One mark of a great teacher is the level of intellectual curiosity he or she inspires in students. For Brooklyn College's Dr. John Blamire, biology is a fascinating subject and he'd like to pass that fascination on to his students. "It isn't just what they learn," he believes, "it's how deeply they understand the subject that makes the difference between a student who only wants a grade from a course and a student who is there to get an education." Part of his job, he believes, is to help them realize that learning is an exciting and never-ending journey into the unknown and to encourage them to be more active participants in their own education. Not content with the memorization of facts, he wants his students to delight in the process of discovering them.

Teaching Science to Students Who Don't Like Science

Blamire, an energetic and highly creative Englishman who is also an accomplished author, musician, and artist, has an abiding love of knowledge and a deep concern about the level of passivity he observes in today's students, especially regarding their own education. He has been teaching the Brooklyn College Core Biology Curriculum for over 23 years and estimates that at least half of the 750 students who enter his classes each year bring with them a certain "passive hostility" towards science. Their reasons vary, but "only a small minority," he says sadly, "really wants to be here." It becomes his personal challenge, each semester, to break through their resistance and generate some enthusiasm about science. Given the level of apathy exhibited by students towards the subject, one imagines this to be a mighty challenge indeed.

Professor Blamire, however, remains undaunted and is clearly up to the task. He truly enjoys his work and continually seeks to improve it. For the past two decades, he has used technology in many unusual ways to achieve this. He supplements his standard biology textbook (which he wrote expressly for this kind of student), with a variety of multimedia enrichment pieces that include two and three dimensional visual graphics, animated molecules and "Disney-like" cartoons. He also stars in videotapes in which he explains biological energy in a comprehensible way, and has developed other special effects for lectures, even a CD ROM. As an artist and a scientist, he constantly experiments with technology to enhance teaching. With an impressive range of computer-related multimedia devices at his disposal (for which he thanks his extremely supportive administration), he is able to create an infinite variety of high-tech pedagogical accoutrements.

Multimedia, Biology, and the Multi-disciplinary Story of Gregory Mendel

Blamire is currently developing a multimedia, multi-disciplinary class based on a fictional account of Gregory Mendel, the father of modern genetics. His story, which can be found on the World Wide Web, is based on historical fact but presented as readable fiction, complete with heroes, villains, triumphs and tragedies. The science of genetic theory is interwoven into its text and subliminally placed within its historical context. Also buried within the story are a number of relevant links which lead the reader towards more detailed information about the scientific processes, facts, context and theories mentioned in the main text. Other links are used to expand upon or explain various historical and political issues, as well as to provide direct references to tangential materials. "It is a way to get the science without the pain," says Blamire. "One can easily become enchanted with its characters and want to follow them."

The document is updated regularly and becomes the focus of both inter- and intra-class discussion. The powerful approach will be tested this Fall when a block of incoming Freshmen will take a multi-disciplinary course at Brooklyn College. They will study Mendel's genetic theory in its historical context and explore other issues such as politics, ethics, race, gender and quantitative science as they relate to the history of the times. The course (actually three courses) will be taught in overlapping fashion with members of the Biology, English and Political Science Departments. For the first time, students will be able to use their computers to view a number of Blamire's new interactive audio and streaming digital video components.

Brooklyn College is a leader in the development and use of this cutting edge, state-of-the-art technology for cross-curricular pedagogy which will likely serve as a curriculum model for other disciplines throughout the University. To preview some of these course materials, point your browser to:http//www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/bc/ahp.

How It All Began

Blamire started using computer technology to improve his classes in the early eighties when serious budget cuts slashed Brooklyn College biology faculty by 50 percent while student enrollment remained the same. Classes became significantly larger and suddenly teachers were desperate for ways to handle the increased demand for their attention without decreasing the quality of their instruction. Blamire investigated every available tool in an attempt to provide faster and more efficient learning.

"I had written a fairly innovative textbook," he states, "but the material on the printed page was static. I wanted a new medium that would help me display coordinated visual materials and would allow students to grasp the scientific concepts more rapidly." He found it in his Apple II+, which created quite a stir when wheeled into his classroom; computers and biology -- impossible! He used an early graphic software package to develop colorful graphics that helped to illustrate and teach a number of complex biological ideas, such as the dynamics of evolution. He later added computer simulations which enabled his students to interact with the ideas and the materials under investigation.

As the technology improved, two-dimensional designs became three dimensional and static images became animated computer graphics. Experimenting with a heady mixture of old animation techniques, new software, and powerful computers, Blamire created a few animated modules which portrayed highly complex biological theories in ways that were strikingly simple, enjoyable, and easy to remember. Students responded well. He now adds music (of his own composition) and lots of `voice overs.' In one memorable video tape, an animated `mushroom' character tackles the problem of polymerization to a tune that Blamire says, "just somehow suggested monomers and polymers to me when I wrote it."

These highly dynamic classroom presentations were great, but students wanted a way to review them outside of class. CD-ROM technology appeared to be the answer but producing compact discs proved to be an enormous undertaking and since discs can't be updated, CD-ROMs weren't entirely practical. It wasn't long, however, before a much more flexible and readily available medium emerged in the form of the Internet.

Enter the Web

To demonstrate the Web's potential in education, Blamire developed an "Academic Home Page," which he hoped would inspire his colleagues to join him in exploring its use. "There are still tremendous misconceptions about the Web," he says."Even today, a lot of people are either ignorant of its power to reach students, or are hesitant to use it." As the Web became more widely used, the original Academic Home Page was taken over by the larger college community and Blamire created The Brooklyn College Science Center Web Page and began to wrestle in earnest with the Web as an instructional tool. At first CD-ROM material was simply thrown online as text using bulleted lists and basic outlines that students could access, print, and use as study guides. "That information," he says "was greatly appreciated so I added `quick quizzes' which soon became a favorite item."

Before long, he had written the "Brother Gregory" tale which included much more in-depth information about genetic theory and Mendel's life than students had received in class and also placed his theory within an historical context. But the web pages with their static graphics were simply becoming an interactive textbook and Blamire sought much more from the powerful medium. He eventually discovered a way to create interactive animated programs that could be made to run within the web page itself--a formidable breakthrough that finally gave his web presentation a CD-like quality with flexibility and control.

Underway now are web-based streaming digital video sequences for the Core Biology Class, described by Blamire as, "horrendously arduous to produce, but at the cutting edge of technology and, hopefully, a wonderful learning experience for the students." This summer he utilized his many artistic talents to produce the first three segments. "Script development is the first and most difficult production task. My family has a good laugh when I begin a new project," he jokes. "I walk around for days muttering into a tape recorder until I get the script to sound right." Once the script is complete, the hard physical work begins. Sets must be developed, locations scouted, lights adjusted, sound equipment tested and then, as Blamire says, "I have to memorize my lines, (difficult for the unusually extemporaneous Professor). Following this, he stands under hot lights in the heat of August, wearing a tweed jacket, while the camera rolls--often several times--before a take is complete.Then it is back to the computer where, for weeks, he prepares drawings on which 3D animations are based. These are then transferred to video tape or into digital format for final editing, sound addition and codex compression. Finally, it's put on the video server. The total process is amazingly complex. There are at least ten major stages during which any number of things can go wrong. One can readily imagine a host of nightmares before the project is finished, but for Blamire it's entirely worth the effort.

Flexible Technology and a Caveat

Blamire's irrepressible zeal for high-technology and his obsession with better teaching are often palpable but he tempers his enthusiasm with the realization that not all of his students have access to the kinds of equipment he does. "There's a fine line which I must tread," he says "moving forward in a manner that doesn't leave students behind. It's easy to get carried away with technology but information must be controlled and given in manageable chunks. It must complement the text, reinforce the lecture and be stimulating but it's not a video game. Technology provides us with useful tools to enhance pedagogy but we must always pay attention to the results we are getting in class."

Asked about the effectiveness of his methods, Blamire responds positively, "I know that my students have been reached and inspired to go further when I hear them having lively debates after class about the material we've just covered. Often I like to watch them as they grapple with different concepts and then see them puzzling over what would happen if a certain variable were different. As sparks flash across their faces, suddenly it's no longer a question of memorizing facts, they've been seduced by the thrill of discovering facts and that's a terribly exciting moment for me."

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