When science meets the real world in 2017: Exploring the ethical dimension in our classrooms

The students in our classes today are part of a rapidly changing world, surrounded by mixed messages and “alternate facts”, and ethical aspects of our choices in science can be difficult to navigate. In the world into which they will move and work, our students will be faced with increasingly complex decisions that challenge their thinking from an ethical dimension. In 2013 we surveyed those working in the geosciences to determine: (1) whether there were ethically problematic aspects within their day-to-day working environment as scientists; (2) if so, what these might be; and (3) whether they believed there was a need to incorporate more education around ethics in their undergraduate science world. The results of this survey indicated that we can no longer teach science simply as a set of facts, skills and concepts: we must adapt our courses to include the ethical considerations. This has led us to develop ways to explicitly incorporate the ethical dimension into our teaching in environmentally-related courses, geoscience courses, and in a leadership in science course. A follow-up study on the impact of explicitly introducing the ethical aspect into the curriculum even at the first year level, indicates that not only do students respond positively to incorporating this dimension, they also broaden their perspective, develop their ethical decision making, and come to appreciate the complexity of their science. We present our findings, and through a sharing of case studies and ethical decision-making approaches, we offer suggestions for best practices in making the ethical explicit within the curriculum, and within our classroom time constraints

Geoheritage 3. Attracting Students to the Earth Sciences: An Example of Individual and Collective Outreach Efforts by Industry, Academia and Secondary Education

Too few Canadian high-school students are pursuing post-secondary studies and career opportunities in the earth sciences. Given Canada’s wealth of renewable and non-renewable resources and their importance to society, it is imperative that students become literate in the earth sciences, and that they are encouraged to pursue career opportunities in the many fields that constitute the earth sciences. To achieve these goals, a number of out-reach efforts by members of industry, academia and secondary education have been initiated. We outline here an example of our own collaboration in one such program directed not only at students, but also at primary and secondary teachers, university faculty, industry representatives and government officials. Our program has achieved significant results, and so will continue. Others interested in increasing the profile of the earth sciences are encouraged to explore such new out-reach approaches. SOMMAIRE Trop peu d’élèves des écoles secondaires au Canada poursuivent des études en sciences de la Terre et choisissent d’y faire carrière. Étant donné la richesse du Canada en ressources renouvelables et non-renouvelables et leurs importances pour le bien commun, il est absolument essentiel que les élèves acquièrent des connaissances de base en sciences de la Terre et soit encourager à embrasser des carrières dans l’une des nombreuses spécialités du champ des sciences de la Terre. Pour y arriver, un certain nombre d’initiatives de sensibilisation ont été lancées par des membres du secteur industriel, du monde universitaire, et de l’éducation secondaire. Nous décrivons brièvement ci-dessous notre collaboration dans le cadre d’un programme du genre visant non seulement les élèves, mais aussi les enseignants des écoles primaires et secondaires, les membres du corps professoral des universités, les représentants du secteur industriel et ceux des gouvernements. Notre programme a connu des succès importants, et donc il sera maintenu. Nous incitons toute personne intéressée à promouvoir l’image des sciences de la Terre à considérer de telles approches nouvelles

Serial team teaching and the evolving scholarship of learning: Students’ perspective

Faculty and students at the University of Toronto were surveyed and interviewed to form a case study of serial team teaching, in which multiple instructors take turns teaching a segment of the same course in sequence. Student opinions ranged from slightly opposed to slightly in favour of team teaching overall. When asked about specific aspects of team teaching, students who liked it overall tended to like all aspects of it, and did not identify those disadvantages in student experience anticipated by the faculty. In general, students in upper years were less supportive of team teaching than were students in their first and second years

Folio/Poster Project

Course Code, Name, Level and Enrollment: ESS261H1, Earth System Evolution, second-year undergraduate, between 45 - 99 students.Learning Outcomes: recognize key fossils and explain what these fossils tell us about paleo-environments; discuss key concepts of the fossil record; contrast past ecological environments; convey information multimodally (in writing and via annotated sketches).Other Notes: attached files include an academic integrity checklist created by Lisa Tutty.Notes from the course instructor: In previous years, students were asked to print hardcopy 60 x 90 cm posters. Many students did not pick up their posters after grading so now students produce and submit an electronic version only. This electronic poster can be displayed in our main Earth Sciences classroom, a room with several large screens to which separate laptops can be connected. A similar assignment has been used in ESS105 (a distribution course for humanities and social science concentrators) in which students are asked to combine scientific and ethical aspects of a geoscience issue into a poster project. In this course, students are provided with web links (at least one on the scientific angle and one on an ethic angle) and then need to find additional information. Detailed rubrics are provided in order to specify how projects will be assessed.This assignment allows students to engage deeply with a course-related topic by reviewing a recent primary peer-reviewed article and a linked secondary newspaper story. The output of the assignment, a small poster or folio, focuses on written summary but also requires visual representation of key ideas. To encourage discussion, students are able to prepare the poster in pairs. During a class session, students/pairs present an "elevator talk" with their folio projected in front of the class in order to share their findings

31. Real Problems, Real Research, Real Students: Authentic Research with Undergraduates as a Win-Win-Win Collaboration

Authentic research, in which students pose original questions and attempt to find the unknown answers, addresses principles of undergraduate education in an ideal way. With careful planning and reasoned considerations it will benefit students, faculty, and institutions

Interplay between androgen and CXCR4 chemokine signaling in myelin repair

Abstract In men, reduced levels of testosterone are associated with the prevalence and progression of multiple sclerosis (MS), a chronic and disabling demyelinating disorder. Testosterone has been shown to promote myelin repair. Here, we demonstrate that the cooperation between testosterone and CXCR4 signaling involving astrocytes is required for myelin regeneration after focal demyelination produced in the ventral mouse spinal cord by the infusion of lysolecithin. The testosterone-dependent remyelination of axons by oligodendrocytes was accompanied by an increase in astrocytes expressing CXCR4, its ligand CXCL12 and the androgen receptor (AR) within the demyelinated area. Depriving males of their testosterone or pharmacological inhibition of CXCR4, with the selective antagonist AMD3100, prevented the appearance of astrocytes expressing CXCR4, CXCL12 and AR within the demyelinated area and the concomitant recruitment of myelin forming oligodendrocytes. Conditional genetic ablation of either CXCR4 or AR in astrocytes also completely blocked the formation of new myelin by oligodendrocytes. Interestingly, the gain of function mutation in CXCR4 causing WHIM syndrome allows remyelination to take place, even in the absence of testosterone, but its potentiating effects remained observable. After testosterone deprivation or CXCR4 inhibition, the absence of astrocytes within the demyelinated area led to the incursion of Schwann cells, most likely derived from spinal nerves, and the formation of peripheral nerve type myelin. In patients with progressive MS, astrocytes expressing CXCR4 and AR surrounded myelin lesions, and their presence opposed the incursion of Schwann cells. These results highlight a mechanism of promyelinating testosterone signaling and the importance of normalizing its levels in combined myelin repair therapies

What’s all the clicking about? A study of Classroom Response System use at the University of Toronto

We examined the use of classroom response systems (clickers) in various lecturebased courses at the University of Toronto (U of T). Over 30 U of T instructors were interviewed about their use of clickers in classes with a total enrolment of over 5,000 students. Students in these classes were also surveyed about their perception of the value of this technology. The objectives of our study were to evaluate the logistics of using clickers, the pedagogical value and associated teaching strategies, and students’ perception of its efficacy in their learning. We discuss some of the successes and failures of using clickers as a teaching and learning tool

5. Serial Team Teaching and the Evolving Scholarship of Learning: Students’ Perspective

Faculty and students at the University of Toronto were surveyed and interviewed to form a case study of serial team teaching, in which multiple instructors take turns teaching a segment of the same course in sequence. Student opinions ranged from slightly opposed to slightly in favour of team teaching overall. When asked about specific aspects of team teaching, students who liked it overall tended to like all aspects of it, and did not identify those disadvantages in student experience anticipated by the faculty. In general, students in upper years were less supportive of team teaching than were students in their first and second years