Steinwand, B. | Search bioRxiv

bioRxiv2022

C.R.E.A.T.E'ing shifts in first year students' science efficacy that are independent of instructor rank and experience in a large, multi-section online introductory course

With a primary objective to engage students in the process of science online, we transformed a long-standing laboratory course for first-year science students into a more accessible, immersive experience of current biological research using a narrow and focused set of primary literature and the CREATE pedagogy. The efficacy of the CREATE approach has been demonstrated in a diversity of higher education settings and courses. It is, however, not yet known if CREATE can be successfully implemented online with a large, diverse team of faculty untrained in the CREATE pedagogy. Here, we present the transformation of a large-enrollment, multi-section, multi-instructor course for first-year students in which instructors follow different biological research questions but work together to reach shared goals and outcomes. We assessed students: (1) science self-efficacy and (2) epistemological beliefs about science throughout an academic year of instruction fully administered online as a result of ongoing threats posed by COVID-19. Our findings demonstrate that novice CREATE instructors with varying levels of teaching experience and ranks can achieve comparable outcomes and improvements in students science efficacy in the virtual classroom as a teaching team. This study extends the use of the CREATE strategy to large, team-taught, multi-section courses and shows its utility in the online teaching and learning environment.

scientific communication and education↗

bioRxiv2019

Marketplace Shrimp Mislabeling in North Carolina

Seafood mislabeling occurs in a wide range of seafood products worldwide, resulting in public distrust, economic fraud, and health risks for consumers. We quantified the extent of shrimp mislabeling in coastal and inland North Carolina. We used standard DNA barcoding procedures to determine the species identity of 106 shrimp sold by 60 vendors across North Carolina as \"local\" shrimp. Thirty-four percent of the purchased shrimp was mislabeled, and surprisingly the percentage did not differ significantly between coastal and inland counties. Roughly one third of product incorrectly marketed as \"local\" was in fact whiteleg shrimp: an imported, and very likely farmed, species from the eastern Pacific (and not found in North Carolina waters). In addition to the negative ecosystem consequences of shrimp farming (e.g., the loss of mangroves forests and the coastal buffering they provide) and seafood importation, North Carolina fishers--as with local fishers elsewhere--are negatively impacted when vendors label farmed, frozen, and imported shrimp as local, fresh, and wild-caught.

ecology↗