Tag: C.U.R.E

Well, we’re moving along. A quarter of the way done. Week 3 was fairly uneventful as we had Labor Day on Monday and no class. Wednesday’s class focused on muscle physiology and energetics. The last time I taught the class, this was a long lecture to get through as students varied in how much muscle physiology they had in previous courses. This year, since we’re mostly remote anyway, I decided to pre-record part of the lecture, focused on sliding filament theory of contraction. I had two portions ~20 minutes each I prerecorded. This way, students familiar with the material could review it quickly. Those unfamiliar with it could spend more time with it. In class, we picked up where the pre-recorded material left off and focused on how muscles vary in their force production, from the cellular level up to whole-muscles. Only one small assignment due for the week, since there was no class on Monday, focused on students submitted two observations from nature on factors that might affect animal movement. Some examples included temperature, predation, and wind. One student had a great video of a dragonfly hovering over his car in the wind.

Week 4 was a full week, meaning we had class on Monday and Wed. On Monday 3 students came in for face-face activities. Note that anyone still planning to come to campus has to get another Covid test, which is good. Students had an assignment to use some R code to get some basic kinematics/performance data from their digitized point they submitted previously. I have learned from the first time, that this is one of the biggest hurdles. Some students have experiences with R, some do not. Some have Mac, some PC. So, my plan was a live tutorial and trouble-shooting segment. Which seemed to work well. After our live session, students on campus went to the Glen to see what they could collect and film. We brought back some sharp shooters, crickets, a moth, and a damselfly. Students then practiced using the cameras to get videos of animals moving.

Wednesday’s class had a lecture focused on terrestrial locomotion followed by our second Scientist Spotlight with Dr. Ryan St. Pierre, a mechanical engineer from Carnegie Mellon University working on micro-robots. Before class I had virtual office hours, where several students and I did some more troubleshooting in R, but got most of it working. Lecture was not one of my best, as I rushed it. Being virtual doesn’t help as it is hard to gauge how much students are understanding. Having the Spotlight at 4 meant I kept my eye on the time, trying to cover everything (I know, rookie mistake). And, I extended the invite to the Spotlight to our Introduction to Research Methods students as well as some others, who started popping in to the waiting room way too early, distracting me. Luckily I remembered to pause between material and a student asked to review. The Scientist Spotlight was great, these are becoming some of my favorite activities this semester. We had about 50 students join us and learned how Dr. St. Pierre draws inspiration from insect locomotion to make micro robots. We do not have an engineering program here, so I think it was great for students to see this side of applied Biology. They also had some great questions. A definite pro of the week.

Some cons of the week. It is difficult this semester being remote/hybrid, who knows. I am concerned for some students that aren’t keeping up or getting lost, as it is hard to talk to them in class and check on them. It is a choose your own adventure. Some are doing most of it asynchronous, a few come in for face-face, most are synchronous and virtual. Not easy to manage. I’ve been sending emails out, but its different than being in person. Students are anxious about the final paper, I’m nervous about projects. I think this can work remotely, but I’m not sure. they have to submit initial project ideas next week, which is when we’ll reassess. I’ve also added a new hat to wear, postal service, as I am shipping out supplies to students working from home. Included in the kits are an insect net, butterfly cage with viewing window, plastic cage, ruler, and grid paper. The “basics” to film animals. ULA Karlina made some videos on how to make DIY tripods so they can film at home. So, we’ll see if this works.

Up next week, our third Scientist Spotlight, learning about jumping, and trying to get an idea of projects.

Well, t minus 2 business days until the start of this “new” semester. The butterflies are fluttering (and not the ones outside!). I’ve spent the past few weeks organizing the class and have a pretty “decent” plan, despite the looming uncertainty for what might happen in this Fall. Right now, the plan is for a hybrid delivery with lectures, presentations, and meeting activities all being virtual. Some of them (such as lectures) will be synchronous and recorded; some will be asynchronous. There will be opportunity for in person collecting of specimens on campus (following proper social distancing guidelines outside) and filming of organisms following University guidelines for any face to face delivery. The class is small, so we should be able to do this if we rotate who comes in to work or if some chose not to come in. I’ve had to shift things around a bit, which has been an interesting exercise in teaching creativity.

For labs, I’ve chopped up the delivery to be smaller live components, VoiceThreads to generate discussions, and tutorials (how to digitize and use R for example). One of the biggest challenges I feel like I’m facing this semester is removing the in person discussion of research (observing in nature, discussions in small groups, troubleshooting), so I’m trying to move it online, using VoiceThreads, discussion boards and tutorials. I’ve also been motivated by Price et al’s (2020) recent paper to have discussion threads of research questions online. VoiceThreads are a new technology to me, integrated with our blackboard, so we’ll see how they work. I’ve also been inspired by colleagues at Towson teaching CUREs, where they plan to have one group member in class, while the others Zoom in. This is something I’m hoping we can do once we get groups formalized and data collection starts. A group member or two come in to film, one is at home recording the data.

As I continue to plan and organize I have been thinking about incorporating other components to the course that could use some assistance from the broader scientific community (which I am happy to reciprocate).

First, in the (likely) event that we go completely online, meaning no collection on campus or filming, I am curious if others would be able/willing to share videos of animals moving (locomotion, feeding, other) for students to analyze at home.  The videos could be part of a publication or extra that were not used, as long as students can obtain data from it (performance or kinematics) using ImageJ or something similar and there is information about the videos. The videos will not be used in publication and full credit will be given. Students may do an assignment interviewing you about the data if they chose to use it. I and ULA’s (undergrad learning assistants) will also be going out around campus collecting invertebrates to film to add to the database. I’m happy to reciprocate sharing videos, but please contact me if interested and I can provide more details.

Second, I have decided to introduce Scientist Spotlights. I have several planned with researchers whose papers we will read (thank you to those that already agreed to join us). However, I am interested in more Scientist Spotlights in the second half of the semester (after 10/12, which has fewer planned activities as most of the time is dedicated to research and lab meeting type activities). If you are interested in giving a half hour talk about yourself, your journey, and your research, please let me know. We meet M 1-4:30 and W 3-4:50 (EST). I can provide more information. My hope is that if we are limited in “doing” research, maybe we can have more discussions about research with others from all over. Again, I’m happy to reciprocate, and contact me if interested or for more details.

More information on the class can be found on these webpages and in Oufiero (2019). Towson University is Maryland’s largest comprehensive university situated just outside the Baltimore City limits. The class is all undergraduates from all of our majors, including concentrations in Functional Biology of Animals; Ecology, Evolution and Conservation; Cell and Molecular; as well as other majors in Bioinformatics, Animal Behavior and Environmental Science.

So, this is the “plan.” I have to remind myself, as I learned first time around, to expect the unexpected and be flexible.