In addition to coding workshops, I have been a teaching assistant for numerous courses and labs as a graduate student, been a guest lecturer, and taught portions of summer science workshops.

Teaching assistantships

Spring 2020 PLS170C2, Biotechnology, Teaching assistantship

Online writing intensive course for ~150 undergraduate students. Graded homework, quizzes, discussions, and research papers (0.5 FTW).

Fall 2018 MIC 205L, Biology of Microorganisms Laboratory, Teaching assistantship

Taught twice weekly labs; graded labs and exams; Designed and wrote final practical exam (0.5 FTE)

Spring 2018 ACBS/PLS 312, Animal and Plant Genetics, Teaching assistantship

Taught weekly labs; graded homework and exams (0.25 FTE)

Fall 2017 PLS 170C1, Plants and our World, Teaching assistantship

Taught lecture on Evolution and Natural Selection (1.25 hrs) (0.25 FTE)

Guest lectures

Spring 2020 ACBS317, One Health

Fusarium Wilt of Banana (1 hr lecture, online activity)

Summer science workshops

2017 and 2019 Mentor, Fungal and Microbial Ecology, workshop on phyllosphere microbes. 10 hrs, 74 students (~ 74% STEM minorities, 55% female).

2015 - 2017 Mentor, BLAST, NSF-sponsored research and biotechnology laboratory experience for high school students. 52.5 hrs, 41 students to date (~85% STEM minorities, 73% female).

2015 Mentor and Presenter, Science and Nature in Tandem for Youth (SANITY), field experience for high school students. 9.5 hrs, 17 students (~ 65% STEM minorities, 71% female).

Ecology and evolutionary biology (EEB) courses are traditionally taught lecture-style including little interaction with the actual environment. This abstract manner of teaching makes it difficult for students to link theories and hypotheses to real life processes occurring in the world around them. While many students who participate in EEB courses do not keep this area as their main focus, public understanding of basic scientific principles is a long standing problem that has implications for both political and environmental policy. Addressing the issue of effective science communication should be started in science classrooms where students are already being taught about science. Within EEB, there is already a history linking the development of scientific hypothesis to active observation of nature. It is called natural history.

The importance of natural history, unfortunately, has decreased in frequency within science. It has been posited that this is due, in part, to the increase in prevalence of quantitative, experimental approaches which rely on reductionism to test known theories and hypotheses. This is commonly seen as a bottom-up approach. Natural history, however, encourages the observation of ecosystem and community level processes without the weight of testing any specific concept, a top-down approach. This allows for a) the development of new ideas and b) the linking of ecological and evolutionary processes with the world around us. Finely linked within the framework of natural history is both the quite observation of the natural world and the field notebook. I propose that incorporation of these two aspects of natural history into courses on ecology and evolution would heighten understanding of learned concepts and create a stronger sense of connection and responsibility with the natural world.

A study in which journal writing was implemented in nonmajor biology courses found that student understanding and acceptance of evolutionary concepts increased with increased personal reflection (Scharmann et al., 2015). As part of the students’ reflections, they included finding observations and inferences outside of class which connected to the evolutionary theory they were learning about in lecture. Another study of nature journaling in 6^th grade science classrooms found that with time journaling increased students’ knowledge about their environment and created better connections between classroom concepts and nature (Cormell & Ivey, 2012).

Implementation

To introduce students to the concept of a field journal, I propose initially using select readings of nature writing and field journal (see Examples of field journals and nature writing). This would provide the students with examples of actual journal and observations of nature, as well as demonstrate that these are personal collections and therefore unique to the author (i.e. there is no one way to keep a field notebook).

Following introduction of the concept of field journals and nature writing, students will begin biweekly journaling. Every 3 weeks journals will be turned in and assessed whether students are completing the assignment. It should be made clear that entries will not be graded or judged. Feedback on writing content will only be provided if a student requests it. Further instruction on journals can be provided if it is needed based on entries, but it must only be done in a non-pointed and unbiased manner.

A useful method for approaching a nature journal is to focus on three sentences (Laws, 2016):

1. I notice…

2. I wonder…

3. That reminds me of…

‘I notice…’ allows students to begin writing down anything they observe in a style similar to stream of conscience. ‘I wonder’.. is meant to focus students’ attention on a single item they noticed, begin asking questions about it, and form hypotheses about what could be behind this pattern. The final focus sentence—‘that reminds me of…’—is meant to help create connections between what they have just observed in nature and something that they are intimately familiar with. The hope here is that they will be creating associations between their observations and concepts learned in class.

Linking their observations learned EEB concepts can be further emphasized by requiring students to turn in a two-page written essay in which the following questions are answered:

1. Did you find evidence for or against any of the concepts discussed in class? If so, explain what concept and how the evidence supports or refutes it?

2. Did you come up with hypotheses of your own?

3. What interesting patterns or observations did you notice?

Examples of field journals and writing

1. Charles Darwin, http://test.darwin-online.org.uk/EditorialIntroductions/vanWyhe_notebooks.html

2. Field Notes on Science & Nature by Michael Canfield

3. A Sand County Almanac: And Sketches Here and There by Aldo Leopold

4. Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey

5. Silent Spring by Rachel Carson

References

Armbruster, P., Patel, M., Johnson, E., & Weiss, M. (2009). Active learning and student-centered pedagogy improves student attitudes and performance in introductory biology. CBW-Life Science Education 8: 203-13.

Barbezat, D.P., Busg, M., & Palmer, P.J. (2013) Contemplative practices in higher education: Powerful methods to transform teaching and learning. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Barrows, C.W., Murphy-Mariscal, M.L., & Hernandez, R.R. (2016) At a Crossroads: The nature of natural history in the twenty-first century. BioScience 66: 592-599.

Cormell, J. & Ivey, T. (2012) Nature journaling: Enhancing students’ connections to the environment through writing. Science Scope 35: 38-43.

Greene, E. (2011) Why keep a field notebook In M.R. Canfield (Ed.), Field Notes on Science and Nature (pp. 251-274). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Jensen, M.S. & Finley, F.N. (1996) Changes in students’ understanding of evolution resulting from different curricular and instructional strategies. Journal of Research in Science Teaching 33: 879-900.

Jucan, M.S. & Jucan C.N. (2014) The power of science communication. Social and Behavioral Sciences 149: 461-466.

Kazniak, A.W. (2014) Contemplative pedagogy: Perspectices from cognitive and affective science in Contemplative Learning and Inquiry across Disciplines. Eds. Gunnlaugson, O, Sarath, E.W., Scott, C., & Baid, H. Albany: State University of New York Press

Kowalewski, D. (2002) Teaching deep ecology: A student assessment. Journal of Environmental Education 33: 20-27.

Laws, J.M. (2016) The Law’s guide to nature drawing and journaling. Berkley, Ca: Heyday.

Scharmann, L.C. & Butler, W. (2015) The use of journaling to assess student learning and acceptance of evolutionary science. Journal of College of Science Teaching 45: 16-21.

Schmidly, D.J. (2005) What it means to be a naturalist and the future of natural history at American universities. Journal of Mammalogy 86: 449:456.

Spellman, K.V, Deutsch, A., Mulder, C.P.H., & Carsten-Conner, L.D. (2016) Metacognitive learning in the ecology classroom: A tool for preparing problem solvers in a time of rapid change? Ecosphere 7: e01411. 10.1002/ ecs2.1411.