ABLE News and Notes
Compiled by Mariëlle Hoefnagels, Labstracts Editor

Developmental Biology Teaching Workshop

Leland Johnson, a long-time ABLE member, will be conducting a workshop on the Developmental Biology Teaching Laboratory, at the Darling Marine Center, University of Maine, June 23-26, 2004. This workshop, which has been offered regularly since 1992, is designed to provide college and university faculty, postdocs, and graduate students with basic hands-on experience in working with organisms commonly studied in developmental biology teaching laboratories. The course will be useful both for experienced developmental biology teachers who wish to diversify their laboratory work and for new faculty whose training is outside the field, but who are assigned to teach developmental biology. Work will include teaching lab applications on sea urchins and sand dollars, chick embryos, protists, sponges, Hydra, planaria, fresh water oligochaetes, ferns, and flowering plants. The sea urchin/sand dollar work will include a simplified lab experience on localized enzyme differentiation in developing larvae. We expect Eric Cole from St. Olaf College (MN), who was a past workshop participant, to lead a half-day session on fluorescence microscopy techniques in the Developmental Biology teaching lab, with particular applications to study of sea urchin and sand dollar development. We intend as well to spend time exploring some of the many Web sites, videos, and CD-ROMs that are helpful in teaching Developmental Biology.

In addition to the organized lab sessions, there will be time for sharing of techniques and ideas among the participants as well as some time for informal socializing, including a traditional New England lobster picnic dinner. While the workshop focus is on Developmental Biology, there would be many potential applications of this material for general biology labs, and instructors in other courses are very welcome as participants. A number of ABLE members have been included among the over one hundred colleagues from across the U.S., Canada, and overseas who have participated in the workshop since its inception.

The Darling Marine Center, a marine laboratory of the University of Maine, is located in a beautiful setting on the scenic Damariscotta River estuary on midcoastal Maine, about 60 miles northeast of Portland. The Center is approximately six miles from exposed, open-ocean habitats of the Gulf of Maine. It is close to major shopping areas (e.g. Freeport) and two hours from Acadia National Park. Workshop participants will be using the Darling Center's newly completed water-front conference facilities.

For further information, contact:
Tim Miller, Course Coordinator, Darling Marine Center, University of Maine, 193 Clark's Cove Road, Walpole, ME 04573. Phone 207-563-3146 ext. 218. E-mail temiller@maine.maine.edu
or Leland Johnson (605) 274-4714 -- E-mail: leland_johnson@augie.edu
or visit the Darling Marine Center website.

Upcoming Meetings

Here is a short list of upcoming meetings that might interest ABLE members. If you know of others that should be included, please email me.

ABLE (Association for Biology Laboratory Education): The 2004 annual meeting will be from June 8-12, 2004, at Bowling Green State University in Ohio.

ACUBE (Association of College and University Biology Educators): The 48th Annual Meeting will be held October 14-16, 2004 at Wabash College, Crawfordsville, Indiana.

AIBS (American Institute of Biological Sciences): March 16-18, 2004 in Washington, DC. The theme of the meeting will be "Invasive Species: A Search for Solutions."

CUR (Council on Undergraduate Research): The 10th National Conference will be at the University of Wisconsin - LaCrosse from June 23-26, 2004.

NABT (National Association of Biology Teachers): The 2004 annual meeting will be at the Hyatt Regency Chicago from November 10-13, 2004. [ABLE staffed a booth and sponsored a speaker at the 2003 annual convention in Portland, Oregon; check out the report in the Fall 2003 issue of Labstracts!]

NCUR (National Conference for Undergradaute Research): The 2004 meeting will be April 15-17 in Indianapolis. In 2005, the annual meeting will be from March 17-19 at Virginia Military Institute and Washington and Lee University.

NSTA (National Science Teachers Association): The 2004 annual convention will be in Atlanta, GA from April 1-4, 2004.

Project Kaleidoscope is devoted to undergraduate education in mathematics, engineering, and science. The PKAL F21 Leadership Institute will be from June 12 - 17, 2004. The deadline for registration was Nov. 13, 2003.

Wanted: Contributions to Labstracts

Labstracts is a forum for you, the members of ABLE, to share what you know about biology aboratory education. Labstracts relies on you for ideas and contributions. If you look at this issue, you will see that we have all sorts of items -- from short news clips to longer articles. Any and all submissions are warmly welcomed.

What are your favorite ideas about teaching? What are your problems? What would you like to know about how your colleagues teach? Do you have ideas for articles, even if you don't have time to write one yourself?

If you want to submit an article, or just an idea for an article, please contact me at hoefnagels@ou.edu. If you are submitting an article, please include information about yourself and a scanned picture (if possible) to include with the article. Photos of students or equipment "in action" are, of course, also always welcome. The deadline for the Fall 2004 issue will probably be late in September, 2004.