Training final year students in data presentation skills with an iterative report-feedback cycle

Although practical laboratory activities are often considered the linchpin of science education, asking students to produce many large practical reports can be problematic Practical reports require diverse skills, and therefore do not focus the students’ attention on any one skill. They are also time-consuming to write and mark, limiting the speed at which feedback can be returned. To refocus students specifically on the skills of data presentation and interpretation I asked the students to produce a results figure, as would be found in a journal article, one for each of four practical topics. The students found this a challenge, but their skills improved markedly over the semester due to an efficient feedback cycle. Students were very engaged with this assessment, as it caused them to re-consider what they understood about the results of the practical. As this assessment is a small focused version of a practical report, it allows faster marking and return of practicals, and reduces the proportion of marks allocated to practicals, allowing more marks to be allocated to other components of the unit/class such as exams. This is therefore a successful method of focusing students’ attention on presenting and interpreting practical results, in an efficient and cost-effective manner

An efficient formative/summative feedback cycle to enhance skills in presentation of practical results

The presentation and interpretation of results generated during laboratory classes are key skills for undergraduate science students. However, growing class sizes, time constraints and shrinking budgets have made it increasingly difficult to provide a meaningful formative cycle for the writing and marking of large practical reports with sufficient feedback to improve these skills for subsequent reports. I have tackled this problem in a third year Bachelor of Science genetics unit, by re-designing four practical reports into four condensed reports focusing on presentation and interpretation. The reports require 1) answers to analysis questions (to guide interpretation), and 2) a formal ‘results figure’. This results figure comprises a) figure panels with appropriate labels, b) figure legend and c) written results. This isolates the task of presenting and interpreting results, normally just one section of a formal practical report, enabling it to be marked (with feedback) fast enough to allow an iterative submission-feedback cycle. This focuses the students on improving their practical presentation and interpretation skills, and analysis demonstrates that this formative cycle not only allowed students to improve their skills, but also enabled them to be as engaged as they would be with the full practical reports in similar units

Achieving genuine critical engagement of third year students with the scientific literature.

Most universities include a statement in their graduate attributes that their University prepares its graduates to be something like ‘critical and creative scholars’. As part of a Bachelor of Science, students learn to read and analyse the scientific literature by completing assessment tasks such as literature reviews, essays and practical reports. However, throughout their degree, students need to make a transition from a surface, non-critical, view of the literature in which they rely on the author’s conclusions towards a deeper approach in which they interpret and critique the results. I aim to develop a teaching framework in which third year students are specifically trained in two key skills: 1) critical reading of the scientific literature 2) genuine interpretation of practical class results

Uptake of Optional Activities Leads to Improved Performance in a Biomedical Sciences Class

Students value optional (non-assessed) learning activities as they can use them to achieve their intended grade. Such additional activities can also be useful to cater for different levels of background knowledge and therefore to equalise the students’ opportunity to succeed. This study examines the implementation of two optional activities, one online and one paper-based. The activities complemented the lectures and practical (laboratory) classes and were designed to give students additional practice with the key concepts. It was predominantly the most ambitious students who engaged with the activities. Those students who engaged with the activities achieved a higher mark relative to their mark in a comparable prerequisite class. The students strongly preferred the paper activities, and although they would like both online and paper options to be available, they would not be willing to pay a small fee for the online activity

Exploring the current teaching and assessment practices of Australian Biochemistry and Molecular Biology academics

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology classes in Australia are usually held with large class sizes. Hence, some academics have started to innovate, explore and find novel ways to teach effectively in industrial-sized classes. However, it needs to be considered that most teaching and assessment practices being utilised by academics at present have not been formally evaluated for their effectiveness in their specific contexts or they might have been evaluated, but then the evaluation was not published. In addition, due to contextual constraints, simply transplanting some of these teaching and assessment practices from one university to another is not always possible without a study suggesting that they can be useful in a particular context. Therefore, this qualitative case study identifies current teaching and assessment practices by interviewing, observing and collecting documents utilised by Australian academics teaching in this field. The interview guide was prepared based on two established frameworks: the Productive Pedagogy (PP) and the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK). The classroom observation guides are adapted and are anchored on the two frameworks as well. Interviews were transcribed and coded thematically. Five general themes emerged from the data analyses on the teaching and assessment practices of Australian Biochemistry and Molecular Biology academics: (1) They consider themselves to be traditional teachers; (2) They collaborate with their colleagues to design the course curriculum; (3) They adapt the curriculum to suit student’s background; (4) They are trying to shift their teaching from traditional to non-traditional; and (5) They practice reflective teaching. For each theme, two subthemes were identified and were classified as to pedagogical practice or assessment practice. In future studies, teaching and assessment practices that can be utilised or converted to a teaching strategy promoting conceptual change in a large class cohort will be identified by sending out free-response survey to academics across Australia

A role for planar cell polarity during early endoderm morphogenesis

The zebrafish endoderm begins to develop at gastrulation stages as a monolayer of cells. The behaviour of the endoderm during gastrulation stages is well understood. However, knowledge of the morphogenic movements of the endoderm during somitogenesis stages, as it forms a mesenchymal rod, is lacking. Here we characterise endodermal development during somitogenesis stages, and describe the morphogenic movements as the endoderm transitions from a monolayer of cells into a mesenchymal endodermal rod. We demonstrate that, unlike the overlying mesoderm, endodermal cells are not polarised during their migration to the midline at early somitogenesis stages. Specifically, we describe the stage at which endodermal cells begin to leave the monolayer, a process we have termed ‘midline aggregation’. The planar cell polarity (PCP) signalling pathway is known to regulate mesodermal and ectodermal cell convergence towards the dorsal midline. However, a role for PCP signalling in endoderm migration to the midline during somitogenesis stages has not been established. In this report, we investigate the role for PCP signalling in multiple phases of endoderm development during somitogenesis stages. Our data exclude involvement of PCP signalling in endodermal cells as they leave the monolayer.The work was supported by a project grant from the National Health and Medical Research Council (491087) to H.V

The Spinster Homolog, Two of Hearts, Is Required for Sphingosine 1-Phosphate Signaling in Zebrafish

SummaryThe bioactive lipid sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) and its G protein-coupled receptors play critical roles in cardiovascular, immunological, and neural development and function [1–6]. Despite its importance, many questions remain about S1P signaling, including how S1P, which is synthesized intracellularly, is released from cells. Mutations in the zebrafish gene encoding the S1P receptor Miles Apart (Mil)/S1P2 disrupt the formation of the primitive heart tube [5]. We find that mutations of another zebrafish locus, two of hearts (toh), cause phenotypes that are morphologically indistinguishable from those seen in mil/s1p2 mutants. Positional cloning of toh reveals that it encodes a member of the Spinster-like family of putative transmembrane transporters. The biological functions of these proteins are poorly understood, although phenotypes of the Drosophila spinster and zebrafish not really started mutants suggest that these proteins may play a role in lipid trafficking [7, 8]. Through gain- and loss-of-function analyses, we show that toh is required for signaling by S1P2. Further evidence indicates that Toh is involved in the trafficking or cellular release of S1P

Regulation of neurocoel morphogenesis by Pard6γb

AbstractThe Par3/Par6/aPKC protein complex plays a key role in the establishment and maintenance of apicobasal polarity, a cellular characteristic essential for tissue and organ morphogenesis, differentiation and homeostasis. During a forward genetic screen for liver and pancreas mutants, we identified a pard6γb mutant, representing the first known pard6 mutant in a vertebrate organism. pard6γb mutants exhibit defects in epithelial tissue development as well as multiple lumens in the neural tube. Analyses of the cells lining the neural tube cavity, or neurocoel, in wildtype and pard6γb mutant embryos show that lack of Pard6γb function leads to defects in mitotic spindle orientation during neurulation. We also found that the PB1 (aPKC-binding) and CRIB (Cdc-42-binding) domains and the KPLG amino acid sequence within the PDZ domain (Pals1-and Crumbs binding) are not required for Pard6γb localization but are essential for its function in neurocoel morphogenesis. Apical membranes are reduced, but not completely absent, in mutants lacking the zygotic, or both the maternal and zygotic, function of pard6γb, leading us to examine the localization and function of the three additional zebrafish Pard6 proteins. We found that Pard6α, but not Pard6β or Pard6γa, could partially rescue the pard6γbs441 mutant phenotypes. Altogether, these data indicate a previously unappreciated functional diversity and complexity within the vertebrate pard6 gene family

Autophagy Induction Is a Tor- and Tp53-Independent Cell Survival Response in a Zebrafish Model of Disrupted Ribosome Biogenesis

Ribosome biogenesis underpins cell growth and division. Disruptions in ribosome biogenesis and translation initiation are deleterious to development and underlie a spectrum of diseases known collectively as ribosomopathies. Here, we describe a novel zebrafish mutant, titania (tti(s450)), which harbours a recessive lethal mutation in pwp2h, a gene encoding a protein component of the small subunit processome. The biochemical impacts of this lesion are decreased production of mature 18S rRNA molecules, activation of Tp53, and impaired ribosome biogenesis. In tti(s450), the growth of the endodermal organs, eyes, brain, and craniofacial structures is severely arrested and autophagy is up-regulated, allowing intestinal epithelial cells to evade cell death. Inhibiting autophagy in tti(s450) larvae markedly reduces their lifespan. Somewhat surprisingly, autophagy induction in tti(s450) larvae is independent of the state of the Tor pathway and proceeds unabated in Tp53-mutant larvae. These data demonstrate that autophagy is a survival mechanism invoked in response to ribosomal stress. This response may be of relevance to therapeutic strategies aimed at killing cancer cells by targeting ribosome biogenesis. In certain contexts, these treatments may promote autophagy and contribute to cancer cells evading cell death.This research was funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia through Project grant 433614 (JKH), Program grant 487922 (JKH), a Senior Research Fellowship (JKH), and a Howard Florey Centenary Fellowship (HV). Operational Infrastructure Support was provided by the Victorian Government, Australia. Additional support was from Australian Research Council grant DP0346823 (GJL); NIH grant DK060322 (DYRS); and CDMRP, Department of Defense, USA W81XWH-10-1-0854 (KCE)

Student acceptance and application of peer assessment in a final year genetics undergraduate oral presentation

Undergraduate students benefit from observation of each other’s oral presentations through both exposure to content and observation of presentation style. In order to increase the engagement and reflection of final year students in an oral presentation task, a peer assessment component was introduced using a rubric that emphasised scientific skills over presentation quality. This study investigated the effect of peer assessment on students’ reported motivation and reflection, and their level of acceptance of peer evaluation of an oral presentation. As a result of peer assessment, students reported being more engaged, feeling a sense of responsibility, and many felt that they reflected more on their own talk. Students considered presentation style over scientific quality and demonstrated a strong reticence to award low marks. The impact on the final marks was mitigated by using a 20% weighting on the peer assessment, a level that the majority of students considered acceptable. This analysis suggests that peer assessment can achieve the intended learning outcomes. This paper provides a suggested process for using peer assessment in oral presentations with a strong science component and discusses approaches to examine and mitigate the observed student reticence to award low marks