Journal Articles by Rosanne Quinnell
Journal of Ethnobiology, 43, 339 - 350., 2023
Pattison, A., McGee, K., Birch, J., Saunders, K., Ashby, R., Quinnell, R., Bell-Anderson, K., & W... more Pattison, A., McGee, K., Birch, J., Saunders, K., Ashby, R., Quinnell, R., Bell-Anderson, K., & Way, A.
This article reviews ethnographic descriptions of Australia's First Nations people's grain threshing to inform future grain research and revival of practice in south-eastern Australia. The processing of grain requires many steps, and while harvesting, winnowing and grinding are comparatively well-documented, the threshing stage, which involves the removal of the husk and other nonedible parts of the seed head before the seed is winnowed and ground, remains poorly understood. In south-eastern Australia much of the threshing knowledge has been lost through the impacts of colonization; whereas communities in Central Australia have retained this knowledge in relation to their traditional grains. However, these species are not common in all areas. As different species require different threshing processes, only some of this knowledge can be directly applied in south-eastern Australia. Ethnographic descriptions have the potential to contribute additional First Nations knowledge to the revitalization of this practice. This article brings together ethnographic descriptions of traditional threshing to facilitate the revival of practice and further native grains research.
Teaching in Higher Education, 2024
We turn a critical lens to ethical research practices in the context of ‘insider’ higher educatio... more We turn a critical lens to ethical research practices in the context of ‘insider’ higher education research. Tensions arise due to the risks involved in navigating academic identity and teacher-researcher authenticity. We offer two case studies where ethical tensions surfaced methodological concerns for researchers and participants. Case study one describes hesitation precipitated by the risk of academic participant self-disclosure. Hesitation in case study two arose through the secondary use of student evaluation data for research purposes and possible reputational risk of teaching academics. We offer a reflective analytical process to map researchers and participants within the research to describe ethical complexity. We drew on three feminist principles useful in higher education research to mitigate ethical tensions, for example, the concept of a ‘culture of care’, a recognition of emotional labour, and negotiated roles to mitigate against improper power imbalances. We advocate for adopting a dynamic approach to ethical practices in higher education research thereby reframing the insider role.
Human Arenas, 2021
Post-COVID-19 environments have challenged our embodied identities with these challenges coming f... more Post-COVID-19 environments have challenged our embodied identities with these challenges coming from a variety of domains, that is, microbiological, semiotic, and digital. We are embedded in a new complex set of relations, with other species, with cultural signs, and with technology and venturing further into an era that pushes back on our anthropocentrism to create a post-human dystopia. This does not imply that we are less human or forfeit ethics in this state of flux, but can lead to considering new ways of being alive and humanists. The aim of this project was to explore walking through our associated psychogeographies as captured in photographs and text from individual walks, as the means by which to characterize responses to the distress of the pandemic and to assess resistance to non-being. The psychogeographies were the starting points for our dialogic enquiry between authors who each represent living theory, representing their own emergent knowledge, inseparable from personal commitments and history. Walking and the associated images and reflections, provided a way to regulate our affect, reconnecting with our bodies, leading to understand and adapt to new meanings of context and ways of coping and healing in this new becoming. The interdisciplinarity of philosophy, social psychology, botany, and clinical psychology is nonetheless rejected in favour of multi-vocality; each author representing their own emergent, living theory, inseparable from personal commitments, and history.
Human Arenas, 2020
Psychology as a science has focussed on internal landscapes at the expense of external ones, a fa... more Psychology as a science has focussed on internal landscapes at the expense of external ones, a fact that becomes increasingly problematic as we struggle to accept and respond to the climate crisis and its psychoterratic sequelae. This paper, written at the time of the 2019/2020 summer bushfires in Australia, takes inspiration from the Romantic Science of von Humboldt to document our affective response to our natural environment. We aimed, through a method of Flaneurie, to focus and respond and in doing so advocate for this kind of meandering as psychogeographic research. We were inspired also, in presenting our findings, by contemporary post-qualitative methodology, weaving together our observation and introspection in bricolage, to access knowledge beyond the nosology of presumptions, codes and themes. This paper links mental health and well-being to the natural environment, today a political objective. Showing that the human-nature relationship has crucial leverage for the subjects psyche and thus is highly relevant for psychology and psychological science.
International Journal for Innovation in Science and Mathematics Education, 2019
This paper offers some backgrounding on the sometimes vexed area of 'academic identities' through... more This paper offers some backgrounding on the sometimes vexed area of 'academic identities' through descriptions and reflections of select moments in my career where my scholarly work was informed by my home discipline of Biology and extended into other discipline spaces, specifically the Arts. I offer examples of my work where the "A" in STEAM is evident including examples of poetry and visual art projects that have allowed for the communication of ideas without the constraints of scientific prose. I reflect on the importance (to me) of working across disciplines as fields of practice and of connecting with others like me within science (including students), and across and outside of science and so offering validation. These Science-Art moments have given me permission to be myself, to exhale.
The papers selected for this Special Issue focus on the scholarly, personal and scientific value ... more The papers selected for this Special Issue focus on the scholarly, personal and scientific value of creative works generated formally within the curriculum, and informally. Poetry, visual arts, music, reflective prose and storytelling -the papers showcase "When Science meets the Arts", offering examples of how our colleagues across science and mathematics have blurred disciplinary boundaries to better support student learning. It is exciting to see the broad range of educational situations where this is occurring. Science, technology and mathematics disciplines addressed here include mathematics, biomedical science, botany, chemistry, microbiology, physics, psychology and zoology.
International Journal for Students As Partners, 2019
In this article, we describe our students-as-partners process for bringing undergraduate and acad... more In this article, we describe our students-as-partners process for bringing undergraduate and academic staff together to develop a mobile application (app) - CampusFlora - for use across our campuses. Our project at the University of Sydney, Australia, was conceived as a way to improve the botanical literacy of biology students by engaging undergraduates to develop online maps of plant locations coupled with information relevant to biology curriculum. Through continuous improvements to the CampusFlora app system, we have expanded the user-base well beyond the life science student cohorts and now offer content that embraces cultural competence and organisational health initiatives. We offer reflections from student and staff partners on the project that highlight the value of the students-as-partners approach, and the potential value of establishing student partnerships across disciplines, across institutions, and into the community at large.
International Journal of Innovation in Science and Mathematics Education , 2018
We have identified the major shifts in individual student study orchestrations over the first sem... more We have identified the major shifts in individual student study orchestrations over the first semester of a university biology course. We offer evidence that our curriculum, designed and taught by generalist biologists, has engaged generalist degree students. Professional degree students have not engaged with this course to the same level and many were demonstrably dissonant. At the end of semester, dissonant students, from both generalist and professional degrees, demonstrated little engagement with the curriculum, which is consistent with previous reports of the high degree of disengagement of first year students. The challenge to improve the engagement of students in professional degrees and to address the tendency towards dissonance and disengagement by our first year students is discussed and improvements in engagement are likely to be aided by systems that allow students to assess for themselves their approaches to study and conceptions of discipline development over the course of their degree.
Chem. Sci., 2015
Badiola, K., Bird, C., Brocklesby, W., Casson, J., Chapman, R., Coles, S., Cronshaw, J., Fisher, ... more Badiola, K., Bird, C., Brocklesby, W., Casson, J., Chapman, R., Coles, S., Cronshaw, J., Fisher, A., Frey, J., Gloria, D., Grossel, M., Hibbert, D., Knight, N., Mapp, L., Marazzi, L., Matthews, B., Milsted, A., Minns, R., Mueller, K., Murphy, K., Parkinson, T., Quinnell, R., Robertson, M., Robins, M., Robinson, J., Springate, E., Tizzard, G., Todd, M., Williamson, A., Willoughby, C., Yang, E., Ylioja, P. 2014. Experiences with a researcher-centric ELN. Chemical Science. Accepted.
Teaching Science, 2017
New and emerging digital technologies are making an impact on how we practice science, and this h... more New and emerging digital technologies are making an impact on how we practice science, and this has implications on how we teach science. We introduce the concept of the electronic notebook (ELN) used in the research environment and describe how we have implemented this as a tool for providing undergraduate science students with an authentic research experience. We suggest this tool could be similarly used in schools. The online environment provides the opportunity for science to be conducted in the open. Citizen science and large-scale collaborative open science projects have been developed to enhance the collaborative nature of science practice for groups who can contribute to research projects, large or small, from anywhere in the world and to ensure that the record keeping conventions are adhered to. We know that teaching science by offering students opportunities to participate in research projects is considered best practice, and both the technology and the philosophical shift to practice open and collaborative science has made more accessible opportunities for students to engage in authentic science practice. In this paper, we outline the four methods by which research activities can be integrated into teaching, and describe how each of these can be enhanced by open science and the ELN. We also include examples of how educators from primary schools to tertiary institutions have partnered with their students on fascinating projects to inspire. http://asta.edu.au/resources/teachingscience
Australian Journal of Botany, 2017
Davallia (Pachypleuria) angustata (Wall. ex Hook. & Grev.) is a common epiphytic fern that grows ... more Davallia (Pachypleuria) angustata (Wall. ex Hook. & Grev.) is a common epiphytic fern that grows on tree trucks and palm trees in south-east Asia. The plant is a resurrection plant, capable of rapid recovery from desiccation, but is not a CAM plant like some other epiphytic ferns. Under well-watered conditions Davallia shows a diurnal cycle of photosynthesis with maxima in mid-morning ~0900 hours (solar time). Under optimum conditions, the optimum irradiance (Eopt) = 879.365.31 mmol photons m–2 s–1 or ~45% of full sunlight qualifying it as a sun plant. The maximum photosynthetic electron transport rate (ETRmax) was 77.773.423 mmol e– m–2 s–1 or, on a Chl a basis 35036.0 mmol g–1 (Chl a) s–1. The photosynthetic efficiency (a0) is a0 = 0.24040.02076 e– photon–1 or 1.0820.137 e– photon m2 g–1 (Chl a). Eopt and maximum photosynthesis (ETRmax) are directly proportional to one another (y=mx, r = 0.8813, P<<0.001). The slope of the line is the average photosynthetic efficiency at optimum irradiance (ETRmax/Eopt or aEopt = 0.075050.00262 e– photon–1), equivalent to a mean asymptotic photosynthetic efficiency (a0) of 0.20400.00712 e– photon–1. This simple relationship between ETRmax and Eopt does not appear to have been noted before. There is some accumulation of titratable acid in the morning but no accumulation of organic acids at night. Davallia is not a CAM plant. A simple pulse amplitude modulation (PAM) protocol shows that Davallia is a homiochlorophyllous resurrection plant.
ABSTRACT We measured the relationship between symbiont diversity, nutritional potential, and symb... more ABSTRACT We measured the relationship between symbiont diversity, nutritional potential, and symbiotic success in the cnidarian–dinoflagellate symbiosis, by infecting aposymbiotic (i.e. symbiont-free) specimens of the model sea anemone Aiptasia sp. with a range of Symbiodinium types. Four cultured heterologous Symbiodinium types (i.e. originally isolated from other host species) were used, plus both cultured and freshly isolated homologous zooxanthellae (i.e. from Aiptasia sp.). Rates of photosynthesis, respiration, and symbiont growth were measured during symbiosis establishment and used to estimate the contribution of the zooxanthellae to the animal’s respiratory carbon demands (CZAR). Anemones containing Symbiodinium B1 (both homologous and heterologous) tended to attain higher CZAR values and hence benefit most from their symbiotic partners. This was despite Symbiodinium B1 not achieving the highest cell densities, though it did grow more quickly during the earliest stages of the infection process. Rather, the heterologous Symbiodinium types A1.4, E2, and F5.1 attained the highest densities, with populations of E2 and F5.1 also exhibiting the highest photosynthetic rates. This apparent success was countered, however, by very high rates of symbiosis respiration that ultimately resulted in lower CZAR values. This study highlights the impact of symbiont type on the functionality and autotrophic potential of the symbiosis. Most interestingly, it suggests that certain heterologous symbionts may behave opportunistically, proliferating rapidly but in a manner that is energetically costly to the host. Such negative host–symbiont interactions may contribute to the host–symbiont specificity seen in cnidarian–dinoflagellate symbioses and potentially limit the potential for partner switching as an adaptive mechanism.
At the University of Sydney undergraduate students and staff have been working on an "innovative ... more At the University of Sydney undergraduate students and staff have been working on an "innovative learning and teaching app that harnesses the power of mobile technology extending student" engagement with the botanical resources we already have growing around us. These botanical resources represent a living collection and mobile technology has allowed us to turn the whole of our University grounds into a learning space for Biology.
LeBard RJ, Thompson R, Quinnell R. Quantitative Skills and Complexity: How can we Combat these Ch... more LeBard RJ, Thompson R, Quinnell R. Quantitative Skills and Complexity: How can we Combat these Challenges and Equip Undergraduate Students to Think and Practice as Biologists?International Journal of Innovation in Science and Mathematics Education. Special Issue: Biology Education Futures. In press October 2014.
Mapping the pedagogical process of learning in biology has shown that fieldwork and laboratory practicals require students to use quantitative skills in a high-level learning context. These tasks include creating graphical representations of data or performing statistical analysis and are major areas of disengagement and poor performance. Biology educators face a challenge: how to keep students engaged in mastering new techniques and methodology to develop the ‘thinking of a scientist’, while developing confidence using quantitative skills (the ‘maths’). Here we investigate how an online learning module on the regulation of gene expression was used in a molecular biology course to simplify this complex process of learning in science. The module emphasised the links between the concept (gene regulation), experiments (growing Escherichia coli in the presence of different effector molecules and substrates) and the data recorded. An audit of student assignments and surveys before and after the introduction of the module indicated that students improved their data presentation skills. Results highlight the complexity of the task students have to perform and the usefulness of consolidating information and providing extra time via a blended approach to laboratory practicals and are discussed in relation to the theoretical frameworks of threshold concepts, thinking dispositions and mindfulness.
Engaging students in the effective use of assessment feedback to meet learning objectives is crit... more Engaging students in the effective use of assessment feedback to meet learning objectives is critical. ExamBank is a software tool developed by the Sydney Medical School (SMS) to manage the assessment process for high stakes and formative examinations from item and examination creation to statistical reporting and the delivery of student feedback. To-date, ExamBank has been implemented in four medical schools in Australia and overseas and in other faculties at The University of Sydney, including The School of Biological Sciences. ExamBank tracks the assessment lifecycle from creation of draft items through peer review and approval to performance in multiple examinations over time. The web-based interface means ExamBank can be accessed by academics remotely via a secure login system, which allows flexible role-based access for individual assessors. Questions can be meta tagged with key curriculum information (e.g. learning objective, subject area, unit of study, year). Statistical performance indicators for each question can be stored in the database and used to audit assessments. The implementation of ExamBank in two faculties at The University of Sydney is described to illustrate the improvement to curriculum design, implementation and administration and in feedback to students through a powerful technology-enabled reporting system that enables academics to improve the quality, integrity and stability of assessments.
O'Mara, D., Quinnell, R., Rothnie, I., Davies, L., & Pye, M. (2014). ExamBank: a Pedagogic and Administrative System to Provide Effective Student Feedback and Stable Assessment Across Disciplines. International Journal of Innovation in Science and Mathematics Education. Special Issue: Biology Education Futures., 22(3), 62 - 73.
International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology, 2013, 2013
Developing quantitative skills, or being academically numerate, is part of the curriculum agenda... more Developing quantitative skills, or being academically numerate, is part of the curriculum agenda in science teaching and learning. For many of our students, being asked to ‘do maths’ as part of ‘doing science’ leads to disengagement from learning. Notions of ‘I can’t do maths’ speak of a rigidity of mind, a ‘standoff ’, forming a barrier to learning in science that needs to be addressed if we, as science educators, are to offer solutions to the so-called ‘maths problem’ and to support students as they move from being novice to expert. Moving from novice to expert is complex and we lean on several theoretical frameworks (thinking dispositions, threshold concepts and mindfulness in learning) to characterize this pathway in science, with a focus on quantitative skills. Fluid thinking and application of numeracy skills are required to manipulate experimental data sets and are integral to our science practice; we need to stop students from seeing them as optional ‘maths’ or ‘statistics’ tasks within our discipline. Being explicit about the ways those in the discipline think, how quantitative data is processed, and allowing places for students to address their skills (including their confidence) offer some ways forward.
Schliep M, Quinnell R, Stranger R, Larkum AWD. 2013. Formyl group modification of chlorophyll a: ... more Schliep M, Quinnell R, Stranger R, Larkum AWD. 2013. Formyl group modification of chlorophyll a: a major evolutionary mechanism in oxygenic photosynthesis. Plant, Cell & Environment. 36: 3, 521–527. [Article first published online: 20 SEP 2012 DOI: 10.1111/pce.12000]
We discuss recent advances in chlorophyll research in the context of chlorophyll evolution and conclude that some derivations of the formyl side chain arrangement of the porphyrin ring from that of the Chl a macrocycle can extend the photosynthetic active radiation (PAR) of these molecules, e.g. Chl d and Chl f absorb light in the near infra-red region, up to ∼750 nm. Derivations such as this confer a selective advantage in particular niches and may, therefore, be beneficial for photosynthetic organisms thriving in light environments with particular light signatures, such as red- and near far red-light enriched niches. Modelling of formyl side chain substitutions of Chl a revealed yet unidentified but theoretically possible Chls with a distinct shift of light absorption properties when compared to Chl a.
We surveyed first year students at the start and at the end of their first semester of university... more We surveyed first year students at the start and at the end of their first semester of university biology (n = 285) as to their approaches to study (surface, deep) and their conceptions of biology (fragmented, cohesive). Hierarchical cluster analysis was used to group students who responded similarly to the survey; this resolved four Learner Profiles based on specific combinations of approach to study and conception of biology. By comparing cluster membership at the start and end of the semester we could assess whether students (1) maintained their incoming approach to study and conception of the discipline of biology, i.e. their ‘Learner Profile’ and (2) whether certain Learner Profiles were more persistent than others. Approximately half the student cohort did not alter their approach to study or conceptions of biology by semester's end. Students in the disengaged profile, i.e. who returned mostly negative responses to survey items, appeared the most resistant to changing their Learner Profile; while the greatest migration occurred towards less than desirable learning strategies (particularly to the disengaged profile). We were able to confirm the significant migration patterns by assessing the heterogeneity of each cluster at the start of semester clusters with respect to the students' approaches and conceptions at the end of semester. Thus we present a process to accurately track Learner Profile changes that may tell us more about how we can enhance students' learning and provide a means by which to gather the empirical data to support decisions relating to curriculum change.
Connecting discipline scholars with the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) is accepted a... more Connecting discipline scholars with the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) is accepted as an essential part of professional academic practice across the higher education sector irrespective of discipline. To connect meaningfully with teaching practice, SoTL needs to be translated by the discipline scholar and narratives related to the discipline context constructed. Previous work on disciplinary diversity suggests that there is a need to take a more grounded approach to the development of discipline-based educational scholarship. How SoTL is defined is critical to how SoTL is interpreted within discipline contexts and some of the numerous models and definitions of SoTL transcend disciplinary boundaries, but there is no single agreed definition of what is meant by SoTL. This paper reviews some of the models of scholarly teaching and raises some questions about how the links between pedagogical theory and discipline teaching practice are made by discipline scholars. We advocate that by providing discipline scholars with ways to map and then collectively view their practices within disciplines that this is likely to provide information essential for exploring SoTL in each discipline and reconciling SoTL with academic disciplines.
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Journal Articles by Rosanne Quinnell
This article reviews ethnographic descriptions of Australia's First Nations people's grain threshing to inform future grain research and revival of practice in south-eastern Australia. The processing of grain requires many steps, and while harvesting, winnowing and grinding are comparatively well-documented, the threshing stage, which involves the removal of the husk and other nonedible parts of the seed head before the seed is winnowed and ground, remains poorly understood. In south-eastern Australia much of the threshing knowledge has been lost through the impacts of colonization; whereas communities in Central Australia have retained this knowledge in relation to their traditional grains. However, these species are not common in all areas. As different species require different threshing processes, only some of this knowledge can be directly applied in south-eastern Australia. Ethnographic descriptions have the potential to contribute additional First Nations knowledge to the revitalization of this practice. This article brings together ethnographic descriptions of traditional threshing to facilitate the revival of practice and further native grains research.
Mapping the pedagogical process of learning in biology has shown that fieldwork and laboratory practicals require students to use quantitative skills in a high-level learning context. These tasks include creating graphical representations of data or performing statistical analysis and are major areas of disengagement and poor performance. Biology educators face a challenge: how to keep students engaged in mastering new techniques and methodology to develop the ‘thinking of a scientist’, while developing confidence using quantitative skills (the ‘maths’). Here we investigate how an online learning module on the regulation of gene expression was used in a molecular biology course to simplify this complex process of learning in science. The module emphasised the links between the concept (gene regulation), experiments (growing Escherichia coli in the presence of different effector molecules and substrates) and the data recorded. An audit of student assignments and surveys before and after the introduction of the module indicated that students improved their data presentation skills. Results highlight the complexity of the task students have to perform and the usefulness of consolidating information and providing extra time via a blended approach to laboratory practicals and are discussed in relation to the theoretical frameworks of threshold concepts, thinking dispositions and mindfulness.
O'Mara, D., Quinnell, R., Rothnie, I., Davies, L., & Pye, M. (2014). ExamBank: a Pedagogic and Administrative System to Provide Effective Student Feedback and Stable Assessment Across Disciplines. International Journal of Innovation in Science and Mathematics Education. Special Issue: Biology Education Futures., 22(3), 62 - 73.
We discuss recent advances in chlorophyll research in the context of chlorophyll evolution and conclude that some derivations of the formyl side chain arrangement of the porphyrin ring from that of the Chl a macrocycle can extend the photosynthetic active radiation (PAR) of these molecules, e.g. Chl d and Chl f absorb light in the near infra-red region, up to ∼750 nm. Derivations such as this confer a selective advantage in particular niches and may, therefore, be beneficial for photosynthetic organisms thriving in light environments with particular light signatures, such as red- and near far red-light enriched niches. Modelling of formyl side chain substitutions of Chl a revealed yet unidentified but theoretically possible Chls with a distinct shift of light absorption properties when compared to Chl a.
This article reviews ethnographic descriptions of Australia's First Nations people's grain threshing to inform future grain research and revival of practice in south-eastern Australia. The processing of grain requires many steps, and while harvesting, winnowing and grinding are comparatively well-documented, the threshing stage, which involves the removal of the husk and other nonedible parts of the seed head before the seed is winnowed and ground, remains poorly understood. In south-eastern Australia much of the threshing knowledge has been lost through the impacts of colonization; whereas communities in Central Australia have retained this knowledge in relation to their traditional grains. However, these species are not common in all areas. As different species require different threshing processes, only some of this knowledge can be directly applied in south-eastern Australia. Ethnographic descriptions have the potential to contribute additional First Nations knowledge to the revitalization of this practice. This article brings together ethnographic descriptions of traditional threshing to facilitate the revival of practice and further native grains research.
Mapping the pedagogical process of learning in biology has shown that fieldwork and laboratory practicals require students to use quantitative skills in a high-level learning context. These tasks include creating graphical representations of data or performing statistical analysis and are major areas of disengagement and poor performance. Biology educators face a challenge: how to keep students engaged in mastering new techniques and methodology to develop the ‘thinking of a scientist’, while developing confidence using quantitative skills (the ‘maths’). Here we investigate how an online learning module on the regulation of gene expression was used in a molecular biology course to simplify this complex process of learning in science. The module emphasised the links between the concept (gene regulation), experiments (growing Escherichia coli in the presence of different effector molecules and substrates) and the data recorded. An audit of student assignments and surveys before and after the introduction of the module indicated that students improved their data presentation skills. Results highlight the complexity of the task students have to perform and the usefulness of consolidating information and providing extra time via a blended approach to laboratory practicals and are discussed in relation to the theoretical frameworks of threshold concepts, thinking dispositions and mindfulness.
O'Mara, D., Quinnell, R., Rothnie, I., Davies, L., & Pye, M. (2014). ExamBank: a Pedagogic and Administrative System to Provide Effective Student Feedback and Stable Assessment Across Disciplines. International Journal of Innovation in Science and Mathematics Education. Special Issue: Biology Education Futures., 22(3), 62 - 73.
We discuss recent advances in chlorophyll research in the context of chlorophyll evolution and conclude that some derivations of the formyl side chain arrangement of the porphyrin ring from that of the Chl a macrocycle can extend the photosynthetic active radiation (PAR) of these molecules, e.g. Chl d and Chl f absorb light in the near infra-red region, up to ∼750 nm. Derivations such as this confer a selective advantage in particular niches and may, therefore, be beneficial for photosynthetic organisms thriving in light environments with particular light signatures, such as red- and near far red-light enriched niches. Modelling of formyl side chain substitutions of Chl a revealed yet unidentified but theoretically possible Chls with a distinct shift of light absorption properties when compared to Chl a.
It is through language that we communicate with the world, define our identity, express our history and culture, learn, defend our human rights and participate in all aspects of society, to name but a few. Through language, people preserve their community’s history, customs and traditions, memory, unique modes of thinking, meaning and expression. They also use it to construct their future. (UNESCO, 2016)
To highlight the importance of Indigenous languages in strengthening the position of Indigenous cultures on a global scale, UNESCO declared 2019 the year of Indigenous languages. At the University of Sydney, like institutions in other parts of Australia, we are recognising our responsibility to acknowledge and preserve Aboriginal Australia’s heritage. At the local level, the focus on Indigenous languages on our campuses provides opportunities to connect the higher education community with Indigenous culture. We offer these connections to Indigenous language through the creation of interdisciplinary collaborations across the arts and the sciences, spanning linguistics, botany, art and museum studies. The University grounds cover urban areas (inner-city and suburban) and regional areas across Australia (e.g. Broken Hill, Lismore, Dubbo, Orange, Camden, Nowley and Narrabri). The “Sydney Language” is the language of the Gadigal people, the traditional custodians of the University of Sydney’s main inner-city campus. The Sydney Language, spoken for tens of thousands of years pre-colonisation, is in revival, and the survival of this language is a proactive declaration of the strong living presence of the Gadigal people in the University’s community.
If the core purpose of transformative education is to challenge and reposition knowledge, through a range of opportunities, then surfacing and attending to forms of student misconceptions (for example, through confusion, disequilibrium) are a necessary part of learning and teaching. We have come to understand that to arrive at a clear view of a concept may involve a process of working through a range of misconceptions about a phenomena or experience that may or may not create a threshold experience in a learner. We argue that the journey through such forms misconceptions and thresholds all require a more nuanced emphasis on liminal spaces, where misconceptions and thresholds may reside. We offer a revised thresholds concept generic model that helps to identify student misconceptions as cycles within and through pre‐liminal, liminal and post‐liminal spaces.
Two practice examples demonstrate the application of this model; (1) teaching and learning botanical literacy through a technology‐rich, real‐time mobile App; and (2) embedding and measuring cultural competence as a graduate learning outcome in Australian universities. Each context offers a specific emphasis on highlighting the need to make all liminal learning spaces safer, as students surface and engage with the misconceptions. We conclude by suggesting that misconceptions in student learning offer a form of threshold in their own right ‐ forms of threshold misconceptions.
Whenever my thoughts wander to death, invariably my thoughts feature the botanical world. When my sister passed away, twenty years ago now, my mother was able to coax one of the white roses from my sister’s wreath into a healthy plant. I recognise that some might view this as dark. Thinking about how my mother was able to see the potential for a whole plant in that small piece of rose brings me peace. And in general, plants soothe me. I have begun scratching at why I have this sensation of peace when I stop to engage with the botanical world. Wondering what it is about plants that I find so reassuring.
Our very existence is contingent on plants that provide food, nutrients, oxygen, medicine, clothing, shelter. Further to this, we can learn an enormous amount about solar energy capture and CO2 sequestration from plants. Beyond even that, plants feature in our lives in a raft of other ways. Our emotional and cultural wellness seems deeply intertwined with the botanical world. We give flowers at happy occasions; roses are gifted on Valentine’s day, chrysanthemums on mothers’ day, a hurried purchase of carnations from a petrol station on a birthday. Flowers are integral to our commemorations. We offer lilies for death, rosemary for remembrance. Trees planted as waypoints and avenues for those who did not return from war; the Australian War Memorial offers a link to be able to purchase one of the progeny of Gallipoli’s Lone Pine. Similarly, sunflower seeds from the field in the Ukraine where MH17 was shot down were sent back to Australia to respectfully commemorate those who lost their lives so far from home. There are many more examples. In each example, I am fascinated by how plants offer us ways to express what our words cannot. Plants providing gentle, beautiful expressions of love and grief, joy and hope. Observations of our closest relatives have shown them to demonstrate generosity (food sharing), but not, from what I can tell, flowers. Certainly having plants present at our cultural ceremonies to show our most human of emotions is important to us; I wonder whether these floral gestures are part of what makes us human.
Despite plants being critical for our physical survival, and helping us to communicate our feelings, many humans fail to see plants. I wonder when it became normal for humans to not be able to recognise and/or appreciate plants? Does it start when we are little? I have looked at flashcards that teach children to speak and I feel myself getting cross when, for example, the picture of the African savanna with a lion in it is only labelled as ‘lion’. I recall seeing images spruiking national tree day where the inclusion of a bird in the tree branches seemed to be obligatory. Is it true that most people will only pay attention when an animal is present? A study out of the US provides some evidence to confirm that our (human) attention is skewed to animals rather than plants.
And using plants to express is the paradox. Despite the fact that we live on a vast southern continent with its own unique flora, the cultural botanical traditions from the northern hemisphere don’t seem out of place to me. I have been privileged to have been Welcomed to Country; Wiradjuri, Bidigal, Gadigal, Worimi, Jawoyn, Larrakia, and on every occasion have been introduced first and foremost to the plants, considered as brothers and sisters. As a plant-lover, I can’t tell you how much it pleases me that plants are in the forefront of the introductions. Maybe it is worth noting is that my background is Celtic with forebears coming to Australia only about 150 years ago. Here I’m relying on a fuzzy memory of things my mother told me years ago. My mother, too, was a lover of plants. She would be moved to tears (literally) if she found an off-cut of a plant (a sprig) on the footpath. She would take it home, coax it to grow, usually with success.
When I tap into discussions and debates about climate change, and the political situation in Australia, I am struck by the focus on short term media cycles, fiscal timelines, and 3-year political terms at the expense of our long term survival. Clearly our environment has become an emotional space. For some, thinking about the natural environment elicits anger, outrage, and blame. But when I think about the natural environment, in particular, plants, my mood is eased.
“The images of plants resprouting after the bushfires speak to moving on from grief… these shoots carry the hopes for a full recovery and disaster survival. “
The images of plants resprouting after the bushfires speak to moving on from grief and of hope. As bushland vegetation regenerates across our great southern continent, people are posting their photos of the re-growth – bright green shoots emerge from charred remains. As cell division gets back on track, these shoots carry the hopes for a full recovery and disaster survival. I am in awe of this continent. And, sometimes when I look at our southern landscapes I like to edit out the buildings, the roads, the poles and wires, dams, so that I can imagine what our country was pre-contact, pre-colonisation, pre-invasion. That humans still are able to survive and thrive in remote areas speaks to the remarkable sophistication of Indigenous knowledge systems and the resilience of the cultures derived from and integrated with the land and the sea.
I like to think of the time when we will reintegrate with the land, and have a fascination about our reintegration with plants. When we die, we decompose. Our molecules disassembled and become available for use by the macro and micro soil biota. Carbon released into the atmosphere is refixed via photosynthesis; our nitrogenous waste is taken up by root systems. Even those who are the loudest climate change deniers will realise their full environmental potential when their bodily chemicals contribute to nutrient cycles to be incorporated into lignin, cellulose, botanical genomes. Incorporated into branches and leaves, I like to think of us dancing joyfully in the treetops together.
This piece is a re-offering of The Joy of Plants, published in Flora Foundation January 2020, and resonates with the von Humboldtian view of ‘romantic science’, as explored in this paper: Humboldt, Romantic Science and Ecocide: a Walk in the Woods.
Rosanne Quinnell is Associate Professor in the School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney. She has taught botany for close to 25 years and is deeply committed to improving student engagement with the botanical world, and to improving the botanical literacy of higher education communities. Her research background is in the biochemistry of symbiotic systems where the symbiotic relationships are sustained and maintained by effective communication between the partners. Rosanne is currently recruiting members of the University community to join the citizen science project University BioQuest – see website for details and contact Rosanne for more information.
There is no doubt that phototrophs support all life on our planet, and this makes the care of our botanical environment critical for the survival of animal life. Plants, and other photosynthetic oxygenic organisms sequester carbon from the atmosphere. But they cannot keep up with the amounts of carbon dioxide for which we humans are responsible. Carbon emissions are able to cross international borders so this is collective 'we'.
Our Great Southern Continent in unique and our plants and animals have adapted ways to survive here. These adaptations are being put to the ultimate test as fires increase in intensity and frequency and there is emerging evidence that tree survival is diminishing because of this (Fairman et al. 2019). The recent fires that have raged across millions of hectares have resulted in what ecologists would call a ‘natural experiment’, offering opportunities to assess diversity of biota of the scorched earth, to count the survival rates of vertebrates, and diversity of pollinators visiting the plants as they regenerate in comparison to unburnt areas. As a plant scientist, I found the focus on animals (mainly koalas) to be strange. With the notable exception of the Wollemi Pine, it was as if the trees, the things that were burning, were invisible. This invisibility of plants is referred to in the scholarly literature as ‘plant blindness’ (Wandersee and Schussler 1999), the antidote to which is ‘botanical literacy’ (e.g. Mathes 1983).
Throughout my career, I have deliberately shied away from the term ‘plant blindness’, as it is a deficit definition (the inability to see plants or to recognise differences between plant species), and have instead focussed on devising ways to improve engagement of both students and the broader campus community with the botanical world. One innovation has been a mobile app called CampusFlora (currently undergoing redevelopment) where the plants growing on the campuses of the University of Sydney are presented as learning objects making spaces outside of the classroom learning places for botany (e.g. Pettit et al. 2014; Cheung et al. 2015; Dimon et al. 2019). Alongside this initiative I have offer reminders via Yammer posts to the university community prompting us all to stop, look and learn about at the plants in our working environment, which in our campus context, is akin to a botanic garden.
Although I have taught botany for a long time, I feel obliged to share my knowledge, noting that I learn something new every year. I feel a bit sad knowing that I will never completely satisfy my botanical curiosity. As a case in point, on a recent field excursion to the Kimberley, it was such a treat to be able to see and touch Boab trees. Their mode of arrival to the Australian landscape remains a mystery to western science (see Baum et al. 1998). It is all so interesting to me.
I often ask myself the question: when did it become normal to not be able to recognise and appreciate plants? Does it start when we are young? I ask this because when I have looked at flash cards that are used to teach children to speak, I feel myself getting cross when, for example, the picture of the African savanna with a lion in it is only labelled as ‘lion’. I recall seeing images spruiking national tree day where the inclusion of a bird in the tree branches seemed to be obligatory. Is it true that most people will only pay attention when an animal is present? A study out of the US provides some evidence to confirm that our (human) attention is skewed to animals rather than plants (Balas and Momsen 2014).
I wonder if there is a cultural element at play. Over the past 5 or so years I have been privileged to have been invited onto Country and, on every occasion, have been introduced first and foremost to the plants, considered as brothers and sisters (Martin and Mirrboopa, 2003). As a plant-lover, I can’t tell you how much it pleases me that plants are in the forefront of these introductions. Maybe it is worth noting that my background is Celtic with forebears coming to Australia only about 150 years ago. It should also be noted that here I am relying on a fuzzy memory of things my mother told me years ago.
My mother, too, was a lover of plants. She would be moved to tears (literally) if she found an off-cut of a plant (a sprig) on the footpath. She would take it home and coax it to grow, usually with success. When my sister passed away, my mother grew one of the white roses from my sister’s wreath into a healthy plant. I recognise that some might view this as dark. But beyond our very existence being contingent on plants (calories, nutrients, oxygen, medicine, shelter) our emotional and cultural wellness is connected with plants. In our celebrations we include plants, roses on Valentine’s day, the bride’s bouquet, chrysanthemums on Mothers’ day. And plants are integral to our commemorations – lilies for death, rosemary for remembrance, trees planted as memory waypoints. More explicitly, the Australian War Memorial offers an opportunity to purchase one of progeny of Gallipoli’s Lone Pine; sunflower seeds from the field in the Ukraine where MH17 was shot down were sent back to Australia to respectfully commemorate those who were not able to come home. There are many more examples. I find it acutely interesting that plants, particularly their flowers, offer us ways to express what our words cannot. Gently and with beauty.
Sometimes when I look at our Southern landscape, I edit out the buildings, the roads, the poles and wires, the dams, so that I can imagine what our country was pre-contact, pre-colonisation, pre-invasion. That humans are still able to survive and thrive in remote areas speaks to the remarkable sophistication of Indigenous Knowledge Systems and the resilience of a culture derived from and integrated with the land and the sea. I like to think of the time when we will reintegrate with the land. When we die, we decompose. Our molecules disassembled and become available for use by the macro and micro soil biota. Carbon released into the atmosphere is refixed via photosynthesis; our nitrogenous waste is taken up by root systems. Even those who are the loudest climate change deniers will realise their full environmental potential when their bodily chemicals contribute to nutrient cycles to be incorporated into lignin, cellulose, botanical genomes. Incorporated into branches and leaves, I like to think of us dancing joyfully in the treetops together.
Defined as “public participation and collaboration in scientific research”, citizen science allows everyday people to use technology to unite towards a common goal – from the comfort of their homes. And it is now offering a chance to contribute to research on the coronavirus pandemic.
With so many of us staying home, this could help build a sense of community where we may otherwise feel helpless, or struggle with isolation.
Professor Abercrombie Anstruther Lawson (1870–1927) was a brilliant botany teacher whose classes were enormously popular, write Annie Rayner and Dr Rosanne Quinnell. He left an extraordinary resource.
Campus Flora maps the locations of more than 2000 individual plants from over 70 families on campus grounds and provides a botanical description of each plant and information on its distribution. Campus Flora not only extends the teaching of botany from the classroom into the University of Sydney campus grounds but it enables us to share our learning resources with the broader community.
“Trails” highlight the important aspects of select plant groups and we have initially developed these to align with the current botanical curriculum. We encourage those using Campus Flora to provide us with feedback: each species page allows users to offer feedback, and we will use this to shape future versions and develop additional trails.
The project team acknowledges the support of the School of Life and Environmental Sciences and University grounds staff. Software is offered under an open source licence.
Apps:
- iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/campus-flora/id918408102
- WebApp: http://campusflora.sydneybiology.org
- GooglePlay: https://play.google.com/stor/apps/details?id=com.universityofsydney.campusflora
eBot supports the use of images within an educational environment. Creators retain copyright at all times, and with their permission, digital representations of works enrich learning and teaching programs and aid scholarly research.
eBot is a partnership initiative of the Faculty of Science School of Biological Sciences and the University of Sydney Library. The initial development of eBot was funded by a University of Sydney Teaching Infrastructure and Equipment Scheme grant.
Academic partners include Murray Henwood and Rosanne Quinnell. Library partners include Rowan Brownlee, Su Hanfling, Caroline Regan, and Julie Price.
eBot uses a descriptive framework based on the Herbarium Information Standards and Protocols for Interchange of Data (HISPID). HISPID was developed collaboratively by a committee of representatives from Australian Herbaria.
The Haswell Museum is currently located in the Macleay building and the relocation and consolidation of the School of Life and Environmental Sciences (SoLES) has focused our attention on an audit of the Haswell museum collection and the creation of a digital database. Decisions as to the fate of this collection are as yet uncertain and, irrespective of where future responsibility for the collection will reside, we view this project as an opportunity for SoLES to reimagine of Haswell’s collection to a contemporary context, which will benefit the University at large. Sharing the Haswell collection more broadly through the adoption of modern digital strategies is our overarching objective.
Please contact me (rosanne.quinnell[at]sydney.edu.au) for further details, and if you use these resources, could you please get back to me and let me know what you think! https://transdisciplinary-research-science.sydney.edu.au/home/online-teaching-and-learning-resources/botanyonline/botany-virtual-slidebox/
New version (draft): https://cloud.aiforia.com/Public/USYD-SCIENCE/Hr9RJKdDuhFZ26hWn7hPA65VTriuSxeDHSCptJ3T_Yw0
ZoologyOnline: https://transdisciplinary-research-science.sydney.edu.au/home/online-teaching-and-learning-resources/zoology-online/
Zoology slidebox: https://cloud.aiforia.com/Public/USYD-SCIENCE/awgt6rbeEmX6Ga_uy45clysZlboS0ScyYxG-X5tT5SA0
There are calls for the academy to transform through programs and curricula embracing social justice, and safer ways to engage in organisational processes to build capacity for scholarly agency for all individuals. We revisit and critically discuss emergent politics of social justice pedagogies and disjuncture (Stauber, 2017) in the context of the neoliberal disrupted academy. Through the contradictory politics of voice, listening and silences in the academy (Luke, 1994) we explore respectful, non-judgmental listening and dialogic methods in teaching which allows an individual or group to take their time to work things out. Amplification of scholarly agency through critical listening has the power to positively transform teaching and research practices. Proceeding with care and acknowledging the vulnerability of those participating in discussions about their own agency is critical, particularly for those who have been routinely marginalised. Collectively, our reflexive positioning from lived experiences contribute to identifying the significance of listening and appreciating silence as a genre within the academic community.
This paper offers a contemplative and ‘quiet corner’ in the conference, a space where people can gather and find nourishment against the ‘rage’ by participating in gentle and reflective discourses. Together, we invite participants to reflect on times when ‘sacred silence’ (Hill, 2018) was evoked, and reimagine the consequences for critical university studies.
References
Farmer, F. (2001). Saying and silence: Listening to composition with Bakhtin. All USU Press Publications, 130.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usupress_pubs/130
Hill, S. (2018). ‘Sacred Silence’—The Stillness of Listening to Humanity. In: Yamash’ta, S., Yagi, T., Hill, S. (Eds.). The Kyoto Manifesto for Global Economics. Creative Economy. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-6478-4_17
Luke, C. (1994). Women in the academy: The politics of speech and silence, British Journal of Sociology of Education, 15:2, 211-230, DOI: 10.1080/0142569940150204
Russo, A. (2013). Between speech and silence: Reflections on accountability. In: Malhotra, S., Rowe, A.C. (Eds.). Silence, Feminism, Power. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137002372_3
Stauber, L.S. (2017). Turning in or tuning out? Listening to silences in education for critical political consciousness, International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 30:6, 560-575, DOI: 10.1080/09518398.2016.1269971
In Higher education (HE) the intent of cultural competence (CC) programs is to offer equitable and inclusive environments for all members of university communities to ensure culturally safer. This in turn intended to translate to higher participation rates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and other marginalised groups. Inclusion of CC as a graduate attribute across all degrees was precipitated by Universities Australia’s (UA) first Indigenous Strategy (2011) and resulted a in profound reshaping of the educational landscape:
for professional development of university staff (academic and non-academic) to undertake CC workshops to identify their biases, and by extension, to critique policies, processes, practices. Some programs are offered as ‘cultural immersions’ to engage with local communities and hear first hand accounts of impacts of discrimination and (systemic) racism.
where disciplinary curricula went off ‘off-script’, being reframed to include CC by embedding diverse cultural views - ways of knowing, being and doing - as relevant to each distinct discipline with many using strengths-based approaches to champion Indigenous Knowledges (Frawley et al., 2020).
Both professional development and the implementation of changes in curricula catalysed real transformation in the educational ecosystem, that of teaching staff adopting reflective practices, de-positioning themselves as ‘experts’ to reposition as ‘learners’ who actively question disciplinary dogmas and institutional policies, processes, practices through multiple cultural and epistemic lenses.
But have these changes to the educational ecosystem gone far enough? UA followed up in 2022 with calls for all of us to a) call out personal, institutional and systemic racism and b) to adopt Indigenous value systems, which suggests the answer to the question is ‘no’, noting the urgency of UA’s call is backed by damning statistics where 60% of Indigenous staff and students in HE had experienced at least one form of racial prejudice in the past six months (Fredericks et al., 2023).
These data tell us that there is more to be done to effect systemic changes in HE. We advocate for CC to include critical discussion on how best to craft an ecosystem to enable adoption of Indigenous values to nurture Indigenous students and staff, and those of all marginalised peoples, in our classrooms.
References:
Frawley, J., Russell, G., & Sherwood, J. (2020). Cultural Competence and the Higher Education Sector: A Journey in the Academy. In J. Frawley, G. Russell, & J. Sherwood (Eds.), Cultural Competence and the Higher Education Sector: Australian Perspectives, Policies and Practice (215-232). Singapore: Springer Singapore.
Fredericks, B., Barney, K., Bunda, T., Hausia, K., Martin, A., Elston, J., & Bernardino, B. (2023). Calling out racism in university classrooms: The ongoing need for indigenisation of the curriculum to support Indigenous student completion rates. Student Success, 14(2), 19-29. https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.180393073968076
Universities Australia. (2011). National Best Practice Framework for Indigenous Cultural Competency in Australian Universities. Canberra ACT: https://www.universitiesaustralia.edu.au/ArticleDocuments/376/National%20Best%20Practice%20Framework%20for%20Indigenous%20Cultural%20Competency%20in%20Australian%20Universities.pdf.aspx
Universities Australia. (2022). Universities Australia Indigenous Strategy 2022 - 2025. https://www.universitiesaustralia.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/UA-Indigenous-Strategy-2022-25.pdf
KEYWORDS: non-Indigenous science, Indigenous knowledge systems, curriculum transformation, cultural competence, critical science
BACKGROUND
Embedding cultural competence (CC) into science curricula is key to the University of Sydney’s commitment to producing students with skills and knowledge to work in cross-cultural settings. Within the Faculty of Science, there are eight disciplinary schools who have, to some extent, endeavoured to introduce CC into their delivery and content to ensure students achieve this graduate outcome. cultural competence inclusion was initiated by the Wingara Mura-Bunga Barrabugu program, with a focus on integration of Indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) into non-Indigenous science.
PLAN
In 2018, we initiated a CC compendium to act as a bridging space between academics, to share content and explore collaborations laterally across the faculty.
ACTIONS
This paper documents the process of interviewing academic staff and collating the compendium by gathering teaching materials and CC teaching approaches, highlighting the points of highest resonance within each discipline. Academics are using creative and innovative ways to extend their disciplinary boundaries, are embracing personal and professional growth by taking on this challenge and are carving out new pathways in science.
REFLECTION
These boundary-pushing efforts are however, marginal, and are largely being introduced by non-Indigenous academics, which raises questions about IKS inclusion as a pathway for generating CC.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We thank the Wingara Mura-Bunga Barrabugu, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Indigenous Strategy and Services for funds for this project.
KEYWORDS: biology, biomaths, mathematics confidence
BACKGROUND
From 2019, science students at the University of Sydney will be required to have high school mathematics. Our research has highlighted biology students lack confidence in mathematics (e.g. Quinnell & Wong, 2007; Quinnell, Thompson & LeBard, 2013; LeBard, Thompson & Quinnell, 2014) and this lack of confidence can be associated with anxiety. We are interested in whether the new HSC maths requirement will impact biology students’ attitudes to, and conceptions of, mathematics, particularly mathematics confidence. Here we offer an early assessment using current data.
APPROACHES
We surveyed first year biology students in 2015 and 2018 using the Attitudes to Mathematics survey instrument (modified from Fennema and Sherman, Doepken et al; confidence n=12, usefulness n=12), would recommend maths to others (Wismath & Worrall, 2015; n=2), conceptions of Biology (Quinnell, May, Peat & Taylor, 2005; fragmented n=10 and cohesive n=10), and conceptions of mathematics (Crawford, Gordon, Nicholas & Prosser, 1998; fragmented n=10 and cohesive n=10). Statistical analysis investigated ATAR (or equivalent), performance in first year biology, and median scores for attitudes to mathematics.
FINDINGS
The mathematics confidence of first year biology students with or without HSC maths, were not significantly different; noting 6.7% of the 2015 cohort and 2.8% of the 2018 cohort did not have HSC maths.
FUTURE
We argue that requiring mathematics is unlikely to lead to improved students’ attitudes to mathematics as building numeric confidence strategies that sit beyond simply ‘learning maths’.
KEYWORDS: object based learning, museum collections, archaeology, zoology,
BACKGROUND
Engaging students in the generation of digital 3D learning objects offers an interesting ‘students-as-partners’ opportunity (Healey et al., 2014). Both sides of the partnership arguably have similar levels of digital literacy, which makes for an equitable collaboration (Dimon et al., 2019). Co-creating 3D objects allows students to develop digital skills and fluency e.g. skills in scanning, photogrammetry, metatagging and curation of digital and actual objects. Offering core learning objects via platforms such as the Pedestal3D (2019), e.g. https://sydney.pedestal3d.com/, allows multiple students to have simultaneous, close, unsupervised access to virtual objects at any time. To date our work has sat across Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and the Faculty of Science, focusing on objects in museum collections.
ARGUMENT
Across STEAM we aspire to develop strategies that improve students’ digital fluencies and at the same time as accommodate different disciplinary perspectives. We advocate that students and staff work together to create a transdisciplinary educational virtual object repository to house existing educational collections of archaeological artefacts, botanical, zoological and geological specimens. Projects like this, where the selection of key pedagogic objects for scanning is discussed with students, supports active learning and reveals the hidden curriculum (Bergenhengouwe, 1987). The ‘value add’ is that this approach ensures digital objects and associated metadata can be accessed online so many of the issues of increasing class sizes and stretched resources are alleviated.
CONCLUSIONS
Small scale implementation by early adopters to co-create 3D objects is relatively simple. Support at the institutional level is less straightforward and this support is critical in order to implement sustainable strategies. What support can be reasonably expected from our institutions to support innovations that open up collaborative spaces and that foster technology-based transdisciplinary student partnerships?
KEYWORDS: zoology teaching and learning, digital collections management, object-based learning
BACKGROUND
The Haswell collection contains thousands of significant teaching-focused specimens amassed more than a hundred years ago by William Aitcheson Haswell, the first Professor of Zoology at the University of Sydney. The collection is unique for the quality of specimen preservation, its emphasis on Australian fauna, and the number of prominent Australian biologists who have contributed. The value of collections like Haswell’s are being reassessed by educators and scientists seeking to offer unique, authentic learning experiences for our Australian students. Offering the collection as an online searchable database, with key objects offered digitally, will allow the enormous value of this collection to teaching, research and scientific heritage to be realised.
APPROACHES
Over the past three years we have been conducting the first digital audit of Haswell’s historical collection, noting that our team includes undergraduates across biology and museum studies. The online catalogue we envisage will be based on the work undertaken for this audit and also offer photographs and interactive digital content e.g. 3D scans and gifs.
FINDINGS
Digitally repackaging Haswell collection offers contemporary reimagining of Haswell’s work and will not only support the learning of our local students, but allow Haswell’s legacy to be shared globally. Students have documented their respective learning journeys on social media (Haswell Project Team, 2016) and in this way our project adds to a discourse on students-as-partners via new media (Healy, Flint & Harrington, 2014; Rifkin, Longnecker, Leach & Davis, 2011), whereby students are major protagonists in digital repackagings of traditional teaching resources.
FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS
The final hurdle is to place the collection online, and here we are in negotiations with our University Library.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We thank the University of Sydney’s Chancellor’s Committee for funding. This paper is dedicated to A/Professor Roz Hinde.
REFERENCES
Haswell Project Team (2016). haswellmuseum. Retrieved from https://haswellmuseum.wordpress.com/
Healey, M., Flint, A., & Harrington, K. (2014). Engagement through partnership: students as partners in learning and teaching in higher education. Retrieved from: https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/engagement-through-partnership-students-partners-learning-and-teaching-higher-education
Rifkin, W., Longnecker, N., Leach, J., & Davis, L. (2011). Worried about engagement? Have students create 'New Media'. ACSME. Retrieved from: https://openjournals.library.sydney.edu.au/index.php/IISME/article/view/4797/5584
Studies over the past decade have shown that approx. 50% of life science students lack confidence in their mathematical abilities (Tariq, 2002; Quinnell & Wong, 2007; McMullan et al., 2012; Markovina et al., 2015), and as a result, often adopt a rigid attitude to learning mathematics. Students who adopt this ‘rigid attitude’ are likely to stumble in their biology studies, when emphasis is placed upon statistical and chemical calculations. It was hypothesised that this ‘rigidity’ (low confidence) would relate to lower academic performance in biology and mathematics.
Aims
This study was framed using the self-efficacy theory (Bandura, 1977) and aimed to determine whether low mathematical confidence amongst undergraduate biology students would relate to low academic performance in biology mathematics.
Design and methods
Students enrolled in an introductory biology course (n=254) at a major research focused university were surveyed as to their attitudes to mathematics, using a modified version of the Fennema-Sherman Attitude Scale (5-point Likert items). Based on their responses to the confidence sub-scale, students were categorised as either possessing ‘low’ (mean Likert score <3.5) or ‘high’ (>3.5) confidence, they were then matched to their mean final grades in mathematics and biology, and compared using a student’s independent samples t-test.
Results
No differences were found between students who possessed ‘low’ or ‘high’ mathematical confidence, in terms of mean final grades in biology. Interestingly, for mathematics, students who were categorised a possessing ‘high’ mathematical confidence, achieved significantly lower grades compared to those students who possessed ‘low’ mathematical confidence. In other words students who were less mathematically confident, achieved significantly higher grades relative to their more mathematically confident peers.
Conclusions
These results provide evidence in the country to the old adage ‘confidence is key’, at least for this population of students. It appears that students who possess lower mathematical confidence recognise this, and as such apply themselves more diligently to their studies, compared to those students who possess high mathematical confidence. It is clear that students possess a high degree of additional complexity, with regards to the learning of mathematics and biology.
Proceedings of the Australian Conference on Science and Mathematics Education, The University of Queensland, Sept 28th to 30th, 2016, page 1, ISBN Number 978-0-9871834-4-6.
References
Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological review, 84(2), 191.
Markovina, N. S., Poladian, L., LeBard, R., & Quinnell, R. (2015). Characterising the mathematical confidence of undergraduate biology students. Paper presented at the Creating the Future: Biosciences Education Australia Network, Canberra, ACT, Australia.
McMullan, M., Jones, R., & Lea, S. (2012). Math anxiety, self‐efficacy, and ability in British undergraduate nursing students. Research in nursing & health, 35(2), 178-186.
Quinnell, R., & Wong, E. (2007). Can intervention strategies engage biology students in their numeric skills development? Paper presented at the ISSoTL, Sydney.
Tariq, V. (2002). A decline in numeracy skills among bioscience undergraduates. Journal of Biological Education, 36(2), 76 - 83.
NOTE: The analysis offered here was carried out as an Honours project (student: N. Markovina, supervisors: R.Quinnell, L.Poladian, R.LeBard). These data were collected as part of a larger project (CI: Quinnell) and this project is ongoing.
Regardless of subject, students saw numeracy as a problem in Physics, Medicine and Biology, with specific issues being: i) maths anxiety ii) difficulty with interpreting data iii) reconciling observations and experimental data with theory2. There are striking parallels in how students in each of the sub-disciplines have responded to question: "what was it about learning in this course did you find to be problematic?" and the characteristics of practitioners on these same disciplines as described by Biglan1. For example, students of Medicine focused on how relevant the content of their statistics course was to their overall study, whereas students in Biology were grappling with the complexity of understanding a living system. The Higher Education sector has undergone changes over the past few decades3. There is now a greater number of vocational degrees being offered where 'relevance' is almost prerequisite to learning, and a more diverse student body with equally diverse experiences of mathematics prior to entry into university. These changes in the Higher Education sector highlight as concerns the issues of: i) 'relevance' in relation to how students in an applied discipline view numeracy, and ii) students using mathematics to understand concepts in sciences. One of the challenges we will need to address as we face this more diverse student body enrolled in vocationally-focused degree programs will be the increasing number of students for whom numeracy is a threshold.
By examining numeracy across science sub-disciplines we are identifying places where students are getting stuck as they begin to practice science. We have a view that by examining our practices within our discipline territories3, we will be able to map where the learning thresholds of our students are occurring. We think that our work may provide some necessary clues to devise teaching approaches to better connect students with the discipline by addressing issues with academic numeracy. References:
1. Biglan, A. 1973. Relationships between subject matter characteristics and the structure & output of university departments. Journal of Applied Psychology, 57: 204-213.
2. LeBard, R, Micolich, A, Thompson, R & Quinnell, R. 2009. Identifying common thresholds in learning for students working in the ‘hard’ discipline of Science. Proceedings of the 2009 Uniserve Science conference Motivating Science Undergraduates: Ideas and Interventions : 72 - 77. http://science.uniserve.edu.au/ images/content/2009_papers/LeBard.pdf
3. Becher, T and Trowler, P. (2001). Academic Tribes and Territories: intellectual enquiry and the cultures of disciplines (2nd edition). Buckingham: Open University Press/SRHE.
Justification: our work addresses the theme of ‘exploring transformative dimensions’ by focusing on how students begin to learn our discipline practices in Science. We will offer some examples of changes to teaching and assessment practices to improve student engagement with understanding how to operate within our discipline.
Proceedings of the Australian Conference for Science and Mathematics Education, Sept 29 - 30, 2014. p 71. The University of Sydney. ISBN 978-0-9871834-3-9.
School of Biological Sciences, The University of Sydney; Faculty of Science, University of Technology Sydney
Proceedings of the Australian Conference for Science and Mathematics Education, Sept 29 - 30, 2014. p 76-77. The University of Sydney. ISBN 978-0-9871834-3-9.
Proceedings of the Australian Conference for Science and Mathematics Education, Sept 29 - 30, 2014. p 127-133. The University of Sydney. ISBN 978-0-9871834-3-9.
This study aimed to assess the perceptions of staff and students as to the type of support required to complete a technology-based assessment task effectively and whether students see the value to their own learning in the creation of videos to explain complex biological phenomona to their peers. The post-assessment survey responses revealed a level of satisfaction with the project, but it also revealed several shortcomings, particularly in communication, planning and implementation, and the design of the individual projects.This intervention is a good example of how using new technologies in teaching can lead to clear learning and teaching benefits such as increased student engagement and improved student understanding.
We audited 118 laboratory reports in from second year molecular biology students to assess students’ abilities to correctly record and calculate data, appropriately present data, and clearly explain the representation of their data. Each of these abilities were linked to criteria in the report marking scheme students had been provided and for the purpose of our audit, graded as to whether the students completed the task poorly or not at all (1), adequately with some errors (2), or correctly and clearly (3). The data showed that a high proportion of students could not complete these tasks correctly and confirms that students have difficulty moving between the phenomena they observe and its abstract presentation. Having identified and quantified where students are having difficulties, we will use this information to inform the design of an online learning module to improve the conceptual linkages between a) an observed scientific phenomenon, b) the experimental data c) how these data are presented and d) interpreted. We expect to be able to determine the efficacy of this approach by re-auditing laboratory reports, after the online module is in place.
Seeing our students fail to comprehend the basics of the statistics taught using a more traditional ‘statistics-centric’ method we independently reviewed our courses. We detected particular areas of difficulty in our student’s learning, including numeracy skills as they are practiced in the discipline and threshold concepts1. We will argue that the unpicking of threshold concepts and focusing on the applied relevance of the concepts greatly assisted in improving our students’ understanding. Further, this paper explores how disciplinary factors may assist our students to cross the various thresholds that they encounter, be they generic or applied. This ‘tour-guide’ approach will be illustrated by showing how we use a network of three overarching threshold concepts delineated for medical statistics that link together multiple threshold concepts of generic and applied theory with other key concepts.
The intriguing finding of this re-developing of the statistics teaching for these courses was a recognition that as non-statisticians teaching statistics we have a unique view of how our students are learning statistics as we experienced this same process as non-statistician undergraduates. We were not very “statistically minded”, we found it hard to think in a statistical manner and we both struggled initially with statistical concepts. Although students of statistics and biology may both encounter similar obstacles when learning statistics, i.e. as they manipulate datasets, calculate probability and make statistical interferences, students of biology are required to extend beyond the statistical meaning of their analyses to the meaning that is coherent with the discipline, including critiquing experimental design. Notably, it is the application of statistics that distinguishes our students’ learning. Consequently, students of mathematics appear to find interest and relevance in the statistics themselves; whereas we see that those from life sciences find understanding and relevance in the biological and medical explanatory narratives used as well as the inferences that follow from their statistical findings. We have found stumbling points in learning both pure and applied statistical concepts which statisticians may not perceive for our students. As discipline experts teaching statistics to our students we are able to identify the threshold concepts and troublesome language that our students have difficulty with and have enhanced the teaching of applied elements to increase the relevance and clarify the key concepts. We view ourselves akin to “tour guides” assisting students as they traverse the statistics landscape on route to destination back in their home disciplines, thus making this troublesome subject more accessible, more acceptable and more easily understood by the discipline based student.
i Quinnell R. & Thompson R. 2010. Re-viewing academic numeracy in the tertiary education sector as a threshold concept. In Land, Meyer, & Baillie (Eds) Threshold Concepts within the Disciplines. Sense Publishers. Forthcoming.
This applications included two case studies. Case study 1 addressed Botanical Literacy using m-learning and described how I have extended the approach taken for botanical literacy into a means to engage with the development of cultural competence. Case study 2 focused on my leadership where I have mentored teaching-constrained colleagues to find their own career opportunities in order to reimagine their career pathways.
Project description: OurFlora is contextualised for the future when our 'life sciences' students who will be operating in emerging transdisciplinary areas where knowledge of the fundamentals of botany are required and where scientists and citizens will have developed a range of cultural sensitivities. In their future work, our students will be required to advise on how best to establish and sustain the global green economy. The digital economy and the green economy have been flagged as employment growth areas (Dept Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education, 2010). Beyond the sciences, the scope of the project is proving to be dynamic and new directions are rapidly emerging, and many of these new directions will be realised with broader adoption of this technology to allow all kinds of geolocated narratives to be offered. Imagine the benefits to the community if councils could map the trees and plants in our parks and on our streets? We are entering a new and important phase where western science is working synergistically with indigenous knowledge systems. For example, in the areas of indigenous astrophysics and in traditional medicines. Emerging economies and the new focus on combining traditional and contemporary knowledge systems intersect with our unique vegetation. We need ways to leverage new technologies to improve engagement with our flora, and methods to increase awareness and appreciation of indigenous science (http://www.indigilab.com.au/what-is-indigenous-science/), language and culture.
"Botanical knowledge is critical for monitoring and mitigating the effects of climate change, shoring up food security and for developing cultural competence in our community. What if, with each passing generation, we, as a community, knew less and less about plants? Despite most of us knowing that plants photosynthesise and produce oxygen for us to breath, we seem to know little else. OurFlora offers a collaborative way to learn botanical and cultural narratives of the street trees in your suburb, and for school children to learn aboriginal words from stories that have been connected to the land for thousands of year. OurFlora. Our solution."
Developer Website: https://campusflora.wordpress.com/
WebApp: http://campusflora.sydneybiology.org/ > the Patyegarang Trail offers the botanical vocabulary of the Sydney Aboriginal Language
iOS App: https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/campus-flora/id918408102
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.universityofsydney.campusflora&hl=en
The CampusFlora Team
Project lead: Rosanne Quinnell
iOS and RubyOnRails: Xiaolong Wang, Lachlan Pettit, Angela Pursey, Nic Barker, Caroline Cheung, Grant Zeng, Matthew Pye, Satyendra Sinha,
Android App: Scott Dong, Alex Ling, Simon Baeg, Liam Huang, Kevin Ahn, Michael Johnston, Ahmed Jamal Shadid.
High and low |
Ebb and flow |
||
The shore, both land and sea |
Incrementally terrestrial |
Incrementally marine |
||
Churning changing |
Intriguing |
Fluid |
This place draws me in.
Thank you for the shade and |
Thank you for your taste |
||
Thank you for housing all of the critters, |
The birds, the bees, koalas and invertebrates in your litter. |
||
Thank you for your flowers signalling when seasons change |
Marking times joy and grief, |
Assuaging my pain. |
||
Medicine and fibres |
So many gifts for free |
There is little wonder |
My favourite colour is green.
They hide.
Stopped by |
learnt fear. |
Coaxing |
Enticing |
with biological patterns |
piquing |
curiosity |
And love of number.
No legs, 4 legs, 6 legs, 8. |
Caught |
Kept |
Coded |
Curated |
Alive again |
Online.
Busy as bees |
Snapping species |
in the trees |
||
A urban jungle |
Shared in the cloud |
Reflecting the crawlies |
that visit our grounds.
CDIP Ref. 2018-080
These apps are freely available and this is an ‘open source’ project with respect to the developer code. CDIP Ref. 2017-026
NOTE: android app currently unavailable
Our CampusFlora system offers the ability to create trails so users can interact with the vegetation according to ‘themes’; the unique aspect is the interactivity of the map, the selection of groups of plants (families, trails). We have developed processes to update the information in the database (that is downloaded with the App); the system software has been designed to be shared so others can deploy their own Flora Apps.
The CampusFlora software is available under OpenSource (GPLv3) licence so other institutions and organisations including schools, golf courses, local authorities etc can render their own App to share their flora.
Our software has allowed us to offer a CampusFlora at the University of Sydney as:
1. iPhone app (Quinnell, Pye, Pettit, Cheung, Wang; iOS v1.3 was updated by Sinha, S. Cheung C, Pettit L and Quinnell R);
2. webApp (Barker, N), and,
3. Android App: developed by Computer Science students (Faculty of Engineering) as their 'capstone project': Ling, A., Shadid, A., Johnston, M., Huang, X., Woo, YB., Dong, XJ. and Ahn, S-Y (supervisor Quinnell R.).
High and low
Ebb and flow
The shore, both land and sea
Incrementally terrestrial
Incrementally marine
Churning changing
Intriguing
Fluid
This place draws me in.
With this in mind the Campus Flora project was developed as a partnership between staff and undergraduates at the University of Sydney. It is an App designed to address the issue of ‘plant blindness’ (lack of awareness of plants) by introducing people to plants that they encounter in their daily life. Campus Flora provides educational information, relevant for a novice or expert, and offers botanical narratives via ‘trails’ using the botanical resources within the campus landscape.
CampusFlora builds on this botanical framework to offer broader learning experiences. Firstly, it leverages off the innovative ‘anywhere and anytime’ mobile technology, to pique the interest of technology-savvy students. Secondly, the project also engages with ecology students, or any life-long learners. For example, CampusFlora is used as a complementary tool to improve the plant identification skills needed to record phenological observations for a citizen science program called ClimateWatch. The Campus Flora app offers exciting future prospects; from its inception it has been developed to be an open system, shareable across institutions and platforms. A network of Campus Floras is being planned that through partnerships, will enable students to collaborate on large-scale studies in urban ecology.
BACKGROUND: WHAT THE PAPERS SAY.
In recent years there have been concerning headlines in the media that speak to the pervasiveness of the maths problem through Australian science, technology and mathematics (STEM) education from primary to tertiary. The Australian Financial Review referred to ‘Australia’s maths crisis’ (Mather, 2015) in reference to the 15-year trend of Australian school students' continuing poor performance in international testing. This 15-year trend aligns with the ‘20-year decline in science and maths education’ (Phillips, 2015). The Conversation tells us ‘Aspiring teachers [are] abandoning HSC maths’ (Smith, 2015) so that those intending to teach at school are not gaining the basics during their own school education and so are likely to struggle with gaining adequate maths expertise to be able to teach it and there appears to be no incentive to study maths when ‘HSC maths: students studying advanced maths [are] stung with lower marks in ATAR’ (Bagshaw, 2015). This headline ‘Science graduates are not that hot at maths – but why?’ (Matthews, 2014) refers to the lack of sound numeracy skills our science graduates demonstrate. If nothing else, these headlines tell us that the maths problem as it manifests in tertiary life science teaching and learning is both complex and of concern to the public at large.
MATHS IN CONTEXT: WHERE BIOLOGY MEETS MATHS
So where does that leave teachers in the higher education sector who rely on schools to provide the mathematics foundations for non-maths STEM disciplines, particularly in the Life Sciences, were the synergies between Mathematics and Biology seem less obvious students than the between, say, Mathematics and Physics? In Biology we require students to confidently transfer their numeracy skills, rather than their maths anxiety, to our discipline area and we require students to develop the discipline-specific numeric sensitivities.
Given the complexity of both the Maths Problem and numeracy skills transfer, solutions to address these will need be complexity and to be as pervasive as the problem itself. Our work to date (e.g. Quinnell, Thompson & LeBard, 2013) has been largely theoretical and focussed on characterising learning and teaching thresholds and discipline sensitivities in academic numeracy for biology students. Sensitivities are interesting and in the context of numeracy include: 1) the use of engineering notation rather strict scientific notation in some Life Science disciplines such as physiology; and 2) the use of unit of measure prefixes in molecular biology and biochemistry so students in general biology must be, or become, proficient in switching between engineering notation and unit of measure prefixes. We need to not only provide numeracy support that has been contextualised for the discipline with the aim to develop sensitivities but the support materials ought to address issues such as maths anxiety and/or poor numeric confidence.
FUTURE DIRECTIONS: SHARABLE AND ADAPTABLE SOLUTIONS
We have now begun to storyboard an online diagnostic and learning analytics feedback system that can be repurposed, or "reinvented", by others. Learning analytics in systems such as SmartSparrow [https://www.smartsparrow.com/] or Numbas [http://www.numbas.org.uk/] will allow easy identification of threshold learning areas, or learning obstacles which are where most students stuck. Critical to this initiative will be allow for students to access a level of learning analytics to track their progress with development of numeracy skills, discipline sensitivities and confidence.
REFERENCES
Bagshaw, E. (2015, May 19). HSC maths: students studying advanced maths stung with lower marks in ATAR. The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved June 10, 2015, from http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/hsc-maths-students-studying-advanced-maths-stung-with-lower-marks-in-atar-20150519-gh45ox.html
Mather, J., & Tadros, E. (2014, June 7). Australia’s maths crisis. The Australian Financial Review. Retrieved June 10, 2015, from http://www.afr.com/news/policy/education/australias-maths-crWoSs-20140606-iwfn1
Matthews, K. (2014, September 29). Science graduates are not that hot at maths – but why? The Conversation. Retrieved June 10, 2015, from http://theconversation.com/science-graduates-are-not-that-hot-at-maths-but-why-32021
Phillips, N. (2014, October 6). 20-year decline in year 12 science and maths participation. The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved June 10, 2015, from http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/20year-decline-in-year-12-science-and-maths-participation-study-finds-20141006-10qvq2.html
Quinnell, R., Thompson, R., & LeBard, R. (2013). It's not maths; it's science: exploring thinking dispositions, learning thresholds and mindfulness in science learning. International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology, 44(6), 808-816. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0020739X.2013.800598
Smith, A. (2015). Aspiring teachers abandoning HSC maths. The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved June 10, 2015, from http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/aspiring-teachers-abandoning-hsc-maths-20150213-13drr7.html
Research/evaluation method: Our focus is to examine student disengagement with learning in biology due to low levels of numeric confidence and when students revert to being ‘pre-liminal’. This behaviour limits opportunities to develop discipline sensitivities, which are critical for students to move from ‘novice’ to ‘expert’ in biology.
Outcomes : Students are more likely to engage in ‘biomaths’ if 1) they see the relevance of the maths to biology, 2) they are shown where learning blocks are occurring and 3) they acknowledge that confidence, rather than maths skills is the problem and are helped to overcome this.
Biggs, J., Kember, D. & Leung, D.Y.P. (2001) The revised Two-factor Study Process Questionnaire: R-SPQ-2F British Journal of Educational Psychology, 71, 133-149.
Ramsden, P. (1991). A performance indicator of teaching quality in Higher Education: The Course Experience Questionnaire. Studies in Higher Education 16(2), 129–150.
Quinnell, R., May, E., Peat, M. & Taylor, C. (2005) Creating a reliable instrument to assess students’ conceptions of studying biology at tertiary level. Proceedings of Blended Learning in Science Teaching and Learning Symposium. Sydney, NSW: UniServe Science, 87–92. Retrieved February 4, 2010, from http://science.uniserve.edu.au/pubs/procs/wshop10/2005Quinnell.pdf
While mathematics can be enabling, we postulate that the transfer of numeracy skills can be inhibited by a transfer in “maths anxiety”, a “transferable anxiety”, that doesn’t appear unique to a particular discipline. In the classroom, this often translates to a hierarchical standoff: “I can’t do maths” versus “they can’t do maths”. Students who default to this position are at risk of not engaging in our practice as they have adopted a thinking disposition where a lack of depth in understanding has been previously legitimised i.e. if they retain the static position long enough, the educator will eventually offer a worked solution.
We have identified and compared inclinations and assessed students’ abilities across three disciplines within science. We have been able to map these onto the Perkins et al. (1993) framework of “triadic thinking dispositions” and offer descriptions of the sensitivities, inclinations and abilities that place students “at risk” of not engaging in numeric activities. We have designed a diagnostic tool to help students understand and self-challenge their level of confidence in numeracy. We postulate from the tool’s evaluation, on the success of this learning activity in helping students cross the liminal space and also posit how this might improve our students’ ability to transfer their numeracy skills and confidence more readily across disciplines.
Regardless of subject, students saw numeracy as a problem in Physics, Medicine and Biology, with specific issues being: i) maths anxiety ii) difficulty with interpreting data iii) reconciling observations and experimental data with theory2. There are striking parallels in how students in each of the sub-disciplines have responded to question: "what was it about learning in this course did you find to be problematic?" and the characteristics of practitioners on these same disciplines as described by Biglan1. For example, students of Medicine focused on how relevant the content of their statistics course was to their overall study, whereas students in Biology were grappling with the complexity of understanding a living system.The Higher Education sector has undergone changes over the past few decades3. There is now a greater number of vocational degrees being offered where 'relevance' is almost pre-requisite to learning, and a more diverse student body with equally diverse experiences of mathematics prior to entry into university. These changes in the Higher Education sector highlight as concerns the issues of: i) 'relevance' in relation to how students in an applied discipline view numeracy, and ii) students using mathematics to understand concepts in sciences. One of the challenges we will need to address as we face this more diverse student body enrolled in vocationally-focused degree programs will be the increasing number of students for whom numeracy is a threshold.
By examining numeracy across science sub-disciplines we are identifying places where students are getting stuck as they begin to practice science. We have a view that by examining our practices within our discipline territories3, we will be able to map where the learning thresholds of our students are occurring. We think that our work may provide some necessary clues to devise teaching approaches to better connect students with the discipline by addressing issues with academic numeracy.
References:
1. Biglan, A. 1973. Relationships between subject matter characteristics and the structure & output of university departments. Journal of Applied Psychology, 57: 204-213.
2. LeBard, R, Micolich, A, Thompson, R & Quinnell, R. 2009. Identifying common thresholds in learning for students working in the ‘hard’ discipline of Science. Proceedings of the 2009 Uniserve Science conference Motivating Science Undergraduates: Ideas and Interventions: 72 - 77. http://science.uniserve.edu.au/images/content/2009_papers/LeBard.pdf
3. Becher, T and Trowler, P. (2001). Academic Tribes and Territories: intellectual enquiry and the cultures of disciplines (2nd edition). Buckingham: Open University Press/SRHE.
The SSEP provides secondary school students with an insight into university campus life and how research is conducted via their participation in a research project, under the mentorship of science PhD students. Since its inception three years ago, the program has obtained consistently positive feedback from the participants. However, in order to better understand the benefits of such a program, this paper investigates the program’s perceived educational benefits for these students through pre- and post-program surveys. The program’s effectiveness will be defined in terms of (a) students’ interest in science; (b) providing an authentic scientific experience, (c) introduction to campus life, and (d) increased interest in tertiary study, tertiary study of science and study at UNSW.
Here, we share our experiences in developing and coordinating the program, and evaluating its success in achieving the above objectives. Discussion will focus on exploring the usefulness of such programs to reinvigorate interest in tertiary study in science, and the feasibility of expanding the program.
Student approaches to learning can vary widely, from a surface approach to meaningful, deep learning practices. Differences in approach may be related to other aspects of the learning experience, such as students’ conceptions of the subject being learned and their prior experiences with the subject. The recent changes in the NSW HSC syllabi are therefore of vital interest to researchers of tertiary-level teaching and learning, as the 2002 cohort will be the first student intake to have experienced this new scheme in the majority of their high-school studies.
Crawford et al. (1998) developed a survey instrument to examine links between the learning approaches of first-year university mathematics students and their accounts of their experiences in studying mathematics. We are employing a similar instrument in a longitudinal study to examine the different experiences (prior and current) and approaches (surface to deep) of students enrolled in first-year physics and biology in 2001, 2002 and beyond.
In this paper we present qualitative and quantitative analyses of the survey responses from the 2001 intake (the last group of students experiences with the old HSC syllabus), and discuss the relationships that exist between students’ approaches to learning, their conceptions of physics/biology, their assessment of their learning environment and their achievement in assessment. These results form the first phase of our examination of the effects of changes to the HSC syllabi. Relationships between these variables also address important research questions about student learning and provide useful feedback for the evaluation of our first-year units of study.
Crawford, K., Gordon, S., Nicholas, J. and Prosser, M. “Qualitatively Different Experiences of Learning Mathematics at University”, Leaning and Instruction, 8, 455–468 (1998).
and in the workplace. Educators now acknowledge the place of key skills in degree program curricula. ln turn, curricula have been re-described largely to make it more transparent which of the graduate attribute(s) is(are) are important and therefore which are being targeted for development in a particular unit of study, degree program, School etc. The question for educators then becomes: how to better engage students in their skills development?; and then how to measure the effectiveness of these mechanisms so as to critically review assessment tasks to determine how they address skills development, such as
written communication skills. Two strategies for encouraging biology students to engage with developing their numeracy and writing proficiency, and the subsequent evaluation of these strategies, are presented.
Quinnell, R., et al., 2009. eBot: an image bank of Australian flora. In Same places, different spaces. Proceedings ascilite Auckland 2009.
Quinnell R et al., 2008. In: Proceedings of the Symposium Visualisation and Concept Development, October 2-3, UniServe Science, Sydney p 86-90)
Virtual Microscope in Teaching and Research was a successful Faculty Specific Research and Education Program (FREIP) grant application; an application I authored with J. Slapetta in Fac Vet Science.
More details see "Talks&Seminars" and my publications. The ELN project I worked on was support at the national level by an ALTC (now OLT) grant; the project itself has international input from Thailand and UK. The UK partner was Southampton University, which is where LabTrove was developed.
The link below takes you to the project ELN "OurExperiment". I opted to have a part that was 'open-access', which is really quite confronting.
After a series of practical classes in plant anatomy, students are provided with a native seedling undertake their own study. Up until 2012, students recorded their findings as map diagrams, now students generate micrographs and annotate these for their .ppt presentation that they deliver to the rest of the class.
In short, students were asked to choose their own essay topic in the area of plant ecology and diversity and then to proceed with writing a first draft. These first drafts were then distributed to class with each students being asked to review two essays.
Rare Bites is a series of lunchtime lectures showcasing treasures and some lesser-known gems from Rare Books & Special Collections at the University Library.
Learning about the world around us involves observing and recognising the patterns. In science, learning is about sharing and challenging “the what” and “the how” of our observations through discussion within the classroom and with the scientific community at large.
Join Associate Professor Rosanne Quinnell from Life and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science discussing Botanische Wandatafeln - a series of technical scientific illustrations (1874-1911) distributed globally as teaching tools to support student learning in botany.
Reliance on these illustrations of resources fell out favour for a number of reasons including the advent of digital imaging which coincided with the explosion in the number of online resources (including the University’s eBOT collection). Re-utilising Leopold Kny’s series in a digital platform allows for an enriched dialogue about how science, in general, and botany, is communicated.
Associate Professor Rosanne Quinnell is from Life and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science. Dr Quinnell’s research and teaching focus on plant sciences and the use of technology-enhanced solutions to improve student learning e.g. Botany, Zoology and Human Biology virtual microscopy slide collections, eBOT botanical image repository, electron laboratory notebooks, CampusFlora apps.
*presenting author"
Quinnell R, Lebard R, Thompson R. 2012. Academic Numeracy: Challenging Thinking Dispositions to Enable Students to Enter and Cross the Liminal Space. Special interest seminar: Connections - Threshold concepts. UNSW 2012 Nov, 12.
Here I described the challenges of implementing a virtual microscope across the University of Sydney campus so as to address the teaching needs of the faculties.
Presenters: Brynn Hibbert and Douglas Duffy (University of New South Wales, Australia) and Rosanne Quinnell (University of Sydney)
Hosted by Professor Geoffrey Crisp, RMIT University, Australia starting 16:30 Adelaide time (time zone = GMT+ 10.30).
This session is about Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) in undergraduate science education with discussion of using the ELN in multi-institution collaborations.
The archive is 1 hour duration (including post session discussion).
Quinnell R et al., 2004, SoBS TComm Learning materials T+L grants, 2004, Oxygen electrodes ~$10 000
Quinnell R, May E, 2005, Digital video camera: : to enable continued developments $1 500
May E, Quinnell R, 2005, Microscopy imaging devices for class use Successful
SoBS TComm computer development T+L grants:
Quinnell R et al. 2005, Successful: Extending and aligning the existing online laboratory report writing program in biological sciences Successful
Quinnell R et al., 2005, Successful: Target date for completion prior to semester 2 commencing To improve flexible delivery of ICT learning resources in Plant Form and Function (PLNT2003/2903) (CD of Plant Science learning resources) $2 000
May E, Quinnell R, 2005 To improve, via a web portal, the dissemination of curriculum information in the School of Biological Sciences (Designing undergraduate UoS website). $2 000
Quinnell R. et al., 2005, Successful: resources currently gathered. Quizzes designed for WebCT, To improve numeracy confidence of students enrolled in PLNT2001 Plant Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (WebCT calculations/numeracy support for PLNT2001) $2 000
May E, Quinnell R, 2005, Successful Preparation of interactive program on microscope use $2 000
Co-chairs:Mandy Lacy, Aida Yalcin
Mobile technologies have enormous potential to engage students with discipline field practices and academic literacies of these disciplines. With this in mind, a team of students and staff in the School of Biological Sciences has recently released an iPhone app to support student learning in Botany through the University’s AppStore. This workshop will be of interest to those interested in developing educational Apps and questions for discussion are:
• what are the best ways to ensure the sustainability of these learning initiatives?
• what are the best ways to share the University’s expertise on App developments?
• what is evaluation ‘best practice’ for learning developments using mobile technologies?
We have developed and employed a survey instrument to examine student learning experiences of first-year physics and biology students. The aim of the instrument is to measure student’s approaches to learning, conceptions of their subject and perceptions of their learning environment. Students are surveyed at the beginning and end of their first semester to examine whether these variables have changed after a semester of university studies. This information will be particularly useful in evaluating whether tertiary courses should change to satisfy the needs of students trained under the new HSC syllabus.
The survey instrument is based on the Likert-scale learning process questionnaire (Biggs, 1978) and a conceptions of a subject questionnaire (Crawford et al., 1998), which have been used successfully to examine mathematics students’ learning experiences (Crawford et al., 1998). We have adapted and developed the questionnaires for use in biology and physics at USYD and in physics at UTS. We have also formulated open-ended questions to investigate particular discipline-based issues.
The twofold aim of the workshop is to discuss how the survey has been situated into the different disciplines, and to describe the process of analysis. Firstly, we will describe the survey development from existing research data in each discipline and discuss issues of consistency that arose after the survey was administered. A comparison of pre- and post-survey design will be presented. Participants will have an opportunity to adapt the survey to their discipline and to discuss issues that arise. Secondly, we will discuss the methods of analysis, including the pseudo-phenomenographic method of analysing qualitative data. The analysis can be carried out in the framework of deep or surface approaches to learning and cohesive or fragmented perceptions of the discipline. Participants will have an opportunity to categorise some typical responses and discuss the categories of responses.
The workshop will end with a discussion forum.
Biggs, J., (1979). Student approaches to leaning and studying, Hawthorn, Victoria: Australian Council for Education Research.
Crawford, K., Gordon, S., Nicholas, J. and Prosser, M.(1998). Qualitatively Different Experiences of Learning Mathematics at University. Leaning and Instruction, 8, 455-468.
Two malic enzymes were present soluble extracts bacteroids and cultured cells of Bradyrhizobium japonicum USDA110 and CB1809. Bradyrhizobium japonicum USDA110 cultures were used in an induction study which showed that C4-dicarboxylates, malate and succinate, are able to support rapid growth when compared to glutamate, arabinose and pyruvate. Both enzymes were present with all carbon sources tested, but NAD-malic enzyme activity was enhanced in the presence of C4-dicarboxylates as was the TCA cycle enzyme, malate dehydrogenase. The coordinated fluctuations of NAD-malic enzyme with malate dehydrogenase infers that NAD-malic enzyme has role in catabolism similar malate dehydrogenase. NADP-malic enzyme activity was high in the absence of C4-dicarboxylates as was that of ß -hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase. NADP-malic enzyme, therefore, may have an important role in anabolism or carbon storage.
NAD-malic enzyme was purified to electrophoretic homogeneity (approximately 4,000 fold) from B. japonicum CB1809. Purification steps included ammonium sulfate precipitation (30- 50% fraction being retained), gel filtration and affinity chromatography (Reactive Blue-2-sepharose and Orange A). An estimate of the level of purification of NADP-malic enzyme was not possible due the presence of NAD-malic enzyme in the preliminary stages of the purification protocol; NAD-malic enzyme displayed a degree of non-specificity with regard to pyridine nucleotide cofactor (specificity constant NAD/NADP = 56.1). Native molecular weights of both enzymes were estimated using gel filtration: 350 and 60 kDa for NAD- and NADP-malic enzyme, respectively. SDS-PAGE revealed NAD-malic enzyme to have a subunit molecular weight of 78 kDa; in its native state is likely to be a tetramer.
Kinetic analysis of the purified NAD-malic enzyme showed it to have a Kms of 0.14 mM and 2.5 mM for NAD and malate, respectively, and a Vmax of 5.1 mmol.min-1.mg-1 protein. Kinetic analysis of the purified NADP-malic enzyme gave Kms of 21 µM for NADP and 0.16 mM for malate, with NADP-malic enzyme being more sensitive and undergoing mixed inhibition (Ki = 0.45 mM, KI = 4.5 mM) when compared to NAD-malice enzyme where inhibition was competitive (Ki = 3.4 mM).
Inhibition by NADPH again showed NADP-malic enzyme to be more sensitive to product inhibition (Ki = 0.01 mM) but here the mode of inhibition was competitive. On the other hand, NADH caused mixed inhibition of NAD-malic enzyme (Ki = 0.045 mM, KI = 0.37 mM). Other differences occurred between NAD- and NADP malic enzyme: pH optima (7.3 and 8.0, respectively) and Mn2+ optima (2.0 mM and 1.0 mM, respectively). An NAD/NADH ratio of 2.23 resulted in 50% inhibition of NAD-malic enzyme activity; for NADP-malic enzyme, 50% inhibition of activity occurred an NADP/NADPH ratio of 1.9. The respective NAD(P)/NAD(P)H ratios for each malic enzyme are potentially important regulatory factors vivo.
The in vitro experiments presented here indicate that NAD malic enzyme activity is dependent on high malate supply and requires the ETC and TCA cycle to operate, thereby maintaining a high NAD/NADH. The ETC and hence TCA cycle will be inhibited when O2 supply to the bacteroids is low. NADP-malic enzyme has higher affinity for malate than NAD-malic enzyme and can therefore operate under these conditions when malate supply is low. In addition, NADP malic enzyme does not require the TCA cycle and ETC to the operating to utilise its products. NADPH and pyruvate produced by NADP-malic enzyme can be directed to poly-ß- hydroxybutyrate (carbon storage) when bacteroid respiration is restricted. Accumulation of poly- ß -hydroxybutyrate is considered to be important in the latter stages of the symbiosis to sustain nitrogen fixation into the seed growth phase of plant development.
https://haswellmuseum.wordpress.com/2017/02/06/turning-haswell-specimens-into-gifs-for-sharing/
Developing botanical literacy in undergraduate sciences students requires exposure to the words we use in Botany, some of which can be different from their everyday meaning (e.g. pungent and habit) and can be challenging because of botanical literacy’s evil twin, plant blindness. Teaching approaches that embrace: the trend that learners ‘bring your own’ mobile devices to class and offering resources via these devices can be extremely useful for formal study during class and outside of class hours, the use of emerging research technologies in the classroom as powerful strategies to engage students (Twitter, Socrative, YouTube) offer technically interesting resources which, because they are accessible via mobile devices, increase the likelihood of students engaging and learning. http://blog.aspb.org/2017/01/31/botanyonline-shared-learning-support-resources-for-improving-botanical-literacy/
New WP site for Zoology - https://sydneyzoology.wordpress.com/zoology-virtual-slidebox/
New WP site for Botany - https://sydneybotany.wordpress.com/botany-slidebox/
New WP site for Human Biology - https://humanbiologysydney.wordpress.com/human-biology-slidebox/
August - Sept 2014
This was one of nine 'Fellow' positions focused in championing the scholarship of learning and teaching at the level of the Faculty/College (with one Fellow in each Faculty/College) and to foster scholarly trans-disciplinary collaborations.