Month: September 2015

Ecology from geology

/ Chris Buddle / 2 Comments

I recently asked a geologist* to come to speak to my field biology class. The course is about the “St Lawrence Lowlands“, and throughout the term we visit farms, forests, lakes and streams, and we do natural history research.

Why then, do I have a geologist come and speak to us?

A result of glacial till: it's now supporting biodiversity.

A result of glacial till: it’s now supporting biodiversity.

Ecology is built upon geology. This may seem obvious, but requires a deeper discussion: after hearing this guest lecture year after year, I no longer see my local landscape as some farm fields, patches of forests, and some big bodies of water**. I see lands and waters shaped by a history before our time. The local landscape is a product of past geological events. We have farm fields around the Montérégie because the Champlain Sea deposited its sediments and after it departed; what remained is a flat expanse, perfect for farming. As the sea departed, it left behind remnants of beaches still visible today, as the Plateau district of Montreal, or where apple orchards grow next to Mont St Hilaire. We have some slight elevation here and there because of sandy deposits left by the departure of the last great glacier that covered our land in the very recent past. That’s where we find great white pines, stretching up above the canopies of the deciduous trees. We have Mount Rigaud because of processes hundreds of millions of years ago: an igneous intrusion that happened long, long before the age of dinosaurs. More recent igneous intrusions created the Lachine rapids, historically important as this became a key place where First Nations people, and later Europeans, set up camp along their journey up or down the big river. This was the one of the birthplaces of Montreal.

Our landscape, and the ecology of our landscape, is built upon slow but incredible processes, and I think biologists don’t consider those processes as dynamic forces that are constantly influencing our current view of the world. Ecologists often think of time in scales of decades or centuries, and we spend considerable time looking at time frames that resonate with our own life spans (in contrast, evolutionary biologists and taxonomists look much further back, and are accustomed to time frames of ‘millions of years’. I think We need to meet in the middle a little more).

As field biologists, knowing the origin of those big rocks in the forest matters a great deal: glacial till from the past creates habitats today. Moss creeps on these ancient boulders; centipedes and spiders crawl underneath. Their ephemeral life depends on much longer time frames. It’s hard to imagine how to consider discussion land management or wildlife conservation in the region without appreciating how past geological events can either help or hinder the process. There’s a geological reason why soil development is slow in some parts of our local ecosystems; why the land may be rocky, and why it’s well-drained in some areas, and wet in others. This affects long-term planning around wildlife preserves, or housing developments. There’s good reason why Mont St Hilaire is a biosphere reserve, and how it’s flora and fauna will be different that what we find elsewhere in the St Lawrence Lowlands.

Hiking at Mont St Hilaire: there are so many reasons why it's a special place, including geology.

Hiking at Mont St Hilaire: there are so many reasons why it’s a special place, including geology.

The longer I spend living here and learning about my region’s natural history, the more I recognize the value of some knowledge about geology, and this is why I have a geologist give a guest lecture. The students also tell me, year after year, that they appreciate and value this perspective, and their understanding of this part of the world is enriched by a deeper discussion about ‘why’ the St Lawrence Lowlands exists as it does.

How often do ecological classes include discussion about geology? Perhaps not often enough.
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*the geologist in question is Dr. George McCourt, who teaches often in the McGill School of Environment. I am immensely thankful for him taking time to teach us about his passion.

**when I commute to work, this is what I see: forests, field and lakes. Others in the St Lawrence Lowlands will have a different story, perhaps one that involves highrises and concrete.

Spiderday (#18)

/ Chris Buddle / 1 Comment

Whoop! Three cheers for SPIDERDAY (or would it be more apt to say “eight cheers”?. All the arachnid links from the past week, in one place.

Meet your dock spiders. Photo by Sean McCann.

Meet your dock spiders. Photo by Sean McCann.

Screen Shot 2015-09-25 at 11.16.16 AM

  • On the more serious side, the Heartland virus (carried by ticks) may occur across the eastern USA. 
  • Have a tick and need to remove it? Here’s some info for you. 
  • Lyme disease update: Ticks carrying the lyme bacterium have been found in parks in south London (UK).
  • Ticks get a bad name. On the lighter side of Ticks, there’s the comic-book series to consider…?
  • An older finding on fossil Opiliones (Harvestmen) with a second set of eyes.
  • There is often a lot of confusion around the common name “Daddy-long-legs” (in the Arachnid sense, this refers to Opiliones [Harvestmen] or sometimes cellar-spiders). Here’s an image that should help:

Screen Shot 2015-09-25 at 11.19.30 AM

Spiderday (#17)

/ Chris Buddle

Arachnids: cool, amazing animals with lots of legs and lots of fascinating biology. SPIDERDAY brings you the best arachnid links from the past week. Here’s your 17th edition:

A wonderful shot of a crab spider: part of the brilliant "insects unlocked" project.

A wonderful shot of a crab spider: part of the brilliant “insects unlocked” project.

  • Arachnologists in some parts of the world are getting LOTS of questions about all the spiders showing up in houses, on buildings and just about everywhere. This happens every year around this time, ’cause it is autumn. Here’s a great summary of this (and my Read of The Week)
  • One very common species that people are noticing this time of year (at least in my neck of the woods) is Neoscona crucifera, and this post provides a great summary of the species.
  • Under the heading of “ridiculous“, there’s a company selling spider-proof sheds. Spoiler: don’t waste your money.
  • Wasps that turn spiders into the walking dead. Boom. (here’s another write up of the story)
  • Here’s a really wonderful blog about orb-weavers called ‘thorned heart’. It includes taxonomy, natural history and photographs.
  • They are finding some lovely spiders in Australia… Hello there indeed!Capture
  • For the taxonomically inclined.. new species… more than that.. new Genus of spiders from southern Africa.
  • Spider love. Yeah, for the jumpers.
  • Oh dear: spider scare causes school bus crash.
  • Mitey Mites grabbing a ride: in this case, new species on beetles.
  • Want to kill dust mites? Stop making your bed.  Well… it’s not that simple, but that is quite a headline!
  • Love the enthusiasm for spider silk in this video. SUPER STRONG SPIDER SILK YEAH!

Spiderday (#16)

/ Chris Buddle / Leave a comment

You latest edition of SPIDERDAY! (sorry, folks, it’s been a busy week, so I just don’t have as many links as usual)

An amazing photo of a Solifuges (aka Camel Spider), by Sean McCann

An amazing photo of a Solifuges (aka Camel Spider), by Sean McCann

SpiderPortrait

Rethinking the University Classroom: Ban the podium-style lecture, not the laptop

/ Chris Buddle / 11 Comments

There has been a lot of recent coverage/chatter about bans on laptops in the lecture halls of Universities and colleges (e.g., see here, here and here). I am particularly interested when instructors implement outright bans on laptops in their classes, citing reasons related to distraction, both by students on their computers, but also distraction for students sitting nearby classmates with their screens aglow. There have also been some recent studies about how students retain and learn content more effectively when taking hand-written notes instead of typing notes. Are laptop bans the solution?

What bothers me about this debate is that most coverage actually skirts around the true issue, which to me is about a fundamental problem of podium-style teaching. A traditional lecture hall environment is not always a great place for teaching and learning. It is in those environments where the issues of note-taking and distraction arise, and where laptop bans occur. I certainly don’t hear complaints about laptops in seminar/discussion courses, or in those occurring in active learning classrooms.

The view from my seat in the lecture hall.

I was student for a day once. This as a view from my seat in the lecture hall. Students were using laptops to take lecture notes.

Here is my opinion: in most teaching environments*, laptop bans are unnecessary and should be avoided. Some students need to take notes with a laptop, perhaps because of a disability (eg, arthritis), and accommodation is needed. Sometimes it is useful for students to follow along a PowerPoint presentation, or fact-check or Google some of the content during the lecture (heck that could even provide opportunity for some class discussion!). If students are distracted, this likely indicates a bigger problem, and the instructor should look into ways to make the classroom more active and engaging. It is perhaps easier to look to issues with distracted students and laptops than it is to rethink the way material is being taught. We are living in a digital age with our students being true digital natives, and I worry that sometimes a ban on laptops is a reflection on biases by the instructor and, frankly, doesn’t reflect the world we live in.

Let’s make our lecture halls inclusive environments, and perhaps ban policies about banning laptops!

Ok, fine, but… but … but… what if other students are bothered by their peers with laptops? What if students just don’t want to be in that “required” course, and are grumpy… and become easily distracted? I think some of this can be solved. I suggest that all instructors have a frank and open conversation about technology in the classroom. A discussion about your concerns, and the concerns by students, can go a long way. It also may be useful and necessary to develop some guidelines around technology in the classroom - and perhaps adjust the seating plan to avoid issues with students being distracted. Check out if your University has a formal policy about this, and see how your thinking aligns with this policy (as an example, here is McGill’s policy). Another option to help with the “boredom” factor (a potential reason for distraction) is to allow “tech time” mid-way through a lecture. Stop halfway through**, give everyone a break for a few minutes (to stretch, nap, text or post to Facebook).

Or even better, rethink the fundamental ways you are teaching.

I posit that boredom and distraction in a classroom, and the broader concern about laptops, learning, and note taking, are because instructors are stuck in the “lecture hall rut”. The debate points again to a need to embrace active learning, and work to increase engagement within the classroom. Most profs only learned one way to teach: at the podium. It’s what we were exposed to during our undergraduate degrees: the podium is the standard. But it’s not the gold standard and a serious rethink is long overdue.

How to break the tradition? How about taking the active learning challenge? There are small, simple things instructors can do, even in large lecture halls (yes, there are infrastructure constraints - not enough of our learning spaces are built for active learning). There are amazing resources out there to better understand active learning, and why it’s important.

Learn from other instructors who are doing different things in the classroom - hang out with the innovators, and use their strategies in your classroom. Watch videos, take workshops from your teaching and learning units, and work with your chairs and Deans to rethink the classroom context.

Work to integrate technology (and laptops!) into the classroom - on-line quizzes can be done in class, with technology - perhaps with mobile devices, laptops or student response systems (aka, clickers). Try integrating social media to the classroom, via a course hashtag or course blog. Use the tools that students are using: this will work to increase engagement in the classroom. We are truly living in an exiting time for the integration of technology into teaching - it’s time to harness the possibilities and harness the power of technology, instead of ban it.

I won’t lie: rethinking why and how you teach the way you do will take time and energy. But the short term pain will lead to long term gains. Students will appreciate the efforts, the classroom dynamics will change, and I believe the amount of boredom and distraction will decrease. Active leaning is not just a catch phrase, it’s a meaningful and important way to improve the classroom experience, for the students but also for the instructor.

There is little need to ban laptops in classrooms that are active, engaging and break from the traditional podium-style lectures.

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*There are some kinds of classes in which laptop use can be questioned, such as a hands-on laboratory, field course, studio-class or with some seminar/discussion classes. However I believe these are a minority. (If there are other examples you know about, please leave a comment!)

** this strategy was shared by Prof. Matthew Cobb, at Manchester - he says it works very well!

Spiderday (#15)

/ Chris Buddle / 3 Comments

It’s that time of the week - SPIDERDAY! Your round-up of Arachnid links. Enjoy!

Tarantula! Wonderful illustration from the Biodiversity Heritage Library.

Tarantula! Wonderful illustration from the Biodiversity Heritage Library.

Capture

How to succeed at University: twelve tips for undergraduate students

/ Chris Buddle / 1 Comment

Note: this is an updated/edited post, it was originally published several years ago.

The start of term is an exciting time for those of us who work at a University. There are many new students arriving on campus, full of enthusiasm, hope, and questions. As an Associate Dean, I meet many of these students, and I am often asked for advice during orientation week. Later in the term, I sometimes see students who are struggling, and looking for strategies to help with balancing their academic work with other priorities, or looking for ways to make their time at University a little easier. So, here are my twelve tips for success at University:

1. Work hard. At the end of the day, hard work pays off. You made it into University, which suggests you have the fundamental skill set required for higher education. However, don’t forget to keep your eye on the ball and buckle down and get the work done! It’s easy to get swayed by social life, students clubs and activities, athletics, and by trips home to see family. These things are all important, and your well-being often depends on these extracurricular activities but academic success largely rests with a developing and maintaining a strong work ethic. Make lists, prioritize, and focus on getting the “job” of being a student done well.

2. Listen to your academic advisor: Most academic programs have an ‘academic advisor’ associated with them (e.g., see here for McGill’s website about advising). These individuals are there to help you get through your program. Advisors typically help with course selection, and help plan an academic program from start to finish. When arriving on campus, you should book a meeting with your advisor, and more importantly, listen to their advice! Advisors know the ins and outs of your program, and paying attention to them will help you in the long run. You don’t want to end up messing up your academic program because you decided to avoid taking required courses early on in your program! Advisors can also help you get on the correct path should you wish to pursue research or internships later in your program, or a term away such as a field semester or an exchange program.

3. Have an agenda, and use it: This seems like pretty obvious advice, but you would be surprised how many students (and Professors!) don’t have a good system for managing time. University is a lot about managing your time: getting to classes, dealing with e-mails, assignments, planning for exams, and squeezing in a social life, or a part-time job. It’s a struggle to manage all these tasks, and therefore it is essential to develop a clear and straightforward system of ‘calendar + tasks‘. Under calendar, include your class schedule, important dates and meetings, and most importantly, LOOK at the calendar regularly! I personally prefer using an on-line calendar that syncs with my mobile devices - but some people prefer the old-fashion (yet dependable) hard-copy calendar. For tasks, include short-term tasks (with deadlines - cross-referenced with your calendar) and long-term tasks, so that you are reminded of on a regular basis. I use a small notebook for my task list, and it is always with me - for me, the act of physically writing down a task list helps me remember what I need to work on. A good system for your agenda and tasks will make your life a lot easier. Using an agenda and task list properly will also help you refine your time management skills, and these skills are truly essential to future success almost anywhere.

4. Show up on time and don’t miss deadlines: Again, this seems pretty obvious, but it’s also pretty easy to mess up. Treat University like a professional job - you need to be mature, you must be on time, and never miss deadlines. Try to have everything done early (with good time management skills, this is very possible!). Being late to lectures, or having to ask for extensions on papers or projects (without extenuating circumstances), does you no favours, and Professors, generally speaking, are not impressed by these behaviours. At some point, you may need to ask your Professors for a letter of reference, and it is much better to be remembered as the students who hands in papers early, then a student who can’t manage deadlines.

5. Go to class: Lectures, labs and seminars are there for a reason: they provide you with value-added content, and a context for the course materials. It’s true that some of the content may be available on-line, or with a text-book, but in most cases, lectures or labs will help to draw connections between different content, and/or provide a valuable context to the material that might be available elsewhere. Labs or seminars provide important opportunity for hands-on and interactive learning, and this cannot be replaced easily. Instructors take a lot of pride in lecturing or leading a lab demonstration, and most of them work hard to make the time worthwhile, interesting, and thought-provoking. You will soak up an amazing amount of material by just being there, and paying attention.

6. Keep up! This point is closely related to the previous few ideas - but is important to keep in mind as a separate item. Assignments at University tend to sneak up on you - deadlines seem so far away, until you realize that there are three written reports due within a two week period, with Thanksgiving in the middle! Similarly, lecture content builds upon itself, and assuming you will just naturally be able to keep up may not be the best idea. Try to build some habits in your life so that you review the content soon after each lecture or laboratory, and/or spend a bit of time each morning prepping for your day and keeping an eye on the week ahead. Do your best to stay on top of the material: in my experience, if students start to fall behind a little bit, this quickly spirals as the weeks pass by, and the stress level increases as you try cram for an assignment or final exam.

7. Get help when you are struggling: At some point in your University career you will likely need help, whether it is with difficulties with finances, a personal relationship, failing a course, or struggles with mental or physical health. The University system is a compassionate and collegial environment and it’s a place with a lot of wonderful resources to help you when you are struggling (e.g., see this example for McGill). Don’t hesitate to seek help when you need it, or if you know you already have some struggles with anxiety or depression, be sure to be aware of what resources are available to you ahead of time. If you are feeling sick, visit health services. If you are struggling with your program, touch base with your academic advisor. If you are feeling overwhelmed or isolated, touch base with counseling services. Know that you are not alone in your struggles (although it may feel that way), and the community will support you. As part of this community, you also have a responsibility to keep an eye on your classmates and friends, and if they need help, you can be in a position to direct them to the right resources.

8. Ask questions: In most of my classes, I tell students that there are no stupid questions (except for “Will this be on the exam?”). This is very, very true. If you are confused about a concept, or failed to get the point of a slide, or discussion, you must ask for clarification. Although it can be intimidating to ask a question in a large lecture hall, it’s important to try. If you are confused, it’s highly likely that other student’s are also confused. You are helping yourself, and your peers, when you put your hand up. In many cases, there is a on-line course management system for each class, and often there are discussion boards available: this provides another opportunity to ask questions of your instructor or TA, or you can ask questions that your peers may be able to help with.

9. Get to know your instructors: Whenever possible, get to know the instructors of your courses, be they Professors, Lecturers, or Teaching Assistants. Most instructors have office hours, and these hours are there for good reason - they provide time to meet your instructor, ask questions, and have a personal connection with them. Don’t be intimidated by instructors: we are people, too, and most of us recognize that life as an undergraduate student can be stressful and difficult. We can provide you help with course content, but also help direct you to other resources. Getting to know your instructors also helps when you might be seeking a summer job in the future, or when you need a letter of recommendation.

10. Avoid ‘grade panic’: I am living proof that it is possible to do poorly at undergraduate courses yet still have a successful career! When I was an undergraduate student at the University of Guelph, I just about failed my first year physics course and I was terrified that this would make it impossible to succeed in any kind of career. Of course this was not the case - a University education is much more than a single course, or a single quiz or examination - an academic program has many components and even if some of the components fall off the rails, this does not mean everything is lost. Aim for excellence in your academics, but also remember that EVERYONE has bad days, performs poorly on an exam, or just can’t seem to figure out a particular subject. This is normal, and you must keep everything in perspective! Your University career is not defined by a single moment of failure - keep the bigger picture in mind, and don’t sweat the small failures. In a University environment, success at everything is nearly impossible to achieve. Keep a level head, keep calm, aim for excellence, but don’t panic when things go wrong.

11. Stay healthy: Your mother was right - eat your vegetable and get some sleep. Invariably, influenza and/or a bout of gastro will whip through residence halls sometime around when mid-term exams are starting. Your best line of defense is a healthy immune system, and part of that includes nutrition, sleep, and exercise. I think it’s more important to be less prepared but well rested than over-prepared and exhausted - and if you attended lectures, your rested mind will be in a good position to access the course content. Related to this is a little reminder to “slow down” every now and then (I need to remind myself of this, daily). Take some deep breaths, perhaps meditate or do yoga, or just find a bit of quiet time now and then to pause and reflect.

12. Have fun! Life as an undergraduate student is truly incredibly. It is a time of personal growth and reflection, and it is an enriching experience on intellectual, emotional, and social levels. Remember that you are immersed in an amazing experience. University provides a wealth of opportunities (student groups, sports, lectures, laboratories, and more), and you will make close friends, meet future colleagues, business partners or partners in life. Don’t forget to take it all in - in the future, you will remember a lot of details from your University days and you want these memories to be more than sweating over deadlines and grade panic. Stay well.