1. Teaching Biology at the Institute of Biology,
University of the Philippines, Diliman
Ian Kendrich C. Fontanilla, M.Sc.
(ianfontanilla@hotmail.com)
2. Teaching Biology
• Biology is a broad topic that can easily overwhelm the
teacher as much as the student
• Is biology purely memorization, or is there more?
• The students must retain the key concepts long after
they’ve forgotten many facts and terms
• Students should relate biological concepts to everyday
life
3. Our Teaching Experience in IB
• We rely heavily now on the LCD projector and our
powerpoint presentations with clearer figures
• ..but we never abandon the chalk and board to stress
points!
4. Our Teaching Experience in IB
• Hands on experience through lab exercises is still
indispensible
6. Some Examples of Biological Concepts and How They
are Taught
1. Bioinformatics
2. Biogeography
7. What is bioinformatics?
• Application of computers, databases, and
computational methods to the management of
biological information
• Biological information can be in the form of:
• Nucleotide sequences (DNA and RNA)
• Amino acid sequences and protein structure
• Gene expression
8. What is bioinformatics?
• Biological information are stored in biological databases
in order to organise the data on a large scale
• Biological database
• A large, organized body of persistent data, usually
associated with computerized software designed to
update, query, and retrieve components of the data
stored within the system
• Must be easily accessible
• E.g. GenBank (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
9. Molecular Phylogeny – an application of bioinformatics
•Estimating and analyzing evolutionary relationships
using molecular markers such as DNA and proteins
•Molecular markers retain a record of an organism’s
evolutionary history
•The nucleotide or amino acid differences within a gene
reflect the evolutionary distance between two
organisms
•Molecular markers are easily quantifiable compared to
morphological data
10. What is bioinformatics?
• There has been a phenomenal increase of biological
information (e.g. molecular biology) in the last few
decades
• e.g. GENBANK – definitive database in the US for
gene sequences
• (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
•Makes use of the freeware BioEdit (www.mbio.ncsu.edu/BioEdit/BioEdit.html)
12. Biogeography
•Deals with geographic patterns of species distribution and
the processes that result in such patterns.
•Species distribution brought about by several factors:
•speciation
•extinction
•continental drift
•glaciation
19. Islands of the Philippines during the last ice age (~10,000 years ago)
20. Some Examples of Problematic Biological Concepts
and How We Teach Them in IB
1. The theory of evolution
•“It’s just a theory.”
2. The issue on reproductive health
•Should contraception be taught in the first place?
•Should contraception be taught in grade school and
high school?
21. 1. Evolution
•Change in gene frequencies in populations over time
•Unifying concept in biology
•“Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution.”
(Theodosius Dobzhansky: 1900-1975)
•Explains:
•Origin of species
•Diversity of organisms and their relationships
•Similarities and differences among species
•Adaptations to the environment
22. Evolution – how we teach it in IB
•Evolution IS a theory that is testable
•We lay out all the facts
•Ask the students to critically analyse the facts
•What are their conclusions about evolution?
23. Different reactions to evolution
1. Young Earth Creationists
• accept Genesis literally, including not just the
special, separate creation of human beings and all
other species, but the historicity of Noah’s Flood
• do not interpret the flat-earth and geocentric passages
of the Bible literally, but they reject modern physics,
chemistry, and geology concerning the age of the
earth
24. Different reactions to evolution
2. Day-Age Theorists
• each of the six days of creation is not a 24-h day but a
long period of time, even thousands or millions of
years
• found comfort in what they regard as a rough parallel
between organic evolution and Genesis, in which
plants appear before animals and human beings
appear last
25. Different reactions to evolution
3. Progressive Creationists
• God created kinds of animals that were of a higher
taxonomic level than species
• God created creatures containing at least as much
genetic variation as a family (e.g. Felidae,
Cercopithecidae) and considerable evolution within a
kind then occurred
26. Different reactions to evolution
4. Intelligent Design Proponents
• certain features of the universe and of living things are
best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected
process such as natural selection
• argue that an archaeologist who finds a statue made of
stone in a field may justifiably conclude that the statue
was designed, and reasonably seek to identify its
designer
27. Different reactions to evolution
5. Theistic Evolutionists
• God created but relied more upon the laws of nature to
bring about His purpose
• one species can give rise to another
• see God as intervening at critical intervals during the
history of life especially in the origin of human beings
28. Different reactions to evolution
6. Material Evolutionists
• go beyond science and propose that the laws of nature
are not only sufficient to explain all of nature and
evolution but that the supernatural does not exist
• philosophical materialism (naturalism) there is
nothing in the universe beyond matter, energy, and
their interactions
29. 2. The Reproductive Health
• A right that should be accorded every woman
• “involves the right to decide freely and responsibly the
number and spacing of children and to have information,
education and means to do so”
• Panao, 2008
• When does life begin?
30. Implantation
• Stage after fertilization in humans where a blastocyst develops from a
fertilized zygote
•Egg moves along oviduct to uterus
•6th day after fertilization, blastocyst attaches to uterine wall or
ENDOMETRIUM
31. Human Embryonic & Fetal Development
•Human gestation time – from conception to birth
– approximately 9 months
•Embryonic development – months 1 – 2
•Fetal development – months 3 – 9
32. Contraceptives
Blocks any one of the following stages of early
development:
1. Release & transport of gametes
2. Fertilization
3. Implantation
34. Reproductive Health – how we teach it in IB
•Explain human development from gametes to adulthood
•How is development stopped by each type of contraceptive
•Ask the students when they think life should begin
•Ask the students if they would use contraceptives