Utopian Futures for Learning Technologies

Teaching-Learning Mathematics in a Virtual Environment. Empirical Evidence in Scenarios of Higher Education

“…Every day students have more possibilities of appropriating their own development in an environment where learning is conceived as a current with many resources and opportunities (Childress, 2016). Constant up-dating of VLE as well as ICT as pedagogical approaches will be what turns virtual learning into an option.…”

Elementary Atlas of Drosophila melanogaster Mutations

“…The FlyBase site houses an incredible number of files dedicated to the detailed, in-depth biology of Drosophila , including the excellent collection of photographs of classical phenotypic mutants by Holtzman and Kaufman (2013 ). The (also excellent) “Learning to Fly” poster by Childress et al (2005 ) can also be accessed in the internet. The photos from this poster inspired many divulgation works of phenotypic mutations in the fly, such as the cornerstone 2013 book “Atlas of Drosophila Morphology,” by Chyb and Gompel, with photographs obtained [just like the images of Holtzman and Kaufman (2013 ) and Childress et al (2005 )] by using state-of-the-art Leitz's Leica multifocal equipment and a careful setup of living flies with phenotypic mutations.…”

“…In order to keep alive the graphic material from the "Drosophila Viewer" program and organize everything as an elementary Atlas on phenotypic mutations of Drosophila , the e-book was produced by working on all the original drawings used in the program and adding material obtained with permission from other sources, especially from Professors Thomas C. Kaufman (photos by Holtzman & Kaufman 2013 at the FlyBase site) and Georg Halder (from the trio Childress et al , 2005 responsible for the "Learning to Fly" poster). The main part of the Atlas is the presentation of 169 different phenotypic mutant genetic variations of the fly Drosophila melanogaster , which were selected taking into account their level of conspicuity (most of them can be easily recognized even by neophytes), as well as their availability in reference Drosophila research and teaching centers.…”

“…Each box contains a diagrammatic but detailed color representation of the corresponding phenotypic mutation and some extra material. The color illustrations, taken from the archives of the program "Drosophila Viewer" had the brown color of the flies reworked to bring it to the true color of the wild-type Drosophila melanogaster ; a few more original color diagrams were produced to represent some new variants from some photographs not included in the computer program or from the photos by Holtzman and Kaufman (2013 ) and by Childress et al (2005 ). In addition to the color drawings, most boxes include a black-&-white drawing by Miss Edith M. Wallace (Professor Thomas Hunt Morgan's illustrator), or, less often, the drawing published by a different Drosophila research group, who described the mutation.…”

“…It depicts details on the X-linked (chromosome 1) recessive mutant phenotypic mutant character singed . The box contains, upper row, left: an original color illustration taken and repainted from the "Drosophila Viewer" program, showing the bristles in the mutant and in the wild-type fly; upper row, right: a black & white drawing of a mutant fly (detail from the figure in the original publication by Mohr (1922 ), who described the phenotype in 1922) and a color photo of its dorsal/thoracic aspect ( Holtzman and Kaufman, 2013 FlyBase site); lower row, left: original color photograph from a whole-mount slide preparation ("Drosophila Viewer" program); lower row, right: color photo of the thorax of the mutant fly ( Childress et al , 2005 “Learning to Fly poster”).…”