Did Cryptic Invasion of North America by Common Reed Change Exposure to Pollen Allergens?

Common reed, Phragmites australis (reed), is a very tall grass that spread greatly to occupy large areas near many eastern North American cities over the past century. Its aerially dispersed pollen is known to incite allergic reactions, and possibly asthma, in some persons, but is not distinguished from that of any other grass in routine pollen monitoring. We hypothesize that this regional expansion by reed has increased late-season exposure to grass-pollen allergens in parts of these metropolitan areas. The information available indicates that reed's geographic location, high abundance, small pollen size, release of pollen relatively far above ground, substantial pollen productivity, pollen allergen composition, and late season of pollen release all point to its potential importance for a large number of persons whose health may be degraded by grass pollen. If the other common late-flowering grasses in the same area have larger pollen grains, it may be possible to visually distinguish reed pollen captured by monitoring devices. If not, ratios of stable isotopes of carbon in the pollen may permit differentiation. Otherwise, analytical techniques based on molecular differences need further development in order to estimate local population exposure to allergens from reed. Some 90 million North Americans may live close enough to large tracts of reed to be exposed to substantial concentrations of its pollen, so much more attention to this situation seems warranted. If reed pollen were found to be a health hazard for a particular metropolitan area, removal of the pollen sources may be more feasible than is the case for many other species

Anatomy of STEM Teaching in American Universities: A Snapshot from a Large-Scale Observation Study

National and local initiatives focused on the transformation of STEM teaching in higher education have multiplied over the last decade. These initiatives often focus on measuring change in instructional practices, but it is difficult to monitor such change without a national picture of STEM educational practices, especially as characterized by common observational instruments. We characterized a snapshot of this landscape by conducting the first large scale observation-based study. We found that lecturing was prominent throughout the undergraduate STEM curriculum, even in classrooms with infrastructure designed to support active learning, indicating that further work is required to reform STEM education. Additionally, we established that STEM faculty’s instructional practices can vary substantially within a course, invalidating the commonly-used teaching evaluations based on a one-time observation

Assessing student learning following course revision

At UBC, our first-year inquiry-based biology lab ‘Investigations in the Life Sciences’ has been undergoing renewal. As part of this process, the course has become more focused on experimental design, data interpretation and scientific writing. We have designed new resources to support the large numbers of students in this course (n=1500) as they develop, implement and report on their research question. To assess the impact of these changes on students, we employed student surveys and focus groups. In addition to this, we used concept questions to monitor student learning both pre- and post-renewal, and to identify concepts that students have difficulty with. Here we share the findings from our renewal monitoring thus far. As part of this renewal process, we have reflected on which concepts and elements of basic experimental design and analysis are critical for students to experience in a first year lab course. We will seek input from audience members regarding their experience and opinions on this matter. Participants in this session will be able to critically discuss and prioritize learning outcomes for a first-year inquiry-based lab course. They will also be able to propose means of assessing student learning, following course renewal, and contribute to a discussion on interpretation of assessment data

The impetus for course renewal – responding to student feedback

As science educators, we are often reminded of the importance of being reflective practitioners, and the importance of seeking and responding to feedback from students. With this in mind, we embarked on the renewal of a long-established first year biology lab course in response to negative feedback from students via standard end-of-term surveys. We first surveyed past students more extensively about their experience in the course, their suggestions for improvement, and what elements of the course they found useful. We then incorporated student feedback into the renewal where their suggestions were appropriate and commensurate with our intentions. Three major areas emerged for consideration: the high workload for a 2-credit course, the clarity of assessment expectations, and the authenticity of the research experience. As part of the renewal we refined workload requirements by removing activities that did not directly support our objectives. We clarified assessment requirements and also introduced grading rubrics. Finally, through various activities, we increased the visibility of the parallels between student research and real research taking place at the university. We additionally provided more scaffolding in areas students requested and found beneficial, and monitored student learning to ensure this was not adversely affected as a result of the renewal. Post-renewal feedback from students regarding their experience with the course is greatly improved. Through the example of our renewal process, poster attendees will (1) learn the value of a mixed-method assessment strategy in evaluating curriculum change and (2) gain an appreciation of the importance of considering student feedback when engaging in course renewal

Insights and contradictions from student surveys in a 1st year biology lab course

We implemented several active learning strategies in a first-year laboratory biology course across a 4 year period and assessed effectiveness and student satisfaction. These changes included self-inquiry for experiments, interactive discussions in class, guided videos, group work, and field work. Through quantitative and open-ended survey questions, we assessed students’ overall satisfaction, student workload, and how student learning could further be supported. We analyzed online course surveys and focus groups from students in a 100 level biology laboratory course across 7 semesters from September 2015 through to April 2018. Field work and hands-on experiments were rated as the most liked activities across all semesters. Results indicate that students viewed statistics, data analysis, and writing as most useful in future studies, but these were also described as activities that students liked least overall and wanted more learning support on. Results also showed that both current students in 2015-2018 and alumni of the course have a strong perception that the course workload is too high for a 2-credit course. In contrast, self-reported mean hours worked per week outside of class was 3.5 hours, and 92% of all students reported spending less than 6 hours per week outside of class on this course. There is a clear disconnect between student workload perception and actual workload that merits further investigation. Applications across other disciplines include methods of standardization and analysis of open-ended survey questions in a large enrollment course and exploration of workload perception verses actual workload

Cockroaches that exchange respiratory gases discontinuously survive food and water restriction

Natalie G. Schimpf, Philip G. D. Matthews, and Craig R. Whit

Standard metabolic rate is associated with gestation duration, but not clutch size, in speckled cockroaches Nauphoeta cinerea

Metabolic rate varies significantly between individuals, and these differences persist even when the wide range of biotic and abiotic factors that influence metabolism are accounted for. It is important to understand the life history implications of variation in metabolic rate, but they remain poorly characterised despite a growing body of work examining relationships between metabolism and a range of traits. In the present study we used laboratory-bred families (one sire to three dams) of Nauphoeta cinerea (Olivier) (speckled cockroaches) to examine the relationship between standard metabolic rate (SMR) and reproductive performance (number of offspring and gestation duration). We show that SMR is negatively associated with female gestation duration. Age at mating is negatively associated with gestation duration for females, and mass is negatively associated with the average gestation duration of the females a male was mated with. In addition to the results in the current literature, the results from the present study suggest that the association between metabolism and life history is more complex than simple relationships between metabolism and various fitness traits. Future work should consider longitudinal, ontogenetic as well as selective and quantitative genetic breeding approaches to fully examine the associations between metabolism and fitness

Dryad Data Archiving Natalie Schimpf Evolution

All data collected in the laboratory and worked in Excel