Week 1 (reflection due 2/6/14 at 5 pm):

Read and write your reading reflection about Schrodinger's "What is Life," and watch the TED talk about "Perception in Scientific Research"

What is Life (Schrodinger).pdf

TED talk: http://www.ted.com/talks/beau_lotto_amy_o_toole_science_is_for_everyone_kids_included.html

Week 2 (reflection due 2/13/14 at 5pm):

Read and watch the videos in the following "Cell Organization and Movement" chapter of a Cell Biology textbook. Some things to ponder when writing your reflection:  (1) which of these processes (one or more) do you find interesting and why? Can you relate these processes to any analogous everyday phenomenon with which you are familiar (physical, mechanical, or biological)?

http://bcs.whfreeman.com/lodish7e/#800911__811710__

Watch this video: "Discovery of Tubulin" - Scientists speak their own research experience that led to the discovery

http://www.ibiology.org/ibiomagazine/issue-6/gary-borisy-edwin-taylor-the-discovery-of-tubulin.html

Week 3 (reflection due 2/20/14 at 5 pm):

This week your group will be presenting to your classmates on Friday (2/21), on a topic related to kinesin, motor proteins, and microtubule dynamics: http://umdberg.pbworks.com/w/page/74556767/Physics%20299L%20Course%20Activities.  Write your reading reflection on the materials you read in preparation for this presentation to your classmates.

Week 4 (reflection due 2/27/14 at 5 pm):

I. Read the chapter "Cell Motility and Shape I: Microfilaments": http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK21475/ or a chapter on actin microfilament in any cell biology text book that you have.

• 18.1 The Actin Cytoskeleton
• 18.2 The Dynamics of Actin Assembly
• 18.3 Myosin: The Actin Motor Protein
• 18.5 Actin and Myosin in Nonmuscle Cells
• 18.6 Cell Locomotion 

Optional: Watch some videos from this chapter: http://bcs.whfreeman.com/lodish7e/#800911__811709__

Some things to think about when writing your reflection: (1) What are the similarities and differences between actin filaments and microtubules and the motor proteins associated with them? and (2) Which biological process do you find the most interesting and why?

II. Watch this video "Looking for Myosin and Finding Kinesin" -Ron Vale talks about doing science often follows a winding path with unexpected and sometimes wonderful surprises

http://www.ibiology.org/ibiomagazine/issue-1/ron-vale-molecular-motor-search.html

Week 5 (reflection due 3/6/14 at 5 pm)

Journal club article : microtubule_migration.pdf

Web Link : http://www.nature.com/nrm/journal/v3/n12/full/nrm971.html

Although your group will only be facilitating the journal club discussion for two figures in the paper [Figures 1 and 2 (Group 1), Figures 3 and 4 (Group 2), Figures 5 and 6 (Group 3)], you should write your reading reflection on the entire article.

Week 6 (reflection due 3/13/14 at 5 pm)

Read this article on argumentation and modeling in science education: Scientific modeling

Watch this TED talk on the role of science and science literacy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyWCkHzB1kk

In light of our conversation in class last week about the role that "opinion" might play in the scientific landscape, this article on scientific modeling looks at the role that argumentation plays in the modeling process. The audience for this article is researchers of science education, but many of the lessons go beyond the classroom environment and apply to the real-world scientific modeling process. Please reflect on that article and on the TED talk about science literacy shown at the link provided.

Week 7 (no reading reflection due this week):

Because everyone is busy getting their projects started this week, there is no reading reflection due on Thursday.  Reading reflections will return next week!