Mike VineyColorado State University | CSU · College of Natural Sciences Education and Outreach Center
Mike Viney
Master of Education
About
45
Publications
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Introduction
My primary research interest is the history of life on Earth with an emphasis on arborescent plants. In 2017 I completed a 30-year career teaching secondary science for Poudre School District in Ft. Collins, Colorado. I currently work at the College of Natural Sciences Education and Outreach Center at Colorado State University (CSU) where I help develop hands-on STEM kits designed to engage intermediate and secondary level students with inquiry experiences related to research conducted at CSU.
Skills and Expertise
Publications
Publications (45)
Postcards can be considered the first worldwide social medium that included an image and a space for a short message. Advances in photography and photomechanical printing techniques at the turn of the 20th century increased the accuracy and aesthetic appeal of images developed and printed on postcards. In the United States several changes in postal...
Opalized oak specimens with striking beauty, attributed to Clover Creek, Lincoln County, Idaho, can be seen in numerous museums around the world. Even the casual observer notes the fossil wood grain, reminiscent of modern oak. The provenance of these ‘golden oak’ specimens was a small, unique deposit. Historical documents, photographs and oral hist...
Health literacy levels play a significant role in the spread of misinformation about microbes, vaccines, and the immune system. Individuals who have lower health literacy (HL) are more likely to be susceptible to health misinformation. Thus, it is concerning that over half of U.S. college students in a recent study self-reported low HL scores. Thes...
The purpose of this article is to identify research collections that hold silicified vascular cylinders of Lepidophloios johnsonii collected by Chester Arthur Arnold (1901-1977).
In the summer of 2019, our research team collected fossil wood from a high alpine meadow situated in the southern Rocky Mountains of Colorado. The silicified plant remains date back more than 300 million years, long before the time when the modern Rocky Mountains were uplifted. A single scientific study of this site occurred nearly eight decades be...
Captain Gustavus Conyngham played an important role in the Continental Navy by bringing America’s struggle for independence from Great Britain to the waters along the coastline of Europe. Writing about historic figures includes establishing accurate biographical information that may include life span, childhood, education, interests, and notable co...
Court and litigation operations are opaque in the best of times, and the lack of explanatory nineteenth century legal records makes it even more difficult to learn how lawyers and judges went about their business. This may be one of the reasons there are so few accounts detailing the nuts and bolts of 1800s law practice. This article illuminates th...
Captain Gustavus Conyngham (1747-1819) identifies himself simply as a “City of Philadelphia Mariner” in his Last Will and Testament, a modest description for an influential figure in America’s first Navy. The U. S. Congress twice commissioned Conyngham as a Captain in the Continental Navy; however, both commissions were lost, one when he was detain...
Zeigt die fossile Eiche Quercinium pliocaenicum makroskopische Anzeichen von Kernfäule durch Weißfäulepilze? Ausgangspunkt ist ein kurzer Überblick über den Metabolismus der Fäulnispilze unter Bevorzugung von Lignin oder Zellulose sowie die Fähigkeit der Bäume, sich in bedingtem Maße dagegen zu schützen (CODIT). Davon ausgehend werden Stücke einer...
On May 11, 1777 Silas Deane (1738-1789), American Commissioner to France, sent a letter to the French diplomat Conrad Alexandre Gérard (1729-1790) asking about the detention of Gustavus Conyngham and his men. Deane mentions the children of Conyngham in his letter. Subsequently, multiple historians also refer to the Conyngham children. Evidence for...
The study of mammals that hibernate provides a unique avenue for students to explore the concepts of metabolism, bone structure, and the impact of climate change on mammals with evolutionary adaptations to extreme seasonal changes in food supply. “Secrets of the Hibernators” is a student-centered, self-guided kit developed by educators in close col...
The Blue Forest is a well-known fossil wood deposit in Sweetwater County, Wyoming, praised as one of the world’s most beautiful petrified forests and recognized on a U.S. Geologic Survey topographic map. Blue botryoidal chalcedony that covers the exterior surface of some specimens is prized by collectors and elucidates the origin of the name given...
Plastic pollution represents a major threat to life in the Earth’s oceans. Plastic weathers into microplastic but is not biodegradable. Plastic is a human-caused problem and requires a human-facilitated solution. Educating students about this problem is a critical component to the solution. Plankton to Plastic Pollution is a self-guided inquiry kit...
Research inspired by an 1895 Pocket Kodak and accompanying photographs sheds light on the offspring of two families that homesteaded in Colorado territory after the American Civil War. The Baker and Vandewark families settled in the Fort Collins area in 1873, the year it was incorporated into a town. Edward Baker and May Vandewark, first generation...
The 1930 discovery of Carboniferous lycopsid fossils in south central Colorado resulted in the naming of a new species of scale tree, Lepidodendron johnsonii (=Lepidphloios johnsonii (Arnold) DiMichele). Cellular structures of L. johnsonii axes and periderm are preserved in silica—an unusual mode of fossil preservation for Pennsylvanian lycopsid pl...
The data in this document supports an on-going attempt to locate opalized oak specimens recovered from a fossil tree discovered near Clover Creek in south-central Idaho, USA in 1895. Many of these specimens ended up in museums across the world.
The data in this document supports an on-going attempt to locate opalized oak specimens recovered from a fossil tree discovered near Clover Creek in south-central Idaho, USA in 1895. Many of these specimens ended up in museums across the world.
The data in this document supports an on-going attempt to locate opalized oak specimens recovered from a fossil tree discovered near Clover Creek in south-central Idaho, USA in 1895. Many of these specimens ended up in museums across the world.
The data in this document supports an on-going attempt to locate opalized oak specimens recovered from a fossil tree discovered near Clover Creek in south-central Idaho, USA in 1895. Many of these specimens ended up in museums across the world.
According to mineralogical literature, some of the finest opalized wood in the world was discovered in Idaho c.1895, originating in a unique deposit along Clover Creek in Lincoln County (now Gooding County). The American mineral dealer Dr A. E. Foote acquired and processed the bulk of the discovery into specimens that were advertised between 1896 a...
“The Bruneau Woodpile” is an informal name given to a fossil-collecting locality approximately 20 km south of the town of Bruneau, Idaho, in the southwestern part of the state. The site has attracted collectors since at least the 1940s with its rich diversity of fossil wood types and fossil fish jaws. Scientific interest during the 20th Century was...
I added a new version of this article that is a little easier on the eyes. Some readers found the color of the background and text difficult to read.
![Figure 1. Green River Lake basin map modified from [1].](profile/George-Mustoe/publication/330292211/figure/fig1/AS:713586880020482@1547143778625/Green-River-Lake-basin-map-modified-from-1_Q320.jpg)
Central Wyoming, USA, was the site of ancient Lake Gosiute during the Early Eocene. Lake Gosiute was a large body of water surrounded by subtropical forest, the lake being part of a lacustrine complex that occupied the Green River Basin. Lake level rises episodically drowned the adjacent forests, causing standing trees and fallen branches to become...
During the American Civil War, 19-year old Frederick Richard Baker (1844-1906) was selected to be a member of the Union Light Guard, an Ohio cavalry regiment handpicked to serve as bodyguards and escort for President Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865). Baker served from December 17, 1863 to September 9, 1865. Baker’s diary for the year of 1865 was recentl...
The data in this document supports an on-going attempt to locate opalized oak specimens recovered from a fossil tree discovered near Clover Creek in south-central Idaho, USA in 1895. Many of these specimens ended up in museums across the world.
The data in this document supports an on-going attempt to locate opalized oak specimens recovered from a fossil tree discovered near Clover Creek in south-central Idaho, USA in 1895. Many of these specimens ended up in museums across the world.
The data in this document supports an on-going attempt to locate opalized oak specimens recovered from a fossil tree discovered near Clover Creek in south-central Idaho, USA in 1895. Many of these specimens ended up in museums across the world.
Translation from German into English by Alex Brandl and Mike Viney, with permission by E.
Schweizerbart'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Stuttgart, Germany
The data in this document supports an on-going attempt to locate opalized oak specimens recovered from a fossil tree discovered near Clover Creek in south-central Idaho, USA in 1895. Many of these specimens ended up in museums across the world.
Note: Some readers found the background and text color difficult to read in the original article so I added an alternative version.
Macro-photography can be combined with micro-photography in non-destructive ways to create a series of images that zoom in on a specific area to reveal the preserved cell structure in mineralized fossil wood. A metho...
At age 19, Gustavus Conyngham (1744-1819) immigrated with his father to the American Colonies to make a new home. He started his career as a merchant seaman with the shipping house of Conyngham and Nesbitt. Gustavus married Ann Hockley (1757-1811), an American woman, who purportedly gave birth to their American children. Conyngham joined the Americ...
This is the self-guided instruction booklet that accompanies the Plankton to Plastic Pollution STEM Kit developed at the Natural Sciences Education and Outreach Center.
The Bruneau Woodpile site has long been popular among fossil collectors; however, the deposit has received scant attention from scientists. Our research reveals that the fossilized wood was deposited ca. 6.85 Ma, within the Chalk Hills Formation, and was mineralized with carbonate-fluorapatite. The diverse assemblage of conifers and hardwoods is re...
The United States granted its first patent for an apple parer to Moses Coates on February 14th, 1803. Three phases of apple parer development can be recognized. The first four decades of the 19th century witnessed a diversity of unpatented apple parers made mostly of wood by artisans for local communities. The invention and proliferation of apple p...
An extensive fossil forest discovered in 2010 on private property in central Colorado, USA, has not previously been described in scientific literature. Horizontal partial logs originated as fluvially transported driftwood. A preliminary study of petrified wood specimens reveals evidence of a complex mineralization sequence that involved multiple ep...
This educational article uses the mineralized seed cones of Araucaria mirabilis to explore how a multifaceted approach to studying fossils can illuminate evolutionary relationships and past environments. Mineralization of fossil plant material can result in the retention of subcellular anatomy, preserving tissue organization that can hold clues to...
Various museums in Europe, Canada, and the United States have opalized oak specimens, often housed in their mineral collections, attributed to Clover Creek, Lincoln County, Idaho. Experienced fossil wood collectors and museum curators seemed unaware of this location. In addition to this fact the lustrous yellow-brown coloration of these specimens b...
The 1895 discovery of a petrified tree near Clover Creek in south-central Idaho, USA,
attracted worldwide attention and resulted in the naming of a new species of ancient oak, Quercinium
pliocaenicum Schuster. For more than a century, the discovery has largely been forgotten, even though
specimens reside in reputable museums. Reinvestigation of the...
In 1895 a party of surveyors discovered fossilized tree branches protruding a meter above the ground along Clover Creek in Idaho, USA. Foote Brothers of Philadelphia purchased nearly two tons of the material, which was subsequently distributed across the globe. Many specimens found their way into major museums. This document represents museum speci...
Fascination with petrified wood has stimulated interest in understanding the process of natural petrifaction. Early attempts of modeling natural petrifaction in the laboratory have been limited to mimicking incipient permineralization resulting in the creation of silica casts of pore spaces and inner cell walls. Silica lithomorphs produced through...
Efforts to enact balanced treatment laws represent an attempt to wedge the supernatural into scientific explanations. Current attempts to displace methodological naturalism from science indicate a need to make the nature of science a central theme in our instruction. Epistemology and the Nature of Science: A Classroom Strategy utilizes constructivi...
The effects of a full (4 x 4) block scheduling program and an alternate day (AB) block scheduling program in a junior high school were under investigation in this study through the use of an ex post facto, matched sampling design. Measures investigated were standardized achievement tests in science and language arts. Both forms of block scheduling...
Growing taller than surrounding plants can be of real value when competing for sunlight; the tree form affords the adaptive advantage of height. The value of the arborescent form is reflected in the convergent evolution that has resulted in tree forms that belong to different vascular plant groups. Several strategies for trunk designs have evolved...
Questions
Questions (2)
Several colleagues have expressed to me that there is a difference between how science is taught at the undergraduate and graduate levels. In undergraduate studies students often have a lecture and lab section for many of their classes. However, the lab work they perform is often in effect, like following a recipe. Thinking of a novel question from which an experiment can be designed and completed is an experience that many students do not have until graduate level studies. In other words, do we ask undergraduates to “know science,” while at the graduate level we ask them to “do science.”
I taught science at the secondary level for 30 years. During that time, in curricular materials designed for secondary level students, the concept of a scientific hypothesis was presented as central to the scientific method. During my career, the definition of hypothesis evolved from “an educated guess” to “a prediction that can be tested." By way of contrast, the director of a biomedical lab I worked in did not encourage hypotheses; instead, he wanted good questions for which a quality experiment could be designed with robust analyses of data to identify patterns.
