biology

Michael Reiss

Michael Reiss is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Michael Reiss rather than just read about it. In short: Michael J. Reiss (born 1960) is a British bioethicist, educator, journalist, and Anglican priest.

Key takeaways

Michael Reiss belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Michael Reiss to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Michael Reiss from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Michael J. Reiss (born 1960) is a British bioethicist, educator, journalist, and Anglican priest. Reiss is professor of science education at the Institute of Education, University College London, where he is assistant director, research and development.

Family Reiss's father was an obstetrician; his mother, a midwife. His father was Jewish; his mother, an agnostic. Reiss had a secular upbringing in north London.

Career He began his career as a schoolteacher at Hills Road Sixth Form College, Cambridge in 1983. In 1989, he became a lecturer and tutor in the Department of Education at the University of Cambridge. At the age of 29, Reiss began training for ministry in the Church of England with the East Anglian Ministerial Training Course: he was ordained in the Church of England as a deacon in 1990 and as a priest in 1991. For many years, he led the Sunday service in his local village near Cambridge. He was a senior lecturer at Cambridge until 1998, then reader in education and bioethics until 2000. From 2003, he was chief executive of the Science Learning Centre in London. From 2006 to 2008, he was director of education at the Royal Society, a position he resigned on 16 September 2008, following protests about his views on tackling creationism when teaching evolution in schools, which the Royal Society said were "open to misinterpretation". Reiss works in the fields of science education, bioethics, and sex education. He has a special interest in the ethical implications of genetic engineering. He was formerly head of the School of Mathematics, Science, and Technology at the Institute of Education, University College London. In science education, he currently directs projects funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families, including a longitudinal, ethnographic study of pupils' learning, currently in its eleventh year. Reiss is a frequent consultant to the Royal Society, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, the Training and Development Agency for Schools (formerly known as the Teacher Training Agency or the TTA) and other organisations. He serves on the editorial board of the International Journal of Science Education. He was a specialist adviser to the House of Lords Select Committee on Animals in Scientific Procedures, 2001–02, and is a member of the Farm Animal Welfare Council. As early as November 2006, Reiss suggested that, rather than dismissing creationism as a "misconception," teachers should take the time to explain why creationism had no scientific basis. In September 2008, his views were presented in some media reports as lending support to teaching creationism as a legitimate point of view; however both he and the Royal Society later stated that this was a misrepresentation. Reiss stressed that the topic should not be taught as science, but rather should be construed as a cultural "Worldview." Reiss argued that it was more effective to engage with pupils' ideas about creationism, rather than to obstruct discussion with those who do not accept the scientific version of the evolution of species. In July 2009, he led a number of the UK's most senior scientists in writing to the Schools Secretary Ed Balls to complain that Ofsted's proposed new curriculum for primary schools did not mention evolution. In 2010 Reiss debated Michael Behe on the topic of Intelligent Design. In 2022, he was elected a member of the Academia Europaea.

References

External links https://web.archive.org/web/20170523121822/http://reiss.tc/ Institute of Education web page Prof Michael Reiss at IRIS UCL

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Michael Reiss

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Michael Reiss claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Michael Reiss before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Michael Reiss ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Michael Reiss

In research: Michael Reiss appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Michael Reiss in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Michael Reiss is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1960 births, 20th-century British biologists, 20th-century English Anglican priests, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Michael Reiss outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Michael Reiss in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Michael Reiss means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Michael Reiss out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Michael Reiss in simple terms?

Michael J. Reiss (born 1960) is a British bioethicist, educator, journalist, and Anglican priest.

Why does Michael Reiss matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Michael Reiss?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Michael Reiss.