm.org The educational resources brought me to the website following the recommendation of a microbiologist colleague. Look under Microbiology for the Public to find the educational material. The web site made an immediate positive impact by its simple layout and sequential displays of banner news articles. The ASM claims to be the oldest and largest discipline-based life science organization in the world. Membership began with 59 scientists in 1899 and now exceeds 39,000 with more than a third located outside the United States. The promotion for the ASM claims that microbiology boasts some of the most illustrious names in the annals of science; Pasteur, Koch, Fleming, Leeuwenhoek, Lister, Jenner, and Salk and some of the greatest achievements for mankind. The microbiologists further claim that a third of all Nobel Prizes in Physiology or Medicine have been bestowed upon microbiologists. The ASM members represent 26 lines of microbiological specialization plus a division for microbiology educators. Areas of wider interest covered by microbiology include infectious diseases, recombinant DNA technology, alternative methods of energy production and waste recycling, new sources of food, new drug development, and the etiology of sexually transmitted diseases. The banner headline stories at the time of visiting the ASM site included “Numerous epidemiologic studies have shown that a diet high in salt is associated with an increased risk of gastric cancer. Researchers at Vanderbilt University have shown that high dietary salt combined with infection by the ulcer-causing bacterium Helicobacter pylori greatly increases the risk of cancer.” The site is an enticing browse. www.microbiologyonline.org.uk Microbiology online is provided by the SGM–UK, the largest microbiology society in Europe. This resource supports the teaching and learning of microbiology and explores how microbes can be friend and foe. As well as the ASM site above, this site was highly recommended by a colleague. The SGM has a global membership and publishes journals in microbiology and virology as well as holding scientific conferences. The Society promotes the understanding of microbiology to students, teachers, and the wider public through its web site. Look under the section for teachers for the resources that include the following for downloading. 1), HIV and AIDS, a12-page booklet that clarifies the difference between HIV and AIDS, describes the virus, how it replicates and causes the disease. The stages of the infection are charted and transmission of HIV is explained, together with sections covering tests, treatments, and work on developing an effective vaccine. 2), Microbes and Climate Change, an eight-page booklet relating is the importance of microorganisms as climate engineers. 3), Influenza, A seasonal disease. An eight-page booklet providing an overview of the disease, how the infection is transmitted and how vaccines are developed. It also explores the nature of flu epidemics and pandemics. 4), Tuberculosis—Can the spread of this killer disease be halted? An eight-page booklet describes the disease, its symptoms and incidence, and checks out the state of current research into its cause Mycobacterium tuberculosis. 5), Cholera: Death by Diarrhoea. A 12-page booklet relating how the bacterium Vibrio cholerae has caused seven worldwide pandemics since 1817, killing millions of people and affecting millions more. www.issotl.org The International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning was founded in 2004 by a committee of 67 scholars from multiple countries. ISSOTL has achieved an enviable reputation for the quality of its conferences and has retained a niche for itself in a crowded market. A number of my colleagues have travelled across the world to participate in ISSOTL conferences with a truly global perspective. The proceedings encompass teaching and learning across all educational levels and disciplines. ISSOTL have now commenced issuing their own journal titled Teaching and Learning Inquiry: The ISSOTL Journal. Look at the “resources” at the site to find numerous links to societies and publications on teaching and learning, organized by geographical regions of the world. www.aocs.org The AOCS has antecedent societies dating from 1909. The “oil” in the title may predispose to thinking of petrochemicals, but the scope of the society is everything pertaining to lipids. AOCS publishes four journals that cover niche areas of interest 1), Journal of the American Oil Chemists' Society with technical article related to the fats and oil industries. 2), Lipids, featuring original research articles and reviews. 3), Journal of Surfactants and Detergents dedicated to the practical and theoretical aspects of oleochemical and petrochemical surfactants, soaps, and detergents. 4), Inform, for businesses providing international news on fats, oils, surfactants, detergents, and related materials. The society has an excellent summary of the role of lipids in biochemistry at http://lipidlibrary.aocs.org. The sections of this online textbook are 1), A Lipid Primer with definitions, structures, composition, occurrence, biochemistry, and functions of most types of fatty acids and lipids. 2), Biochemistry/Nutrition with subsections dealing with animal and human metabolism. 3), Lipid Analysis with practical and theoretical descriptions of the techniques used for the analysis of lipids, both chromatographic and spectroscopic. 4), Oils and Fats, covering the chemistry and technology of oils and fats, the history of the subject, and oils and fats as commodities. www.scientificamerican.com/1000scientists/ 1,000 Scientists in 1,000 Days is a Scientific American sponsored program to connect scientists and educators. You should declare at sign-in whether you are a scientist volunteering to visit schools or a teacher asking for a scientist. There are no explicit limitations to countries supported by this initiative, although it has been conceived in the context of exchanges within the US. Volunteer scientists might be asked to visit a classroom, conduct a lab or talk about what it is like to be a scientist, explain the latest science or simply answer questions. How scientists and educators choose to collaborate is up to them. Scientific American has undertaken this activity as part of the Nature Publishing Group which has joined the “Change the Equation Initiative” to improve the quality of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics learning (see changetheequation.org). en.wikibooks.org Wikibooks offers collaboratively written open-content books. Wikibooks has two subprojects; Wikijunior which is aimed at children and the Cookbook collection of recipes and culinary topics. Contributors maintain the property rights to their contributions although the works remain freely distributable and reproducible. Use browse to see what books are on offer. The following titles are offered as completed books: Genes, Technology and Policy, Human Physiology, Proteomics, and Sensory Systems. In progress titles include Biology, Answering the Big Questions of Life, Biomechanics, Botany, Cell Biology, Chemical Principles, Climate Change, Complete Guide to Essential Oils, Computational Chemistry, and Organic Chemistry. The site has information presented in chapters and topics looking very much like Wikipedia pages. This is because it is affiliated with Wikipedia as well as the kindred projects Wikinews, Wiktionary, Wikiquote, Wikisource, Wikiversity, and Wikispecies. The pages of Wikibooks on molecular life science I looked at were succinct, rather than truly useful as a tertiary teaching reference. However the pages can always grow in usefulness as readers edit and contribute to each book. simple.wikipedia.org This site is not intended to be a simplified encyclopedia and is not a direct affiliate of Wikipedia. The 97,462 current articles are formulated in simple English words and grammar to facilitate access by children and adults who are learning English, avoiding complex terms or phrases still permits useful well written information. Simple does not mean unduly short and the reader is generally given satisfactory depth of coverage. On locating this site I was put in mind of George Orwell's creation of “Newspeak” for his novel 1984. To compare the text at Simple Wikipedia with “Newspeak” is arguably unfair, although you can be the judge by reading this summary of Orwell's novel as rendered by Simple Wikipedia. “Nineteen Eighty-Four is a novel written by George Orwell in 1948. The main character is Winston Smith, who lives in Oceania, under the rule of The Party and Big Brother. He becomes friends with the character O'Brien. He also falls in love with Julia, who hates Big Brother and The Party. Winston's job is to change or rectify printed news stories and articles. No one in Oceania can look at the old changes. They are not allowed to even think about them again, or else they will be in big trouble. This is called thoughtcrime. Thoughtcrime and Facecrime are punished by death. Another thing they are trying to do is cut all the hard words out of the English language. They are changing it to make it more simple so that people will not be too clever or think too much.” Albert Einstein is widely (but arguably) cited as saying “Everything Should Be Made as Simple as Possible, But Not Simpler.” If you find the approach just a bit too simple then keep in mind that every resource that reaches a disadvantaged audience has benefit. There is a simple introduction to biochemistry at the site that states “Biochemistry is the study of chemical reactions in living beings and of biological molecules in general. It is important to cell biology and physiology. The study of biochemistry involves enzymes, nucleic acids, carbohydrates, sugars, proteins, and lipids. In the body, most of the molecules are polymers built of long chains of carbon atoms with hydrogen, oxygen, and other atoms added.” The content expands under the sections: 1.1 Nucleic Acids, 1.2 Proteins, 1.3 Carbohydrates, and 1.4 Lipids.