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Kefyn Catley - Homepage |
Kefyn M. Catley Ph.D is an
Assistant Professor of Science Education, Graduate School of Education,
Rutgers University with responsibility for biology education. His
interests revolve around educational applications of biodiversity science and
evolutionary biology. He was awarded a Ph.D. in Arthropod Systematics
from Cornell University where for his dissertation he researched the
biodiversity and evolutionary biology of a group of Chilean spiders. He
has worked as a Research Scientist at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH)
studying the evolutionary biology of spiders, traveling extensively in
temperate South America, Australia, Europe, and throughout North America.
The author of numerous scientific papers and popular articles, he frequently
gives presentations of various aspects of the natural world. While a researcher at the Museum, he was appointed Staff Scientist for Biodiversity, National Center for Science Literacy, Education and Technology and worked extensively with K-12 teachers as part of the AMNH education outreach and teacher professional development program. As part of this initiative he served as principal scientist on the team which developed "Biodiversity Counts", an initiative middle school online curriculum current implemented in schools across the nation. Biodiversity Counts Homepage Building on his interest of using technology for learning, his work was featured on a Discovery Channel Online month-long live satellite link-up, during a AMNH research expedition to Australia in 1997. Discovery Channel Online Spiders Page Cross discipline research projects and ways of bringing this approach into the classroom is another interest, as evidenced by his recent presentation to NASA scientists on what nature can teach us when designing the next generation of spacecraft. http://gossamer.jpl.nasa.gov/Presentations/presentations.html His research at Rutgers is focused on trying to understand aspects of the learning process and ways of constructing knowledge. In particular, comparative knowledge structures and identifying critical junctures in learning. Additionally, science teachers are being asked to teach inquiry-based science but most have little or no experience of every doing "real" science. He is interested in exploring ways of bringing scientists and teachers together to share authentic research experiences and then working with them to bring these experiences into their classrooms in a meaningful way. An example of the type of program he is involved with is Reef Watch. Classes taught include Science: Knowledge and Literacy, and Understanding Evolution: a classroom perspective. He is particularly interested in informal science education and helping teachers best maximize this under utilized resource. He maintains his position as Research Associate, Division of Invertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History. Selected Publications: Catley, K.M. 2000 (submitted) A revision and cladistic of the temperate South American Hahniidae (Araneae). Bulletin of the American Museum of National History. Catley, K.M. 1994 Descriptions of New Species of Hypochilus from New Mexican and California with Cladistic Analysis of the Hypchilidae (Aranae). American Museum Novitates 2088: 27pp. Catley, K.M. 1993 Courtship, Mating, and Post-oviposition behavior of Hypochilius Pococki Platnick (Araneae, Hypochilidae). Proceedings XII - International Congress of Arachnology, Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 33 (2): 469-474. Eberhard, W.G., Guzman-Gomez, S. and K.M. Catley. 1993 Correlation between Spermathecal Morphology and Mating Systems in Spiders. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 50: 197-209. Catley, K.M. 1992 Super-cooling and its Ecological Implications in Coelotes atropos (Araneae, Agelenidae). Journal of Arachnology 20: 58-63. Catley, K.M 1991 The Phylogenetic Relationships of the Species of the Lampshade Spider Genus Hypochilus. Unpublished Masters' Thesis Western Carolina University. Book Chapters: 1998 - Introduction to "Thompson's Ice Corps", Introduction to "Nest Gains, Nest Losses", Introduction to "Hormonal Sabotage", Scientists on Biodiversity, American Museum of National History.
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