Independent field-based projects in behavioural ecology for ‘deep learning’

A project is currently being conducted which aims to assess student’s learning experiences of an independent field-based activity in a third year course offering in Ecology at the University of Newcastle. Students as part of the course are required to carry out independent fieldwork on an animal species of their choice documenting the subject’s behavioural repertoire and subsequently creating and testing hypotheses about the behaviours observed. The activity has been designed based on Ramsden’s (1992) principles of a student-centred approach to learning which aims to create a learning context which fosters a ‘deep-approach’ to learning. A deep approach is characterised by an intention to understand, focussing on the concepts applicable to solving problems (hypothesis testing), relating previous knowledge to new knowledge and has an internal or intrinsic motivational emphasis. Deep approaches empower students to take an active and independent role in their own learning experiences. Preliminary results of student feedback via a questionnaire and a series of open ended written responses will be assessed examining the success of the activity in terms engendering independence and internal motivation, encouraging problem solving skills and thus fostering a deep approach to student learning

Encouraging students to ‘think as biologists’: independent field-based projects and peer assessment as a deep learning strategy

Based on criteria of contextual factors that encourage a deep approach to learning, an independent field-based activity for students of behavioural ecology was created. The project was designed in such a way as to allow responsible choice in the method and content (animal species) of study, involved posing questions and problem solving, and modelled the process of conducting and publishing the results of research. Results from collection of quantitative data on students’ perceptions suggested that the learning context created through the activity encouraged problem solving, provided appropriate feedback, had clear aims and goals and was constructed in a fashion that allowed flexibility and responsible choice. Students’ perceptions of their orientation to learning were consistent with attributes of a deep-learning approach. Students agreed that the project encouraged learning for understanding, engagement, confidence and self-efficacy, and personal growth. To address the problems of obtaining insufficient feedback during the writing of a scientific manuscript based on the project, a peer assessment component was introduced modelling the scientific publication process. Providing feedback to peers helped students critically reflect and identify the important attributes of a paper suitable for publication. Receiving written feedback from peers also allowed reflection and modification of writing and the interpretation of findings

Towards inclusive teaching practice in science education in relation to gender and sexuality

In recent years, there has been recognition internationally of the value and importance of inclusive curriculum in tertiary teaching practice. Indeed, in the international literature there have been significant advances identifying what makes science education interesting, relevant, accessible and inclusive to all students, especially for women and those from culturally diverse backgrounds (Bianchini, Whitney, Breton, and Hilton-Brown 2002). Unfortunately, much of this work is not translated to current pedagogical practice in a tertiary science environment. The way in which concepts and activities are presented may marginalise or exclude particular students. Less thought and consideration has been afforded to those students who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered or intersex. Is the way we present and examine biology and the natural world sensitive to an individual’s identity? (Good, Haffner and Peebles 2000; Snyder and Broadway 2004). We provide a series of examples where current pedagogies in biology may exclude or marginalise students in terms of gender and sexuality and provide a framework of contextual factors which encourage all students to engage and excel in a supportive environment within the biological sciences

Decreased photosynthesis in the erect panicle 3 (ep3) mutant of rice is associated with reduced stomatal conductance and attenuated guard cell development

The ERECT PANICLE 3 gene of rice encodes a peptide that exhibits more than 50% sequence identity with the Arabidopsis F-box protein HAWAIIAN SKIRT (HWS). Ectopic expression of the Os02g15950 coding sequence, driven by the HWS (At3g61950) promoter, rescued the hws-1 flower phenotype in Arabidopsis confirming that EP3 is a functional orthologue of HWS. In addition to displaying an erect inflorescence phenotype, loss-of-function mutants of Os02g15950 exhibited a decrease in leaf photosynthetic capacity and stomatal conductance. Analysis of a range of physiological and anatomical features related to leaf photosynthesis revealed no alteration in Rubisco content and no notable changes in mesophyll size or arrangement. However, both ep3 mutant plants and transgenic lines that have a T-DNA insertion within the Os02g15950 (EP3) gene exhibit smaller stomatal guard cells compared with their wild-type controls. This anatomical characteristic may account for the observed decrease in leaf photosynthesis and provides evidence that EP3 plays a role in regulating stomatal guard cell development

An assessment of wildlife tourism prospects in Papua New Guinea

This paper examines wildlife tourism in Papua New Guinea (PNG) from both a demand and supply perspective. PNG, a developing nation, situated just north of Australia, is located in a ‘biodiversity hotspot’ and its wildlife comprises a large number of species or groups of species, including many which are endemic to the nation, that would appear, on face value, to be highly attractive to tourists. An assessment is made of the wildlife tourism prospects for PNG based on the sustainable use of wildlife concept. Analysis of characteristics relating to ‘wildlife tourism value’ of selected animal groups suggests that the best prospects for wildlife tourism lie with birds, marine wildlife and, perhaps, some terrestrial invertebrates. The paper also examines the potential impacts that wildlife threatening processes such as hunting, loss of wildlife habitat and, in particular, global climate change, could have on the future of wildlife tourism in PNG

Mardi Gras and the construction of Sydney as an international gay and lesbian city

The recent emergence of Sydney as the “gay capital of the South Pacific” and as an important destination in the itineraries of lesbian and gay tourists has been closely tied to the growth and development of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras and to the concomitant expansion and rapid diversification of the Australian gay and lesbian tourism industry, especially since the early 1990s. Beginning as an evening street parade following a day of political protest in 1978—a local commemoration of the New York Stonewall riots at a time when male homosexual acts were illegal in New South Wales—and ending that day in a civil riot with at least fifty-three arrests, Mardi Gras has grown into a three-week international cultural festival that was estimated to have generated some AU$99 million (U.S.$55 million) in 1998 and that seems to attract more tourists to the nation than any other special event, as well as garnering the support of various corporate and government sponsors. This essay examines the contribution that Mardi Gras has made to the construction of Sydney as a world-class gay and lesbian city, a city that has changed from an industrial port to a cosmopolitan, global capital increasingly dependent, for the last two to three decades, on an economy driven by consumption and leisure. In particular, I will focus on the tensions that result from the competing demands placed on Mardi Gras by the needs and desires of its diverse gay and lesbian constituency and from the demands of global capital exercised through the gay and lesbian tourism industry. I will also show that Sydney’s treatment of its gay and lesbian citizens has been and continues to be deeply contradictory. Mardi Gras itself is a site where some of these contradictions are played out