21 Sep 17 As I was looking through a few thousand images looking for something to share for today, I paused over this one as it brought back to me memories of my HS biology teacher. He was a bit unique in that he didn't teach from a single biology text nor was his method one of those of read the chapter and answer the questions at the end. That chapter approach would likely be considered one that is to oppressive of students in today's educational system but it was sadly the norm in the 50s and early 60s. But we had no text. Instead he, and four prior year "A" students, would lecture using an opaque projector and science and medical books. The first semester began by simulating us (students) biting into a piece of toast and for the term (semester school) we would follow that piece of toast through the digestive system until it arrived in an index finger muscle cell as energy. In the process we studied all the systems of the body at a molecular level. We saw tissue slides of every important aspect, were taught proper microscopical methods, and were required to take daily "notes" in class which were to be converted as our homework (never less than an hour per night) into legible text and illustration. During semester two we studied the animal kingdom chart looking at every level represented and comparing the animal shown with some aspect of our bodies. [ One example will suffice for today. ] At the bottom is Class Sarcodina, and we looked at amoeba. By placing an amoeba on a glass slide and watching it eat we could illustrate how a white blood cell attacks bacteria. By the end of the year we had a book of life that could guide us in living long healthy lives. At the end of each quarter he gave three tests; one oral individually to each student in front of the class gauged by him to challenge the student at their level; one written test with one question such as "trace the flow of blood through the body" and by that he meant name all the vessels, as well as the parts of the cardiopulmonary system and their parts; and a lab test with 6 stations on each of four tables. Each station had a single question such as "this organism (for example the object on the slide under the microscope) is the causative agent of what disease?" You first had to recognize what was on the slide and then be able to connect it with whatever was being asked. By the end of the year you had publicly answered 4 questions, written the equivalent of 4 essays on a 4 individual biological topics, and taken 4 junior level college course biology finals. You knew your stuff and you knew it well. I was able to skip two years of undergraduate biology classes when I attended SPC, now SPU, in a very intense science program (60+ hours of biology classes). Each year we had student teachers come to do their student teaching with him; invariably they sat in class with the students to start learning the material we who were teaching with him as second year students had learned the year prior. I learned both how to learn, how to teach, and received a solid understanding of human biology from this man. It wasn't until my junior year at SPC that I once again ran into this level of training! Today's selection when I saw it immediately made me think of those lab exams. So for today's test, identify all the forms of invertebrate life you find in the image. To aide you I'll allow you access to one of the roughly 100 texts we used in that high school biology program, Rickets & Calvin's Between Pacific Tides, now in its 5th edition. If you live on the coast of the Pacific and don't have this book in your library, you should! Good luck on the test.
This is literally straight from the camera. Nikon D300sl 18 - 200; Aperture priority; ISO 400; 1/1250 sec @ f / 8.
![21 Sep 17 As I was looking through a few thousand images looking for something to share for today, I paused over this one as it brought back to me memories of my HS biology teacher. He was a bit unique in that he didn't teach from a single biology text nor was his method one of those of read the chapter and answer the questions at the end. That chapter approach would likely be considered one that is to oppressive of students in today's educational system but it was sadly the norm in the 50s and early 60s. But we had no text. Instead he, and four prior year "A" students, would lecture using an opaque projector and science and medical books. The first semester began by simulating us (students) biting into a piece of toast and for the term (semester school) we would follow that piece of toast through the digestive system until it arrived in an index finger muscle cell as energy. In the process we studied all the systems of the body at a molecular level. We saw tissue slides of every important aspect, were taught proper microscopical methods, and were required to take daily "notes" in class which were to be converted as our homework (never less than an hour per night) into legible text and illustration. During semester two we studied the animal kingdom chart looking at every level represented and comparing the animal shown with some aspect of our bodies. [ One example will suffice for today. ] At the bottom is Class Sarcodina, and we looked at amoeba. By placing an amoeba on a glass slide and watching it eat we could illustrate how a white blood cell attacks bacteria. By the end of the year we had a book of life that could guide us in living long healthy lives. At the end of each quarter he gave three tests; one oral individually to each student in front of the class gauged by him to challenge the student at their level; one written test with one question such as "trace the flow of blood through the body" and by that he meant name all the vessels, as well as the parts of the cardiopulmonary system and their parts; and a lab test with 6 stations on each of four tables. Each station had a single question such as "this organism (for example the object on the slide under the microscope) is the causative agent of what disease?" You first had to recognize what was on the slide and then be able to connect it with whatever was being asked. By the end of the year you had publicly answered 4 questions, written the equivalent of 4 essays on a 4 individual biological topics, and taken 4 junior level college course biology finals. You knew your stuff and you knew it well. I was able to skip two years of undergraduate biology classes when I attended SPC, now SPU, in a very intense science program (60+ hours of biology classes). Each year we had student teachers come to do their student teaching with him; invariably they sat in class with the students to start learning the material we who were teaching with him as second year students had learned the year prior. I learned both how to learn, how to teach, and received a solid understanding of human biology from this man. It wasn't until my junior year at SPC that I once again ran into this level of training! Today's selection when I saw it immediately made me think of those lab exams. So for today's test, identify all the forms of invertebrate life you find in the image. To aide you I'll allow you access to one of the roughly 100 texts we used in that high school biology program, Rickets & Calvin's Between Pacific Tides, now in its 5th edition. If you live on the coast of the Pacific and don't have this book in your library, you should! Good luck on the test.
This is literally straight from the camera. Nikon D300sl 18 - 200; Aperture priority; ISO 400; 1/1250 sec @ f / 8.](https://photos.smugmug.com/Archives/2017/Daily-Image-Sep-2017-Archive/i-Ft4zbwm/0/09219b82/S/-2.3_june_tide_04407_final_exam-S.jpg)
![28 Sep 17 As we were preparing to do some gutter cleaning - our guaranteed "never needs cleaning" gutter guard working about as well as I imagined it actually would - I noticed something unusual moving along the leaves of one of the Japanese Maples that grace the front of the garage. Stopping what we were doing [didn't need much incentive for that] I recognized that what we were seeing was a yellow Woolly Bear caterpillar, something neither of us had ever seen before. Seen them black, burnt sienna, and a combination of the two as bands - yes I know, you are supposed to be able to predict the kind of winter by the bands - but never yellow with a row of black spots. This critter was moseying right along moving between sunlit and shaded leaves with purpose apparently not in the mood for taking a break from arriving at its destination, wherever that was going to be. Grabbed the camera and as there was a little breeze had Jan hold the distal end of the branch as I snapped away. Got a few acceptable frames but nothing outstanding, so I decided what I had would make good creative material. There was nothing wrong with the shots, just not crisp full head shots or full body with eyes all in focus. After getting the original to my liking I preceded to make a series of four different creative versions one of which I'm sharing for today's image. With a name like woolly and feeling fuzzy to the touch I thought a version that looks something like that description might work well.
The original capture was severely cropped to isolate the subject, then given some slight contrast enhancement, and then converted to the swirly looking creature you see. Nikon D500; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 640; 1/640 sec @ f / 8.](https://photos.smugmug.com/Archives/2017/Daily-Image-Sep-2017-Archive/i-QVWC3Dg/0/e3119a25/S/woolly_bear_and_maple_10440_swirled-S.jpg)
