Using In-Class Learning Activities to Promote Integration Strategy Use

Students preparing for health science careers must develop a deep understanding regarding how biological systems work together to maintain homeostasis in the body. In their undergraduate coursework, these students must read and integrate content learned across multiple physiological systems in order to acquire this deep level of understanding and adequately prepare them for their careers. However, students often struggle with integrating course content, as systems are often taught in isolation. The present study explores how students’ self-reported integration strategies and their enacted integration capabilities are associated with end-of-semester biology knowledge. Participants (n = 213) completed a survey at the beginning of the semester measuring self-reported integration strategy use (pre), participated in four in-class learning activities (ILAs) as part of their course, and completed a survey at the end of the semester measuring integration capability (post). In order to gather a more detailed understanding of how participants engaged in the ILAs, a sample of participants (n = 5) with high and low integration strategy use scores were invited to participate in an interview after the end of the semester. Their responses to the ILAs were also coded to explore the degree to which they exhibited cross-system integration during the ILAs. Findings revealed that after accounting for prior knowledge, students’ integration capability mediated the relationship between self-reported integration strategy use and both course grade and exam score. Students exhibited modest levels of integration across all four ILAs with some questions eliciting more integration than others. In the interviews, students noted completing ILAs independently, without collaborating with peers or seeking guidance from the instructor. They predominantly used class slides/notes and Google as resources to identify the answers to the questions, and they reported using strategies such as summarizing or elaborating as they completed them. Some students said the ILAs were helpful study aids for exams, but one noted a preference for lecture. The key contribution of this study is that it offers evidence of the association between self-reported integration strategy use, integration capability, and two measures of biology knowledge (e.g., exam/grade) for a diverse sample (~50% white) of student participants engaged in an authentic learning experience. Future research will explore how these ILAs can be revised and refined to bolster integration further for all students (e.g., by promoting collaboration). In addition, coding will be expanded to examine responses to the ILAs in full sample as well as other courses. Finally, as a result of the impact of COVID-19 on transitioning in person courses to online, future research will also explore students’ completion of the ILAs in online, small-group discussions. Cite as: Firetto, C. M., Hyatt, J.-P. K., Kingsbury, J., & Penkrot, T. A. (2020, August 6-8). Using in-class learning activities to promote integration strategy use. Presented at the annual convention of the American Psychological Association, Washington, DC. DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/K2DH

Multivariate modeling of glacimarine lithostratigraphy combining scanning XRF, multisensory core properties, and CT imagery: IODP Site U1419

Marine sediments preserve archives of glacier behavior from many proxies, with lithofacies analysis providing direct evidence of glacial extent and dynamics. Many of these lithofacies have corresponding physical and geochemical properties that may be identified through quantitative, nondestructive logging properties. This study applies supervised and unsupervised classification to downcore logging data to attempt to model temperate glacimarine facies, which are independently identified via visual lithofacies analysis based on core photographs, digital X-radiography, and computed tomography scans. We test the limits of these methods by modeling both broad glacial and interglacial and small-scale variations in Late Pleistocene (<60,000 yr) glacier extent leading into the Holocene deglaciation for a temperate ice stream at Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Site U1419 in the Gulf of Alaska. Multi-meter–scale mud and diamict lithofacies interpreted as non-glacial versus glacial conditions can be modeled with both methods using downcore physical property logging data (b* color reflectance, magnetic susceptibility, and natural gamma-ray activity) augmented with scanning X-ray fluorescence (XRF) elemental abundance (Ca, Zr, Si, K, Rb, and Al). Physical properties are most useful for delineating decimeter-meter–scale variations in composition and clay content, whereas scanning XRF elements best capture differences in sand versus clay content and composition at decimeter-centimeter scales. Neither classification technique can model the observed small-scale variations in diamict facies using elemental abundance from higher-resolution scanning XRF or from physical properties. Comparison of unsupervised cluster model results with observed lithofacies allows for identification of three different glacial conditions at Site U1419—ice-proximal, fluctuating, and retreating. For small-scale variations in glacial extent, cluster model results are best used as complementary data to image-based lithofacies identification rather than as a replacement

Exploring supports or incentives to promote undergraduate students’ use of cooperative study groups

Collaborative study groups provide crucial learning opportunities for undergraduate students in STEM learning contexts. In this paper, we use a concurrent, nested mixed method design toward two primary aims: (a) to examine whether an instructional module about study groups could increase undergraduate students’ use of study groups and (b) to identify supports or incentives that could be used in future research to better encourage students’ use of study groups. Participating undergraduate students (n = 220), who were enrolled in an introductory anatomy and physiology course, were randomly assigned to an instructional module, either about the use of collaborative study groups (i.e., treatment condition) or about how to study effectively on their own (i.e., independent studying comparison condition). All students reported the extent to which they studied collaboratively before and after completing the randomly assigned module (i.e., at pretest and posttest). At the end of the study, students responded to an open-ended prompt asking what could encourage them to use study groups. Quantitative analysis of pretest to posttest changes on the extent to which students reported using study groups revealed no statistically significant condition differences between the two instructional modules. Qualitative thematic analysis of students’ open-ended prompt responses revealed a set of seven themes that emerged from the data about the supports or incentives students wanted that could be leveraged to design future innovations to promote students’ use of collaborative study groups. Follow-up analyses were also conducted to delineate patterns across the supports or incentives requested and further guide recommendations for future research

Reconstructing oxygen deficiency in the glacial Gulf of Alaska: Combining biomarkers and trace metals as paleo-redox proxies

Marine anaerobic oxidation of ammonium (anammox) plays a central role in the nitrogen cycle of modern Oxygen Deficient Zones (ODZs). The newly developed bacteriohopanetetrol stereoisomer (BHT-x) biomarker for anammox, which is largely unaffected by early diagenesis, allows for the reconstruction of the presence and dynamics of past ODZs from the sedimentary record of continental margins. In this study, we investigate the development and dynamics of the ODZ in the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) between 60 and 15 cal ka BP using records of redox sensitive trace metals (TM) and the BHT-x anammox biomarker from IODP Site U1419 (~700 m water depth). The biomarker record indicates that the ODZ in the GOA was in concert with global climate fluctuations in the late Pleistocene. Anammox was more pronounced during warmer periods and diminished during cooler periods, as indicated by correlation with the δ18O signal obtained by the North Greenland Ice core Project (NGRIP). Trace metal enrichments, however, do not match the trend in BHT-x. Systematic metal enrichments in intervals where biomarkers point to more intense water column deoxygenation are not observed. We suggest that this proxy discrepancy was caused by environmental factors, other than water column redox conditions, with opposing effects on the TM and biomarker records. Two of the most widely used redox indicators, Mo and U, are not significantly enriched throughout the sediment record at Site U1419. Site U1419 experienced some of the highest sedimentation rates (100–1000 cm ka−1) ever reported for late Pleistocene continental margin sediments, leading to a continuous and rapid upward migration of the sediment-water interface. We suggest that despite water column and seafloor oxygen depletion, significant sedimentary enrichments of these redox sensitive trace metals were prevented by a limited time for their diffusion across the sediment-water interface and subsequent enrichment as authigenic phases. Thus, depositional conditions were ideal for biomarker preservation but prevented significant authigenic trace metal accumulations. Similar discrepancies between organic and inorganic redox proxies could exist in other high sedimentation rate environments, potentially putting constraints on paleo-redox interpretations in such settings if they are based on trace metal enrichments alone

West Antarctic Ice Sheet Dynamics in the Amundsen Sea Sector since the Late Miocene—Tying IODP Expedition 379 Results to Seismic Data

Observations of rapid ongoing grounding line retreat, ice shelf thinning and accelerated ice flow from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) may forebode a possible collapse if global temperatures continue to increase. Understanding and reconstructing West Antarctic Ice Sheet dynamics in past warmer-than-present times will inform about its behavior as an analogue for future climate scenarios. International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 379 visited the Amundsen Sea sector of Antarctica to obtain geological records suitable for this purpose. During the expedition, cores from two drill sites at the Resolution Drift on the continental rise returned sediments whose deposition was possibly influenced by West Antarctic Ice Sheet dynamics from late Miocene to Holocene times. To examine the West Antarctic Ice Sheet dynamics, shipboard physical properties and sedimentological data are correlated with seismic data and extrapolated across the Resolution Drift via core-log-seismic integration. An interval with strongly variable physical properties, high diatom abundance and ice-rafted debris occurrence, correlating with partially high amplitude seismic reflection characteristics was identified between 4.2 and 3.2 Ma. Sedimentation during this interval is interpreted as having occurred during an extended warm period with a dynamic West Antarctic Ice Sheet in the Amundsen Sea sector. These records compare to those of other drill sites in the Ross Sea and the Bellingshausen Sea, and thus suggest an almost simultaneous occurrence of extended warm periods in all three locations

Evidence for a Highly Dynamic West Antarctic Ice Sheet During the Pliocene

Major ice loss in the Amundsen Sea sector of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) is hypothesized to have triggered ice sheet collapses during past warm periods such as those in the Pliocene. International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 379 recovered continuous late Miocene to Holocene sediments from a sediment drift on the continental rise, allowing assessment of sedimentation processes in response to climate cycles and trends since the late Miocene. Via seismic correlation to the shelf, we interpret massive prograding sequences that extended the outer shelf by 80 km during the Pliocene through frequent advances of grounded ice. Buried grounding zone wedges indicate prolonged periods of ice-sheet retreat, or even collapse, during an extended mid-Pliocene warm period from ∼4.2– 3.2 Ma inferred from Expedition 379 records. These results indicate that the WAIS was highly dynamic during the Pliocene and major retreat events may have occurred along the Amundsen Sea margin