Honey Suckle Pull ReflectionAustin ArceneauxBIO – 15510/18/16Honeysuckle Pull Reflection When we arrived at the site for the honeysuckle pull, I had no idea what to expect as far as the amount of work, or the extent of honeysuckle that was actually present in the woods at Ruder Preserve. We weren’t the first group to participate in the pull and it was amazing at just how much honeysuckle there was throughout the preserve. This experience showed me just how detrimental an invasive species, like honeysuckle, could be to an area. There weren’t nearly as many trees in Ruder as there were when we visited Hueston Woods, it was almost all honeysuckle at the forest floor and understory layers. This service learning trip was an eye opening experience because it showed just how much of an impact a group of 20 or so students can make in as little as an hours time. I think it will be rewarding to come back to Miami and revisit the site where we removed all of that honeysuckle and see what new and different species will be growing there. I have a feeling that there will be many more saplings and it will eventually look more like the site of our first field trip.
I certainly think that this was an effective capstone project for our BIO 155 course. It allowed us to physically interact and make a difference to an area plagued by an invasive species and see firsthand many of the lessons that were covered in the classroom. I also liked the fact that we got outside and were able to make a difference by pulling the honeysuckle instead of only talking about the adverse affects it causes. In the future I think that this capstone project should be at the end of the course and last a full class period. I think that it will be a nice way to end the sprint course instead of having the final be the last class. Extending the time actually removing honeysuckle will also increase the impact of our work. It would also be nice if we opened the removal service project to other students or members of the Oxford community by advertising it throughout town with flyers. It would be neat to raise awareness to more than just those enrolled in BIO 155.
Last week, I joined OMS in our BIO 158 workshop and was lucky enough to receive a first look at a new design for the BIO 157 course in the course description section. This design is a little different than the previous design that I would had seen used, although this one shows the key ideas that were implemented. You’ll notice that there is still a bit of gray area, for more information or to visit our website, if you have questions about this new design you may use this link.
A couple of weeks ago I was looking for a “new” physics class at Oxford. As an instructor, I will always strive to have an instructor that is experienced in a BIO course and that can teach students a specific class or group. I hope this is the best way for students to learn physics. I have my hands full with BIO 157 at my next class for physics on May 27th. My best shot.
In our recent lecture I mentioned an idea I had discussed recently at the Oxford Physics Society meeting. My next step would be to build the class and get it going quickly.
I have to admit, my first thought was to run out of ideas during the first week.
BIO strategy to develop and implement BIO 159
In today’s course there are two different classes that I am sure students will have access to. There is the 2nd class that is taught by David Miller and that we will be studying for BIO 159 coursework. I have a suggestion for you: use it in conjunction with this teaching and it is great to have hands-on experience. Since we are running out of ideas, if we can produce some feedback through this session instead of being told that it may not be as good as other opportunities I have in this position, we can create more of them. This will be very helpful to us.
If you have other ideas related to BIO 159 that you would like me to know about, please see the comments section below.
Finally, as I mentioned at the last lecture, we still have a lot left to do. Our plan for the semester was to teach three classes to all of the BIO 163 students, so that at least 100 of those could complete their first semester. At that point we will just need to make some basic changes to the coursework. First off is that we should have a “base” section for each course (one of the course concepts mentioned in the lecture referenced below is not a course concept at all). This is what BIO 152 and BIO 161 are all about. There may be a part of this course that will work differently from our current BIO 156 course. Additionally, some of last year’s content will be added this year, so my understanding is that some of the content in this year will be on-topic to those who wish to try to understand the current topics in that area. This is the area that most interested me about the future of BIO 159 because of the lack of clarity surrounding both physics in these parts. I am working on making certain physics topics in each of these courses more accessible. This is something that was in my mind and could be great.