The crew with Hamdi Tunbak and Bilal Erturk, 2 of our lecturers today, they brought Turkish treats for us
Seker Pare Pon Durma
Merhaba (Hello in Turkish)
Hot day here in Oklahoma. As always very interesting. The morning was spent with Professor Harrinton Wells from the University of Tulsa
He gave a simple and very understandble lecture about the scientific method. I will definitely use his ideas for my classes next year. He talked about models and theories and what is science and what is not science. He used some really great examples that showed how scientific thought should be progressive, open and ready to accept change. This is not always the case as he discussed. We used the example of von Frisch and others related to the bee dance and how returning field bees, according to their research findings from many years ago, use the angle of the sun is convey to the bees in the hive where flowers are located. That angle of the sun and distance to flowers with nectar is picked up by the bees in the hive. Other bees leave the hive to get to the nectar source. Wenner and Wells (Harrington' father) questioned this idea in the 1960's through some elegant experiments. Now as many teachers know the von Frisch idea is in many textbooks but not the part that questions his and other researchers ideas of the bee dance. Professor Harrington gave some interesting examples that
can be used to refute the standard von Frisch model. Things like the none repeatability of the figure 8 dance, the changing angle of the sun, it is dark in the hive, how do bees see the dance all have been used as ideas to question the established ideas. Now that is how we should be teaching our students, not all ideas in textbooks are true or at least there are scientists that have differing ideas. Harrington and others have shown the importance of olfaction as the cue for finding and communicating the location of nectar sources.
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Mr. Hamdi Tunback and Dr. Bilal Erturk, Turkish natives, who live in Oklahoma city came to talk to us about Turkish culture, politics and language. They brought us 2 Turkish snacks (see above). These men really gave us a great feel for the complexity, beauty and oasis of culture that is Turkey. They described the politics of the country and we found out that the elections will be held there on June 12. The best was that they taught us some basic phrases like:
Merhaba, Adim Richard, Senin Adin ne? Hello my name is Richard, what is your name
Nemnun oldum Nice to meet you
Nasilsin how are you?
Afiet olsun good eating
Tuvalet Nerede toilet.
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The last speaker of the day was Ms. JeAnna Redd, she went on this trip 2 years ago and will be starting her graduate work at OCU in the fall. She is interested in bees and forensics. Very enthusiastic and intelligent person. She gave us the ins and outs of the trip. I felt a bit out of place as the OLD person on the trip, they were asking her college age questions. But I did get the jist, hey I was once young and in college.
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Gule gule (goodbye)
harika!
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