- Rm 121 Macleay Building (A12)
School of Biological Sciences
The University of Sydney
NSW 2006 AUSTRALIA - +61 2 9351 3707
- Photosynthesis, Scholarship of Learning and Teaching, Marine Symbioses, Teaching and Learning Science, Biological Sciences, Science Education, and 15 moreCoral Reef Ecology, Symbiosis, Cyanobacteria, Numeracy, Threshold concepts, Legume-Rhizobia Symbiosis, Endosymbionts, History of Biological Sciences, Endosymbiosis, Quantitative skills, Academic numeracy, Quantatative Skills, Carbon metabolism in soybean nodules, Mathematical biology (Mathematics), and Phenomenographyedit
- I am an Associate Professor in the School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney. My main rese... moreI am an Associate Professor in the School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney. My main research area is science education. I am interested in how students learn science and how to best use e- and m-innovations (e.g. CampusFlora App) in the science curriculum. Part of my research has been identifying where science students get 'stuck' as they are introduced to our science discipline practices. The low level of confidence that science students demonstrate when applying their numeracy skills (aka quantitative skills) to their science studies is of concern and, with my colleagues at the University of New South Wales, where we used the Thresholds Concepts Framework, Mindfulness in Learning, and Thinking Dispositions to better understand how students develop their scientific skills in the context of Life Sciences.
Within the Life Sciences my specialisation is Botany and am committed to improving botanical literacy across the community - from the classroom, the campus and beyond. Emerging from my career is a botanist and educator is a new project "Plants, People, Place" - a story-space to explore plant-human connectivity.edit
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... 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.
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.
Research Interests: Ethnobotany and Grasses
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... 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.
Research Interests:
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... 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.
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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... 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.
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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... 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.
Research Interests:
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... 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.
Research Interests:
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... 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.
Research Interests:
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... 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
Research Interests:
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... 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.
Research Interests:
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... 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.
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 critical. ExamBank is a software tool developed by the Sydney Medical School (SMS) to manage the assessment process for high stakes and formative... 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.
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.
Research Interests:
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... 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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Research Interests:
*email rosanne.quinnell[at]sydney.edu.au for reprint Kazandjian, A., Shepherd, V., Rodriguez-Lanetty, M., Nordmeier, W., Salih, A., Cox, J., Larkum, A. W. D., & Quinnell, R. (2008). Isolation of symbiosomes and the symbiosome membrane... more
*email rosanne.quinnell[at]sydney.edu.au for reprint
Kazandjian, A., Shepherd, V., Rodriguez-Lanetty, M., Nordmeier, W., Salih, A., Cox, J., Larkum, A. W. D., & Quinnell, R. (2008). Isolation of symbiosomes and the symbiosome membrane complex from the zoanthid Zoanthus robustus. Phycologia, 47(3), 294 - 306.
The zoanthid Zoanthus robustus was used as a model organism to develop procedures for isolating pure symbiosomes and symbiosome membranes. The symbiosome is comprised of a zooxanthella (Symbiodinium sp.) cell that divides rarely and is separated from the host gastrodermal cytoplasm by a symbiosome multimembrane complex. Devising a method to isolate membranes at the interface between the symbiotic partners is a critical first step in characterising the molecular components involved in the metabolic trafficking necessary to sustain an effective symbiosis. After zoanthid gastrodermal cells were extracted, symbiosomes were released by mechanical disruption, recovered by centrifugation, and then purified using discontinuous sucrose gradient centrifugation. The material forming the membrane complex around symbiosomes proved highly resistant to disruption. Methods used to dissociate this interface from symbionts included (1) Triton X-100 detergent solubilisation, (2) osmotic shock with mechanical disruption, and (3) vigorous mechanical disruptions, where powerful shearing forces were used, combined with a series of sucrose density gradient centrifugation steps. The lipophilic styryl fluorochrome FM 1-43, at a concentration of 30 µM, selectively labelled the symbiosome membrane complex, both for isolated symbiosomes and those in hospite. Other cell membranes, including plasma membranes, endoplasmic reticulum, tonoplast, and organelle membranes, were not visibly labelled at this concentration. The selective labelling of the symbiosome membrane complex remained stable even after long exposure times (3 h). At 30 µM concentration, FM 1-43 also labelled symbiosome membrane fragments isolated using methods (1), (2) and (3). Method (3) proved to be the most effective in producing a fraction enriched in FM-143-labelled membrane material, which we call a symbiosome membrane complex. Transmission electron microscopy, together with confocal and conventional epifluorescence microscopy of the FM 1-43-stained preparations, was used to validate the purity of symbiosome preparations and to infer the complexity of the symbiosome membrane complex. This membrane complex has regions where the membranes contributed by the alga are appressed, and punctate regions whose function remains unclear.
http://imageslab.fiu.edu/sites/default/files/phycologia2008.pdf "
Kazandjian, A., Shepherd, V., Rodriguez-Lanetty, M., Nordmeier, W., Salih, A., Cox, J., Larkum, A. W. D., & Quinnell, R. (2008). Isolation of symbiosomes and the symbiosome membrane complex from the zoanthid Zoanthus robustus. Phycologia, 47(3), 294 - 306.
The zoanthid Zoanthus robustus was used as a model organism to develop procedures for isolating pure symbiosomes and symbiosome membranes. The symbiosome is comprised of a zooxanthella (Symbiodinium sp.) cell that divides rarely and is separated from the host gastrodermal cytoplasm by a symbiosome multimembrane complex. Devising a method to isolate membranes at the interface between the symbiotic partners is a critical first step in characterising the molecular components involved in the metabolic trafficking necessary to sustain an effective symbiosis. After zoanthid gastrodermal cells were extracted, symbiosomes were released by mechanical disruption, recovered by centrifugation, and then purified using discontinuous sucrose gradient centrifugation. The material forming the membrane complex around symbiosomes proved highly resistant to disruption. Methods used to dissociate this interface from symbionts included (1) Triton X-100 detergent solubilisation, (2) osmotic shock with mechanical disruption, and (3) vigorous mechanical disruptions, where powerful shearing forces were used, combined with a series of sucrose density gradient centrifugation steps. The lipophilic styryl fluorochrome FM 1-43, at a concentration of 30 µM, selectively labelled the symbiosome membrane complex, both for isolated symbiosomes and those in hospite. Other cell membranes, including plasma membranes, endoplasmic reticulum, tonoplast, and organelle membranes, were not visibly labelled at this concentration. The selective labelling of the symbiosome membrane complex remained stable even after long exposure times (3 h). At 30 µM concentration, FM 1-43 also labelled symbiosome membrane fragments isolated using methods (1), (2) and (3). Method (3) proved to be the most effective in producing a fraction enriched in FM-143-labelled membrane material, which we call a symbiosome membrane complex. Transmission electron microscopy, together with confocal and conventional epifluorescence microscopy of the FM 1-43-stained preparations, was used to validate the purity of symbiosome preparations and to infer the complexity of the symbiosome membrane complex. This membrane complex has regions where the membranes contributed by the alga are appressed, and punctate regions whose function remains unclear.
http://imageslab.fiu.edu/sites/default/files/phycologia2008.pdf "
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The toxicity of diflubenzuron (DFB) on the brine shrimp, Artemia salina, and the sea urchin, Heliocidaris tuberculata, was evaluated in the laboratory. DFB was toxic to A. salina embryos and larvae at 0.13 μg.L-1. The LC50 was 0.37 μg.L-1... more
The toxicity of diflubenzuron (DFB) on the brine shrimp, Artemia salina, and the sea urchin, Heliocidaris tuberculata, was evaluated in the laboratory. DFB was toxic to A. salina embryos and larvae at 0.13 μg.L-1. The LC50 was 0.37 μg.L-1 for A. salina larvae after 48 h. Synergistic mortality effects after 48 h were found for the following combined insecticides: DFB and cypermethrin (LC20 + LC20 = LC85), DFB and diazinon (LC20 + LC20 = LC60) and cypermethrin and diazinon (LC20+LC20 = LC55). Antagonistic mortality effects to A. salina larvae occurred when DFB was combined with both cypermethrin and diazinon (LC20+LC20+ LC20 = LC40). We also show that DFB is toxic to the larvae of the sea urchin H. tuberculata at concentrations as low as 2.69 μg.L-1 during a 72 h EC50 experiment.
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Changes in photosynthetic pigment ratios showed that the Chlorophyll d-dominated oxyphotobacterium Acaryochloris marina was able to photoacclimate to different light regimes. Chl d per cell were higher in cultures grown under low... more
Changes in photosynthetic pigment ratios showed that the Chlorophyll d-dominated oxyphotobacterium Acaryochloris marina was able to photoacclimate to different light regimes. Chl d per cell were higher in cultures grown under low irradiance and red or green light compared to those found when grown under high white light, but phycocyanin/Chl d and carotenoid/Chl d indices under the corresponding conditions were lower. Chl a, considered an accessory pigment in this organism, decreased respective to Chl d in low irradiance and low intensity non-white light sources. Blue diode PAM (Pulse Amplitude Modulation) fluorometry was able to be used to measure photosynthesis in Acaryochloris. Light response curves for Acaryochloris were created using both PAM and O(2) electrode. A linear relationship was found between electron transport rate (ETR), measured using a PAM fluorometer, and oxygen evolution (net and gross photosynthesis). Gross photosynthesis and ETR were directly proportional to one another. The optimum light for white light (quartz halogen) was about 206+/-51 micromol m(-2) s(-1) (PAR) (Photosynthetically Active Radiation), whereas for red light (red diodes) the optimum light was lower (109+/-27 micromol m(-2) s(-1) (PAR)). The maximum mean gross photosynthetic rate of Acaryochloris was 73+/-7 micromol mg Chl d(-1) h(-1). The gross photosynthesis/respiration ratio (P(g)/R) of Acaryochloris under optimum conditions was about 4.02+/-1.69. The implications of our findings will be discussed in relation to how photosynthesis is regulated in Acaryochloris.
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This paper is about a perceived link between students' conceptions of biology and the recent change in the way biology is being taught in high school in NSW. The philosophical change within the high school certificate (HSC) syllabus was... more
This paper is about a perceived link between students' conceptions of biology and the recent change in the way biology is being taught in high school in NSW. The philosophical change within the high school certificate (HSC) syllabus was to move from a teacher-centred, content driven syllabus to a student-centred, investigative, concept driven one. In the paper we describe an analysis of students' responses to the open-ended question: "Much of Biology is about the way organisms have become adapted to their environment through the process of evolution. What do you know about adaptation?" Students who were enrolled in first year biology at the University of Sydney in 2001, 2002 and 2005 were surveyed and their responses were analysed using a SOLO taxonomic method.
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The major light-harvesting protein complex containing chlorophyll (Chl) d was isolated from Acaryochloris marina thylakoid membranes. Isolation was achieved by detergent solubilisation followed by separation on 6–40% sucrose gradients... more
The major light-harvesting protein complex containing chlorophyll (Chl) d was isolated from Acaryochloris marina thylakoid membranes. Isolation was achieved by detergent solubilisation followed by separation on 6–40% sucrose gradients using ultracentrifugation. The best Chl d yield (70%) used 0.3% dodecyl maltoside, 0.15% octyl glucoside, 0.05% zwittergent 3-14 with the detergent:total Chl d ratio around 10:1 (w/w). Characterisation of the light-harvesting pigment protein complex (lhc) involved non-denaturing electrophoresis, SDS–PAGE, absorbance and fluorescence spectroscopy. The main polypeptide in the lhc was shown to be ca. 34 kDa and to contain Chl d and Chl a, indicating that the Acaryochloris lhc is similar to that of prochlorophytes. The Chl a level varied with the culture conditions, which is consistent with previous findings.
Research Interests:
Chlorophyll (Chl) d is the major pigment in the photosystems (PS) and light-harvesting complex(es) of Acaryochloris marina. Chl a is present in small and variable amounts in PSII and in the light-harvesting complex(es). Isolated PSII... more
Chlorophyll (Chl) d is the major pigment in the photosystems (PS) and light-harvesting complex(es) of Acaryochloris marina. Chl a is present in small and variable amounts in PSII and in the light-harvesting complex(es). Isolated PSII complex showed a major fluorescence emission peak at 725 nm and a smaller emission peak due to Chl d at 701 nm, while the PSI complex showed two pools of Chl d, one with emission at 730 nm and the other at 709 nm at 77 K. In PSI and PSII of classical cyanobacteria and of higher plants, where Chl a is the predominant pigment rather than Chl d, these differences are not as pronounced. Light energy absorbed by phycobiliproteins was also active in these Chl d emissions. The major light-harvesting pigment protein is similar to the prochlorophyte Chl-binding protein (pcb) and had a major emission peak at 711 nm. In Cyanobacteria an iron-stress induced Chl-binding protein (isiA) forms a polymeric ring around PSI, and so the effect(s) of iron stress on A. marina where investigated. No clear evidence could be deduced for the formation of an isiA protein under iron stress and no clear changes in the proportion of Chl d :Chl a could be discerned although phycobilins showed a decreased under iron-stress conditions. That Chl d replaces Chl a in all its functions in A. marina is clear; the advantage of this evolutionary development appears to be to enable A. marina to absorb far-red light which occurs in environments where red light is filtered out by other photosynthetic organisms.
Research Interests:
The major light-harvesting protein complex containing chlorophyll d was isolated from Acaryochloris marina thylakoid membranes. Isolation was achieved by detergent solubilisation followed by separation on 6 - 40% sucrose gradients using... more
The major light-harvesting protein complex containing chlorophyll d was isolated from Acaryochloris marina thylakoid membranes. Isolation was achieved by detergent solubilisation followed by separation on 6 - 40% sucrose gradients using ultracentrifugation. The best Chl d yield (70%) used 0.3% dodecyl maltoside, 0.15% octylglucoside, 0.05% zwittergent 3-14 with the detergent: total Chl d ratio around 10:1 (w/w). Characterisation of the light-harvesting pigment protein complex (lhc) involved non-denaturing and SDS-PAGE electrophoresis, absorbance and fluorescence spectroscopy. The main polypeptide in the lhc was shown to be ca 34 kDa and to contain Chl d and Chl a indicating that the Acaryochloris lhc is similar to that of prochlorophytes. The Chl a level varied with the culture conditions, which is consistent with previous findings.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Soluble extracts of Bradyrhizobium japonicum bacteroids from soybean root nodules showed substantial rates of NAD+ and NADP+ reduction which were malate and MnCl2 dependent. Pyruvate was formed stoichiometrically and the NAD- and... more
Soluble extracts of Bradyrhizobium japonicum bacteroids from soybean root nodules showed substantial rates of NAD+ and NADP+ reduction which were malate and MnCl2 dependent. Pyruvate was formed stoichiometrically and the NAD- and NADP-dependent rates were additive, indicating the presence of two malic enzymes. The NADP-dependent malic enzyme had a high affinity for malate (apparent Km = 0·1 mM) and was stimulated by ammonium. The NAD-dependent malic enzyme had a lower affinity for malate (apparent Km = 1·9 mM) and was stimulated by potassium and ammonium salts. The maximum velocities of the two enzymes were similar and of comparable magnitude to the activities of tricarboxylic acid cycle enzymes in the extracts. Possible roles of the malic enzymes in the metabolism of malate and succinate in bacteroids are discussed.
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Why does the notion of imposter syndrome persists in higher education, who acknowledges feelings of imposterism, and how does imposter phenomenon affect work practices? The inquiry is framed empirically through participant narratives from... more
Why does the notion of imposter syndrome persists in higher education, who acknowledges feelings of imposterism, and how does imposter phenomenon affect work practices? The inquiry is framed empirically through participant narratives from an ‘insider’ research study carried out in a research-intensive university in Australia exploring relationships at the so-called teaching-research nexus. Critical auto-ethnographic reflections influenced by Archers’ notion of reflexivity are included. A playful adoption of mythic archetypes suggests that imposterism is better viewed as agile, malleable or mercurial tendencies, where feelings, position the ‘imposter’ in a diversity of liminal spaces, thereby, creating a critical awareness of strategies for academic staff.
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Language lies at the heart of cultural identity. Prior to colonisation in 1788, there were more than 250 Indigenous Australian languages in Australia (Walsh, 1993; Walsh, Marmion, & Troy, 2014). Up until the late nineteenth and early... more
Language lies at the heart of cultural identity. Prior to colonisation in 1788, there were more than 250 Indigenous Australian languages in Australia (Walsh, 1993; Walsh, Marmion, & Troy, 2014). Up until the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, prohibitions were in place that banned most Aboriginal people from speaking their own languages (Maier, 2010; Reid, 2010). Many of the “sleeping”1 pre-contact languages are undergoing revitalisation (Hobson et al., 2010), a process that requires respectful action and acknowledgement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s deep connection to the cultural, philosophical and spiritual concepts of land and land tenure. In 2016, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) made this declaration:
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.
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.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
I don’t think I’m having an existential crisis but likely it is quite normal for everyone’s thoughts to wander to death from time to time, to remember those who passed away from us, to think about what it will be like to pass away. Given... more
I don’t think I’m having an existential crisis but likely it is quite normal for everyone’s thoughts to wander to death from time to time, to remember those who passed away from us, to think about what it will be like to pass away. Given the global COVID-19 crisis these thoughts of death and dying have gone beyond fleeting musings. We have all be touched by death.
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.
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.
Research Interests:
I have taught botany for over two decades on topics ranging from plant ecology and diversity to plant anatomy and physiology. Much of my 25 years of teaching has been working with students generating micrographs. I have educated first... more
I have taught botany for over two decades on topics ranging from plant ecology and diversity to plant anatomy and physiology. Much of my 25 years of teaching has been working with students generating micrographs. I have educated first year students through to honours and supervised higher research degree students. So, when invited to write this piece, my intent was to offer some background on botanical literacy but as I was writing I felt my usual scientific tone drift to include my musings in recent weeks. Global discussions about climate change, and the political situation in Australia, which for too long has focused on short term media cycles, accounting timelines, and 3-year political terms at the expense of our long term survival have rendered conversations about our environment an emotional space. I offer this piece as a homage to plants.
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.
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.
Research Interests:
As Australians try to maintain social engagement during self-isolation, citizen science offers a unique opportunity. Defined as “public participation and collaboration in scientific research”, citizen science allows everyday people to... more
As Australians try to maintain social engagement during self-isolation, citizen science offers a unique opportunity.
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.
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.
Research Interests:
Rayner A, Quinnell R. 2016. "Coloured by hand". MUSE 15: 22-23 http://sydney.edu.au/museums/publications/muse/muse-nov2016.pdf Professor Abercrombie Anstruther Lawson (1870–1927) was a brilliant botany teacher whose classes were... more
Rayner A, Quinnell R. 2016. "Coloured by hand". MUSE 15: 22-23 http://sydney.edu.au/museums/publications/muse/muse-nov2016.pdf
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.
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.
Research Interests:
Online learning support for students of botany, with an emphasis on the Australian Flora. UPDATED SITE NOW LIVE : https://transdisciplinary-research-science.sydney.edu.au/home/online-teaching-and-learning-resources/botanyonline/
Research Interests:
Project website: https://transdisciplinary-research-science.sydney.edu.au/home/online-teaching-and-learning-resources/campusflora/ ;... more
Project website: https://transdisciplinary-research-science.sydney.edu.au/home/online-teaching-and-learning-resources/campusflora/ ; https://www.sydney.edu.au/science/our-research/research-areas/life-and-environmental-sciences/campus-flora.html
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
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
Research Interests:
eBot provides access to a rich research collection of plant sciences images contributed by staff and students of the University of Sydney. eBot supports the sharing of images to enrich learning and research in the plant sciences... more
eBot provides access to a rich research collection of plant sciences images contributed by staff and students of the University of Sydney. eBot supports the sharing of images to enrich learning and research in the plant sciences worldwide. eBot contains a range of high quality images with diverse subject matter: from micrographs to photos of herbarium specimens from the University of Sydney: John Ray Herbarium. The images are supported by descriptive information including taxonomic details. http://ebot.library.usyd.edu.au/
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.
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.
Research Interests:
The Haswell Museum was established in 1903 from Professor William Haswell’s own international collection. This collection has been added to by subsequent research and teaching staff and now stands as a historically significant zoological... more
The Haswell Museum was established in 1903 from Professor William Haswell’s own international collection. This collection has been added to by subsequent research and teaching staff and now stands as a historically significant zoological collection of approx. 7000 invertebrate and vertebrate specimens that have been used to support teaching and learning in Zoology and for research and community outreach at the University of Sydney for more than 110 years (University Museum and Collections Worldwide Database).
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.
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.
Research Interests:
A comprehensive collection of botanical microscope slides that covers the plant evolution and plant anatomy. List of slides (see attachment for details). Currently the slide box is available to students enrolled in Botany (BIOL2030,... more
A comprehensive collection of botanical microscope slides that covers the plant evolution and plant anatomy. List of slides (see attachment for details). Currently the slide box is available to students enrolled in Botany (BIOL2030, 2932). Note this is the replacement site.
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
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
Research Interests:
This virtual microscope slide box aligns to the Intermediate Zoology curriculum at the University of Sydney. ZoologyOnline:... more
This virtual microscope slide box aligns to the Intermediate Zoology curriculum at the University of Sydney.
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
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
Research Interests:
These virtual slides align to the First Year university Human Biology curriculum. https://cloud.aiforia.com/Public/USYD-SCIENCE/X8AM_F5_V3tZ0yzbijxrXwzuJSJH5fvIk_5lEPqjYWA0
Research Interests:
Higher Education academies are noisy. While some members take considerable bandwidth, many are silenced and excluded. Not being invited to the table is an act of deliberative silencing. Listening for the silences, and moments of... more
Higher Education academies are noisy. While some members take considerable bandwidth, many are silenced and excluded. Not being invited to the table is an act of deliberative silencing. Listening for the silences, and moments of exclusions in the academy reveals how silence is weaponised. Speaking ‘up’, speaking ‘out’ or speaking ‘back’ (from Feminist approaches) can be risky. Irrespective of what sits behind how people are selected to be heard, and there are a multitude of reasons, a clear tension in speaking/not speaking, or remaining silent/breaking silence impacts our individual practices in an accelerated academy. As a deliberative practice, Russo (2013) suggests a method for exploring and appreciating the moments between speech acts and silences while Farmer (2001) describes the persuasive effects of sudden silence which may be understood as a strategic act for dramatic purposes.
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
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
Research Interests:
We offer this abstract in the aftermath of a crucial referendum held in our country October, 2023, which failed to secure constitutional change in Australia whereby the voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders could be directly... more
We offer this abstract in the aftermath of a crucial referendum held in our country October, 2023, which failed to secure constitutional change in Australia whereby the voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders could be directly heard in Federal parliament.
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
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
Research Interests:
Cross, R., Quinnell, R., Rhodes, P., Wardle, G., Bell, T., Motion, A., Wardle, G., Hubble, T., Dancsoe, Z. Murphy, D., Gongora, J. (2019). Proceedings of the Australian Conference on Science and Mathematics Education, The University of... more
Cross, R., Quinnell, R., Rhodes, P., Wardle, G., Bell, T., Motion, A., Wardle, G., Hubble, T., Dancsoe, Z. Murphy, D., Gongora, J. (2019). Proceedings of the Australian Conference on Science and Mathematics Education, The University of Sydney and University of Technology Sydney. 2 - 4 October p 23 ISBN: 978-0-9871834-8-4
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: 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.
Research Interests:
LeBard , R., Pye, M., & Quinnell, R. (2019). Assessing First Year Biology Students’ Maths Attitudes: Does HSC Maths Foster Confidence? Proceedings Australian Conference Science and Mathematics Education, The University of Sydney and... more
LeBard , R., Pye, M., & Quinnell, R. (2019). Assessing First Year Biology Students’ Maths Attitudes: Does HSC Maths Foster Confidence? Proceedings Australian Conference Science and Mathematics Education, The University of Sydney and University of Technology Sydney. 2 - 4 October p 62 ISBN: 978-0-9871834-8-4
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: 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’.
Research Interests:
Quinnell, R., Plumbe, B., & Rampe, M. (2019). Implementing Strategies to Engage Students Across Disciplines as Partners to Support 3D Object-based Learning. Paper presented at the Australian Conference Science and Mathematics Education, 2... more
Quinnell, R., Plumbe, B., & Rampe, M. (2019). Implementing Strategies to Engage Students Across Disciplines as Partners to Support 3D Object-based Learning. Paper presented at the Australian Conference Science and Mathematics Education, 2 - 4 OctoberThe University of Sydney and University of Technology Sydney. p. 86 ISBN: 978-0-9871834-8-4
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: 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?
Research Interests:
Quinnell, R., Gray, L., Philp, J., Mitchell, B., Newberry, M., & Dimond, R. (2019). Breathing Life into Haswell’s Historic Educational Zoological Collection. Proceedings of the Australian Conference of Science and Mathematics Education, 2... more
Quinnell, R., Gray, L., Philp, J., Mitchell, B., Newberry, M., & Dimond, R. (2019). Breathing Life into Haswell’s Historic Educational Zoological Collection. Proceedings of the Australian Conference of Science and Mathematics Education, 2 - 4 OctoberThe University of Sydney and University of Technology Sydney. p.85 ISBN: 978-0-9871834-8-4
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
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
Research Interests:
Background 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... more
Background
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.
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.
Research Interests: Confidence and Biomaths
We have been exploring the extent of 'the maths problem ' in science teaching and learning at tertiary level. It has been useful for us to refer to the discipline matrix of Biglan1 where science is defined as a "hard discipline", where... more
We have been exploring the extent of 'the maths problem ' in science teaching and learning at tertiary level. It has been useful for us to refer to the discipline matrix of Biglan1 where science is defined as a "hard discipline", where "applied" disciplines (e.g. Medicine) are distinguished from "pure" (e.g. Physics and Biology) and where disciplines focused on "life" (e.g. Biology and Medicine) can be distinguished from "non-life" (Physics). Our investigations into the extent of 'the maths problem ' have crossed the pure and applied boundary and the 'life'-'non-life' boundary. It is of interest to us to see how closely correlated thresholds concepts are to discipline boundaries.
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.
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.
Research Interests:
Pettit, L., Pye, M., Wang, X., & Quinnell, R. (2014). Designing a bespoke App to address Botanical literacy in the undergraduate science curriculum and beyond. In B. Hegarty, J. McDonald, & S.-K. Loke (Eds.), Rhetoric and Reality:... more
Pettit, L., Pye, M., Wang, X., & Quinnell, R. (2014). Designing a bespoke App to address Botanical literacy in the undergraduate science curriculum and beyond. In B. Hegarty, J. McDonald, & S.-K. Loke (Eds.), Rhetoric and Reality: Critical perspectives on educational technology. Proceedings ascilite Dunedin 2014 (pp. 614-619).
Research Interests:
Lachlan Pettit, Matthew Pye, Xiaolong Wang, Rosanne Quinnell
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.
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.
Research Interests:
Rosanne Quinnell, Elizabeth L. May, Mary Peat, Yvonne C. Davila School of Biological Sciences, The University of Sydney; Faculty of Science, University of Technology Sydney Proceedings of the Australian Conference for Science and... more
Rosanne Quinnell, Elizabeth L. May, Mary Peat, Yvonne C. Davila
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.
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.
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... more
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.
Research Interests:
Martin M, Jones B, Pye M, Quinnell R. 2014. Teach to learn: using new technologies to support agriculture undergraduates in biology. Proceedings of the Australian Conference for Science and Mathematics Education, Sept 29 - 30, 2014.... more
Martin M, Jones B, Pye M, Quinnell R. 2014. Teach to learn: using new technologies to support agriculture undergraduates in biology.
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.
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.
Research Interests:
While maths can be viewed as enabling learning in science and medicine, in reality we see students are bringing their maths anxiety with them to their studies. Our work focuses on dissecting the maths problem as it relates to teaching and... more
While maths can be viewed as enabling learning in science and medicine, in reality we see students are bringing their maths anxiety with them to their studies. Our work focuses on dissecting the maths problem as it relates to teaching and learning in these so-called hard disciplines. We have been challenging the inertia of what we see as a stand off with students taking the view that they are unable to do maths and educators frustrated at their disengagement. We have found that the maths problem resonates with several pedagogical frameworks (e.g. Meyer and Land’s Threshold Concepts Framework, Perkins and Simmons’ four frames of understanding) and we have found these useful for unpicking where our students become disengaged. We have applied a number of interventions to assist student learning and are now using our findings to inform the design of an online diagnostic to more explicitly address dysfunctional stances that students adopt when asked to manipulate their quantitative data. Given the extent of the maths problem and the move to increase diversity in the Higher Education sector, we discuss how to enable students to shift to a more positive learning disposition.
Research Interests:
Undergraduate science students are given opportunities to link the descriptions of scientific phenomena presented in lectures to their own observations of similar scientific phenomena in practical classes so as to reinforce key concepts.... more
Undergraduate science students are given opportunities to link the descriptions of scientific phenomena presented in lectures to their own observations of similar scientific phenomena in practical classes so as to reinforce key concepts. Being able to conceptually move between the scientific phenomena and the abstracted figures or equations that represent those phenomena is a key skill. Developing this skill, and confidence with applying this skill, is the implicit objective of many undergraduate practical classes. However, students seem unable to adequately explain their observations, despite the implementation of many “how to” guides, and this is of concern, which is why we seek to identify some of the factors that seem to impede students from being able to correctly translate and explain scientific data.
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.
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.
Research Interests:
The School of Chemistry at UNSW is undertaking a trial of an electronic laboratory notebook (ELN) with selected honours and postgraduate research students. This ELN was developed at the University of Southampton and has been designed to... more
The School of Chemistry at UNSW is undertaking a trial of an electronic laboratory notebook (ELN) with selected honours and postgraduate research students. This ELN was developed at the University of Southampton and has been designed to accommodate the diversity of research in science. The concept of an ELN is that all the data from instruments, the observations of a researcher, their notes, thoughts, etc, will be captured within the ELN. The UNSW/Southampton ELN is a blog of each researcher’s experiments, which resides on a secure server and is accessed through the web. It is intended that data will be readily retrievable for creating presentations, writing papers and ultimately the student’s thesis. The project has obtained a number of input devices (e.g. netbook, tablet and notebook PCs, PDA) and will trial their use with the web site. The central part of this trial is the perceptions of staff and students as to the merits of adopting an ELN and the usefulness of an ELN to access experimental data more efficiently and to enhance communication between students and their supervisor(s).
Research Interests:
Tertiary biology students are expected to calculate parameters from their experimental data (e.g. respiration and photosynthesis rates), interpret the meaning(s) of these biological parameters and then communicate their findings in the... more
Tertiary biology students are expected to calculate parameters from their experimental data (e.g. respiration and photosynthesis rates), interpret the meaning(s) of these biological parameters and then communicate their findings in the context of the published literature. Students are expected to have developed numeracy skills from their previous studies and to transfer these skills to their Biology studies. But, how sound are the numerical skills of our biology students? We know that mathematics students are anxious about learning mathematics, and our evidence tells us that many biology students, too, are less than confident about performing calculations. Intervention strategies, e.g. self-efficacy tasks, used during early stages of learning can promote critical thinking and skills development. Using both the research on student anxiety of learning mathematical skills and that of self-efficacy, a numeric skills task was designed for second year plant science students and implemented in a tutorial held in the first week of semester. The numeric skills task allowed each student to determine their confidence of concepts, calculating and converting between units of measure and quantities used in plant physiology. Data collected show that although students were able to demonstrate their understanding of a physical parameter they were not wholly confident with estimating this parameter and slightly less confident with converting between units of measure. We have evidence to show that students who are less confident with their numeracy skills had higher levels of engagement with the numeracy task compared to those students who were more confident with their numeracy skills.
Research Interests:
Statistics is taught in undergraduate science and medicine courses as an essential research subject. For many science students there is a program requirement to include a first year mathematics and/or statistics course taught by... more
Statistics is taught in undergraduate science and medicine courses as an essential research subject. For many science students there is a program requirement to include a first year mathematics and/or statistics course taught by mathematicians and/or statisticians with the topic revisited later within the discipline by academics who are not statisticians. Statistics are taught by a medically trained public health academic within evidence-based medicine in the undergraduate medicine program at University of NSW and taught as laboratory and field research skills by biology academics in the biology units of study at University of Sydney.
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.
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.
Research Interests:
The School of Chemistry at the University of New South Wales, Australia, is trialing an electronic laboratory notebook (ELN) to determine its suitability as a means to capture the research conducted by PhD students. ELN implementation... more
The School of Chemistry at the University of New South Wales, Australia, is trialing an electronic laboratory notebook (ELN) to determine its suitability as a means to capture the research conducted by PhD students. ELN implementation required a partnership to be established between the Library (server space and digital curation), ICT services (technical expertise and IT management), researchers in School of Chemistry (end-users) and the creators of the ELN at Southampton University in the UK. Students who opted to participate in the trial were in the first year of their three-year PhD program, with students in later stages of their PhD (year two and onwards) seeing little value in investing in learning a new work process. The students participating in the trial use an average of five different types of instruments when conducting their experiments and this represents more than five different types of file format. We are now 6 months into the trial and can report that all student participants have found this particular ELN sufficiently flexible to accommodate their experimental work. We are yet to realise the capacity of the ELN as a means to publish data directly from the kinds of instruments used in chemistry research (e.g. mass spectrometers, nuclear magnetic resonance). However, once this has been achieved, we expect to introduce the ELN into undergraduate chemistry curricula.he School of Chemistry at the University of New South Wales, Australia, is trialing an electronic laboratory notebook (ELN) to determine its suitability as a means to capture the research conducted by PhD students. ELN implementation required a partnership to be established between the Library (server space and digital curation), ICT services (technical expertise and IT management), researchers in School of Chemistry (end-users) and the creators of the ELN at Southampton University in the UK. Students who opted to participate in the trial were in the first year of their three-year PhD program, with students in later stages of their PhD (year two and onwards) seeing little value in investing in learning a new work process. The students participating in the trial use an average of five different types of instruments when conducting their experiments and this represents more than five different types of file format. We are now 6 months into the trial and can report that all student participants have found this particular ELN sufficiently flexible to accommodate their experimental work. We are yet to realise the capacity of the ELN as a means to publish data directly from the kinds of instruments used in chemistry research (e.g. mass spectrometers, nuclear magnetic resonance). However, once this has been achieved, we expect to introduce the ELN into undergraduate chemistry curricula.
Research Interests:
Quinnell R, Hibbert DB, Frey JG, Duffy N, Mocerino M, Todd M, Niamsup P, Plummer A, Milsted A. 2010. Extending the science curriculum: teaching instrumental science at a distance in a global laboratory using a collaborative Electronic... more
Quinnell R, Hibbert DB, Frey JG, Duffy N, Mocerino M, Todd M, Niamsup P, Plummer A, Milsted A. 2010. Extending the science curriculum: teaching instrumental science at a distance in a global laboratory using a collaborative Electronic Laboratory Notebook. Learning Technology Research Fest. Centre for Research on Computer Supported Learning and Cognition. The University of Sydney, 4th November, 2010. http://www.academia.edu/1152964/Extending_the_science_curriculum_teaching_instrumental_science_at_a_distance_in_a_global_laboratory_using_a_collaborative_Electronic_Laboratory_Notebook
In the higher education sector there is a strong push to improve the synergy between re- search and teaching. There is a need, therefore, to introduce into the undergraduate curriculum new and emerging technologies that support our current research practices and processes in science. There is no doubt that future scientific practice will increasingly involve collaborations that exploit new technologies with data and information being shared via the web. This project will extend the science curriculum by demonstrating how instrumental science can be taught at a distance using a collaborative electronic laboratory notebook: http://altc.ourexperiment.org/.
In the higher education sector there is a strong push to improve the synergy between re- search and teaching. There is a need, therefore, to introduce into the undergraduate curriculum new and emerging technologies that support our current research practices and processes in science. There is no doubt that future scientific practice will increasingly involve collaborations that exploit new technologies with data and information being shared via the web. This project will extend the science curriculum by demonstrating how instrumental science can be taught at a distance using a collaborative electronic laboratory notebook: http://altc.ourexperiment.org/.
Research Interests:
Quinnell R, Rodriguez-Lanetty M, Kazandjian A, Salih A, Cox G, Larkum AWD. Isolation Of Intact Zooxanthus-Symbiodinium Symbiosomes And Associated Membrane Proteins in Photosynthesis: Fundamental Aspects to Global Perspectives: Proceedings... more
Quinnell R, Rodriguez-Lanetty M, Kazandjian A, Salih A, Cox G, Larkum AWD. Isolation Of Intact Zooxanthus-Symbiodinium Symbiosomes And Associated Membrane Proteins in Photosynthesis: Fundamental Aspects to Global Perspectives: Proceedings of the 13th International Congress on Photosynthesis, Allen Press Inc, Lawrence, KS. 2004, pp. 988-990
In the higher education sector there is a strong push to improve the synergy between research and teaching. To achieve this there is a need to introduce into the undergraduate curriculum the new technologies that support research practice... more
In the higher education sector there is a strong push to improve the synergy between research and teaching. To achieve this there is a need to introduce into the undergraduate curriculum the new technologies that support research practice and process. There is no doubt that future scientific practice will increasingly involve collaborations around data and information that is delivered via the web. Our students must be trained in these new developments, and our staff must have access to tools that will facilitate their ability to teach it. New technologies, such as the Electronic Laboratory Notebook (ELN) developed at Southampton University in the UK, exploits the Web2.0 environment and offer the advantages of 1) being able to more readily share research resources, 2) as a digital record of experimental events and 3) a secure archive of data and metadata. We will discuss our initiative to extend the science curriculum in undergraduate chemistry through the introduction of an electronic laboratory notebook where instruments, experiments and data can be shared globally. The ELN is presently being implemented at UNSW, and the proposed project (funded by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council) will allow a multi- university (three in Australia, one in Thailand and one in the UK) exemplar of the ELN. By its nature, the project and its outcomes will be available worldwide for tertiary science training.
Research Interests:
The ability to profile students by assessing their approaches to study and conceptions of discipline is valuable for educators at all levels. Detailed analysis of these factors has been undertaken in science disciplines at the University... more
The ability to profile students by assessing their approaches to study and conceptions of discipline is valuable for educators at all levels. Detailed analysis of these factors has been undertaken in science disciplines at the University of Sydney to (i) determine the academic profiles of students in the cohorts we teach; and (ii) determine whether our teaching practices and the learning environment we provide stimulate the development of the student profiles we regard as desirable in a science graduate and, ultimately, in the professional scientist. At tertiary level, this analysis is complicated by the various degree programs that intersect in compulsory or service units of study, particularly at the first year level, and it is therefore essential that we understand the extent to which we are serving students in all degree programs. Our first year biology classes are large (up to 1500) and the unit Concepts in Biology (semester 1) is both a pre-requisite for further study in Biology and a compulsory service course for a range of degree programs (e.g. Medical Biotechnology, Pharmacy, Nutrition). We performed a cluster analysis on survey data combining measures of student approaches to study, conceptions of biology and performance in assessment after completing one semester of biology and examined the proportions of students in each of four clusters: two ‘positive’ (deep achievers and enthusiastic achievers) and two with less desirable profiles (surface strategists and neutral). Chi-squared analysis indicated no significant difference in distribution of students enrolled in Arts, Science and Pharmacy between the four clusters (p = 0.104). A significant difference was, however, detected at the level of science degree program (p < 0.002), with the Bachelor of Science (Marine) and Bachelor of Science contributing most to the difference. Implications of our analysis and further applications of learner profiling for informing improvements in science curricula, teaching and assessment will be discussed.
Research Interests:
Biglan (1973) divides academic disciplines into hard and soft, with subcategories of pure and applied, and life and non-life. We have conducted a study spanning these sub-categories in the 'hard' discipline of science, focused on... more
Biglan (1973) divides academic disciplines into hard and soft, with subcategories of pure and applied, and life and non-life. We have conducted a study spanning these sub-categories in the 'hard' discipline of science, focused on looking for common factors that impede student learning. A survey of second year undergraduate courses in Thermal Physics, Quality of Medical Practice and Molecular Biology was conducted. A common theme identified was the students' struggle with numeracy skills. Our survey results suggest this has less to do with a real weakness in mathematics, the students in these courses generally have strong mathematical backgrounds, and is more related to two factors – lack of relevance, which reduces their willingness to engage with the challenging aspects of the mathematics, and difficulties in transforming their 'pure' mathematical training into a form that allows them to use it effectively in their chosen courses.
Research Interests:
Biglan (1973) divides academic disciplines into hard and soft, with subcategories of pure and applied, and life and non-life. We have conducted a study spanning these sub-categories in the ‘hard’ discipline of science, focused on looking... more
Biglan (1973) divides academic disciplines into hard and soft, with subcategories of pure and applied, and life and non-life. We have conducted a study spanning these sub-categories in the ‘hard’ discipline of science, focused on looking for common factors that impede student learning. A survey of second year undergraduate courses in Thermal Physics, Quality of Medical Practice and Molecular Biology was conducted. A common theme identified was the students’ struggle with numeracy skills. Our survey results suggest this has less to do with a real weakness in mathematics, the students in these courses generally have strong mathematical backgrounds, and is more related to two factors – lack of relevance, which reduces their willingness to engage with the challenging aspects of the mathematics, and difficulties in transforming their ‘pure’ mathematical training into a form that allows them to use it effectively in their chosen courses.
Research Interests:
As part of a study to assess the impact on tertiary biology students of changes to the NSW HSC biology curriculum, we developed a questionnaire to survey student conceptions of biology. This required the creation of multiple Likert-scale... more
As part of a study to assess the impact on tertiary biology students of changes to the NSW HSC biology curriculum, we developed a questionnaire to survey student conceptions of biology. This required the creation of multiple Likert-scale items in two sub-scales: (i) fragmented conception of biology (e.g., Biology is just the study of facts); and (ii) cohesive conception of biology (e.g., Biology allows predictions to be made about everyday life and situations). Before implementing the questionnaire to address our main research questions, and because this was the first time, to our knowledge, that a Conceptions of Biology Questionnaire had been designed, we needed to validate its use in distinguishing between students who have different conceptions of biology as a science discipline. We used data from students, collected in their first week of tertiary biology, to analyse the reliability of the Conceptions of Biology items. Analysis using SPSS software indicated that items in the two conceptions sub-scales were individually reliable (Cronbach μ values > 0.6). However, factor analysis indicated that items in the fragmented sub-scale were not being discriminated from items for cohesive sub-scale by students. This result allowed us to reword the fragmented conception items before re-administering the questionnaires and thus demonstrate improvement in students’ ability to discriminate between fragmented and cohesive statements. We are now confident that the questionnaire will accurately discriminate between students with different conceptions of biology and recommend this practice for all future such investigations.
Research Interests:
Tertiary Biology students are expected to calculate parameters from their experimental data gathered in practical classes, interpret the meaning(s) of these biological parameters and then discuss their findings in the context of the... more
Tertiary Biology students are expected to calculate parameters from their experimental data gathered in practical classes, interpret the meaning(s) of these biological parameters and then discuss their findings in the context of the published literature. As teachers we expect students to have developed sound numeracy skills from their previous studies and be able to transfer these numeracy skills into their studies in Biology. However, Biology students are less than confident about performing calculations. Using research on student anxiety of learning mathematical skills (Meece , Wigfield and Eccles 1990; Boyd, Cullen, Bass, Pittman and Regan 1998; Klinger 2004) and self-efficacy intervention strategies (Hattie, Biggs and Purdie 1996; Pajares, Miller and Johnson 1999; Phan and Walker 2000; Schulz 2005), a numeric skills task was designed for second year plant science students and has been implemented since 2001. The numeric skills task allows each student to determine their confidence in: (a) their understanding of numeric concepts; (b) their understanding of quantities used in plant physiology; and, (c) their ability to calculate and convert between units of measure. An evaluation of the task shows that although all students were able to demonstrate their understanding of a physical parameter (e.g., volume), 32% of students were not confident with applying this understanding to estimating volumes, e.g., the volume of the tutorial room. A high proportion of students (47%) lacked confidence with converting between cubic metres and litres. Feedback from open-ended responses was categorised to measure student engagement with the task. Students who were the least confident with their answers had high levels of engagement with the numeracy task compared with those students who were more confident with their numeracy skills, indicating that students most likely to benefit from the task had been successfully targeted. Enabling students to engage in their own skills development appears to be a useful approach, particularly for students lacking confidence. This work is an analysis of a current assessment practice, and is being extended into a research project to help define the numeracy threshold of students in the Life Sciences.
Research Interests:
The University of Sydney eBot project was designed as a collaborative, sustainable repository for digital botanical objects. From its inception the repository was viewed as an effective way to bring together the collections of images and... more
The University of Sydney eBot project was designed as a collaborative, sustainable repository for digital botanical objects. From its inception the repository was viewed as an effective way to bring together the collections of images and resources that we use in research and to support learning and teaching of undergraduate Plant Sciences at The University of Sydney.
Objects contained within the repository range from the microscopic to entire landscapes. They include digitised herbarium specimens and associated temporal and spatial data. The metadata supporting the system enable effective archiving and retrieval of objects and is informed by international developments in botanical digital standards. The strength of this repository is that part of the metadata maps to the currently accepted taxonomy for the green plants. The eBot schema was derived from a range of descriptive standards, including the Herbarium Information Standards and Protocols for Interchange of Data (HISPID). This will ensure compatibility with digital herbaria in Australia. In addition to describing the scientific content of objects, the project addresses access and sustainability issues by including rights management data and information about the technical attributes of each object. To ensure the integrity of database content, all objects are validated by an expert reviewer prior to the images going ‘live’. eBot will be accessible later in 2008. Our view is that the project has potential to be used beyond the Plant Sciences and outside the university environment.
Objects contained within the repository range from the microscopic to entire landscapes. They include digitised herbarium specimens and associated temporal and spatial data. The metadata supporting the system enable effective archiving and retrieval of objects and is informed by international developments in botanical digital standards. The strength of this repository is that part of the metadata maps to the currently accepted taxonomy for the green plants. The eBot schema was derived from a range of descriptive standards, including the Herbarium Information Standards and Protocols for Interchange of Data (HISPID). This will ensure compatibility with digital herbaria in Australia. In addition to describing the scientific content of objects, the project addresses access and sustainability issues by including rights management data and information about the technical attributes of each object. To ensure the integrity of database content, all objects are validated by an expert reviewer prior to the images going ‘live’. eBot will be accessible later in 2008. Our view is that the project has potential to be used beyond the Plant Sciences and outside the university environment.
Research Interests:
Scientists view their disciplines as being practiced collaboratively with discussion and debate ignoring national borders. Clearly the international arena cannot be understated for our practice of research and its importance to infuse the... more
Scientists view their disciplines as being practiced collaboratively with discussion and debate ignoring national borders. Clearly the international arena cannot be understated for our practice of research and its importance to infuse the global nature of science into science education. In an exchange program developed between the Faculties of Science at an Asian university (NUS) and an Australian university (UNSW), students were provided an opportunity to study science in another University, in a foreign country. To define the educational benefits of the exchange program, we obtained responses from UNSW and NUS science students, through pre- and post-program questionnaires, regarding their perceptions of the program and their motivations for joining the program.
Students from both Universities appreciated participating in the program and found it met their expectations, with “development of inter and intrapersonal and self management skills” and “learning more about the host country’s culture, wildlife and environment” being most prominent. However, the two cohorts differed in their sense of the level of integration of the exchange program into their science degrees. UNSW students view Science without Borders (SwoB) as sitting outside their core curriculum whereas the NUS students view their Australian experience as very much a part of their degree program. This means that there is a mismatch between the perceptions of the students in the SWoB program and the way science is practiced. This paper provides background to the SWoB program, an analysis of the student experience as well as a critique of the current ‘global positioning’ of higher education in the sciences, as we grapple with increasing ‘global literacy’ in science.
Students from both Universities appreciated participating in the program and found it met their expectations, with “development of inter and intrapersonal and self management skills” and “learning more about the host country’s culture, wildlife and environment” being most prominent. However, the two cohorts differed in their sense of the level of integration of the exchange program into their science degrees. UNSW students view Science without Borders (SwoB) as sitting outside their core curriculum whereas the NUS students view their Australian experience as very much a part of their degree program. This means that there is a mismatch between the perceptions of the students in the SWoB program and the way science is practiced. This paper provides background to the SWoB program, an analysis of the student experience as well as a critique of the current ‘global positioning’ of higher education in the sciences, as we grapple with increasing ‘global literacy’ in science.
Research Interests:
Our data supports the assertion that a tutor training program can successfully engage our “future colleagues” in reflecting on their teaching and shift their practices to a student-centred perspective. However, many sessional staff either... more
Our data supports the assertion that a tutor training program can successfully engage our “future colleagues” in reflecting on their teaching and shift their practices to a student-centred perspective. However, many sessional staff either do not undertake such training or do not complete it. We suspect that this lack of participation is caused by a raft of pressures and agenda in the career paths of the postgraduate students, many of whom serve as our sessional staff. Understanding the factors that are impeding participation is critical in creating a positive shift in attitudes with respect to teaching and learning practices not only among the trainees but within our discipline culture -- science. Reflecting critically on the institutional climate and our objective to change the way that science academics view teaching and learning has left us with serious questions about the value of what we are doing in this training program.
Research Interests:
To what extent should we be concerned that a significant group of students are not using IT learning resources? The provision of online resources can be costly and time-consuming and the assumption is that all students will benefit from... more
To what extent should we be concerned that a significant group of students are not using IT learning resources? The provision of online resources can be costly and time-consuming and the assumption is that all students will benefit from their implementation. It should be expected that different students have different preferred modes of learning.
The aim of the present study was to quantify the use of different teaching and learning resources in a mixed learning environment and evaluate whether students had different preferences for ICT and traditional modes of delivery to support specific aspects of their learning. We were interested in determining the extent to which students were using traditional learning resources, on-line modules and communications technologies, such as peer collaboration by email, and whether these differing resources were being used by students to learn new knowledge, to consolidate their knowledge, for exam revision and/or for personal interest.
The aim of the present study was to quantify the use of different teaching and learning resources in a mixed learning environment and evaluate whether students had different preferences for ICT and traditional modes of delivery to support specific aspects of their learning. We were interested in determining the extent to which students were using traditional learning resources, on-line modules and communications technologies, such as peer collaboration by email, and whether these differing resources were being used by students to learn new knowledge, to consolidate their knowledge, for exam revision and/or for personal interest.
Research Interests:
The case presented here refers to an undergraduate and a postgraduate course, which are delivered by ‘parallel provision’, i.e. both groups of students sit in the same class, but the assessment is different. The nature of the two courses... more
The case presented here refers to an undergraduate and a postgraduate course, which are delivered by ‘parallel provision’, i.e. both groups of students sit in the same class, but the assessment is different. The nature of the two courses is complex in terms of variety of content, the number of lecturers involved and hence the affect this has on assessment. Also, there has been consistent student feedback about over-assessment. Due to this, the assessment is revised to be more suitable and appropriate for the two student cohorts as well as the assessors attempting to provide timely grades and feedback to students. Of particular interest is calibrated peer review (CPR). This addresses numerous problems present in the assessment strategy, by allowing students to be active participants in the assessment process. The literature review provides insights into benefits and drawbacks of using CPR.
Research Interests:
I am a tertiary educator and a biologist. For more than two decades I have developed, taught and coordinated a range of units of study (courses). My roles as a researcher, curriculum developer, teacher and assessor, are contextualised... more
I am a tertiary educator and a biologist. For more than two decades I have developed, taught and coordinated a range of units of study (courses). My roles as a researcher, curriculum developer, teacher and assessor, are contextualised primarily in the Life Sciences. While having been a committed teacher I have extended my own practice to influence that of others, both in my field and more widely across the university. This application for Senior Fellow offered evidence and examples of my sustained and significant contributions that met the requirement of Descriptor 3 of the UKPSF.
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.
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.
Research Interests:
CampusFlora transforms the outdoor spaces of our campuses into community learning spaces. By using mobile apps to offer scientific botanical [#iamabotanist], ethnobotanical and cultural narratives, constructed through both scholarly... more
CampusFlora transforms the outdoor spaces of our campuses into community learning spaces. By using mobile apps to offer scientific botanical [#iamabotanist], ethnobotanical and cultural narratives, constructed through both scholarly partnerships between faculty and students, the social sustainability of our learning spaces is enhanced.
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
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
Research Interests:
Crafting innovative botanical resources to inspire students to learn about the wonderful world of plants and the complexity of botanical systems has been my aim for the past 22 years. The learning resources I developed contribute to a... more
Crafting innovative botanical resources to inspire students to learn about the wonderful world of plants and the complexity of botanical systems has been my aim for the past 22 years. The learning resources I developed contribute to a worldwide effort from botanists to improve botanical literacy and address plant blindness (#iamabotanist). Closer to home, connecting students across science to our Australian flora is essential if we are to have botanically literate graduates and, nationally, botanical literacy is critical for a sustaining and managing our agricultural and ecological systems.
Research Interests:
Completion certificate (2016) from Deputy Vice Chancellor Education.
Research Interests:
CampusFlora apps transform campuses into learning spaces for biology by offering scientific botanical and ethnobotanical narratives constructed through student and staff partnerships. #iamabotanist The CampusFlora Team Project lead:... more
CampusFlora apps transform campuses into learning spaces for biology by offering scientific botanical and ethnobotanical narratives constructed through student and staff partnerships. #iamabotanist
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.
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.
Research Interests:
The 2016 Faculty of Science Learning and Teaching Award was given to Rosanne Quinnell for her ongoing commitment to student learning in Biology, in particular the developments in BotanyOnline and the CampusFlora app. CampusFlora has an... more
The 2016 Faculty of Science Learning and Teaching Award was given to Rosanne Quinnell for her ongoing commitment to student learning in Biology, in particular the developments in BotanyOnline and the CampusFlora app. CampusFlora has an influence well beyond its origins in a single intermediate Botany unit, with uses throughout the Life Sciences curriculum from first year lab classes on floral morphology to assisting PhD candidates locating their social insects!
Research Interests:
Tidal rhythm of Earth and Moon |
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.
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.
Research Interests:
Thank you for my oxygen and sequestering my waste | 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... more
Thank you for my oxygen and sequestering my waste |
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.
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.
Research Interests:
Eyes averted |
They hide.
Stopped by |
learnt fear. |
Coaxing |
Enticing |
with biological patterns |
piquing |
curiosity |
And love of number.
They hide.
Stopped by |
learnt fear. |
Coaxing |
Enticing |
with biological patterns |
piquing |
curiosity |
And love of number.
Research Interests:
Shelves of floating specimens |
No legs, 4 legs, 6 legs, 8. |
Caught |
Kept |
Coded |
Curated |
Alive again |
Online.
No legs, 4 legs, 6 legs, 8. |
Caught |
Kept |
Coded |
Curated |
Alive again |
Online.
Research Interests:
One force |
Life obedient |
||
We see balance |
We hear harmony |
We perceive beauty.
Life obedient |
||
We see balance |
We hear harmony |
We perceive beauty.
Research Interests:
The room bright |
with botanical wonders. |
The storyteller illuminating their minds.
with botanical wonders. |
The storyteller illuminating their minds.
Research Interests:
A campus community |
Busy as bees |
Snapping species |
in the trees |
||
A urban jungle |
Shared in the cloud |
Reflecting the crawlies |
that visit our grounds.
Busy as bees |
Snapping species |
in the trees |
||
A urban jungle |
Shared in the cloud |
Reflecting the crawlies |
that visit our grounds.
Research Interests:
Cultural Competence - Aboriginal Sydney, course completion as required for Cultural Competence Leadership Program at the University of Sydney.
Research Interests:
Tidal rhythm of Earth and Moon
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.
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.
Research Interests:
Quinnell R.**, Thompson R., Markovina N., LeBard R*. Curtin University, Sept 30th to Oct 1st, 2015, page X, ISBN Number 978-0-9871834-4-6. *presenting author **author for correspondence. BACKGROUND: WHAT THE PAPERS SAY. In recent years... more
Quinnell R.**, Thompson R., Markovina N., LeBard R*. Curtin University, Sept 30th to Oct 1st, 2015, page X, ISBN Number 978-0-9871834-4-6. *presenting author **author for correspondence.
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
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 Interests:
Invited presentation at VIBEnet and CUBEnet.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
In order to reinforce key concepts, undergraduate life science students (e.g. biology and medicine) are given opportunities to link the descriptions of phenomena presented in lectures to their own in-class or field observations. However,... more
In order to reinforce key concepts, undergraduate life science students (e.g. biology and medicine) are given opportunities to link the descriptions of phenomena presented in lectures to their own in-class or field observations. However, in our classes a proportion of our students disengage when the focus shifts to calculating biological parameters or to population studies (statistics). Our work to date has focused on characterising the underlying dysfunctional attitudes and stances our students adopt when faced with calculations that can preclude them from engaging in our discipline practices. Not all students see the relevance of developing numeracy skills to their studies in science and medicine and need to be extrinsically motivated. Although there may be some elements in common (e.g. maths anxiety), the 'maths problem' as it manifests in science teaching and learning is different to the 'maths problem' as it is seen in maths teaching and learning. For biology and medical students learning science, encountering ‘maths’ can lead to disengagement; in these instances ‘maths’ is more akin to a “transferable anxiety" than a “transferable skill”. In biology and medicine, being able to conceptually move between the phenomena and the abstracted figures or equations derived from experimental data requires the application (transference) of sound academic numeracy skills; developing and applying numeracy skills is the implicit learning objective, or hidden curriculum objective, of the undergraduate life science curriculum. Other implicit learning objectives are that our students are to be numerically competent and confident (or at the very least to develop competence and confidence) when 1. gathering, manipulating and presenting their own quantitative data sets and 2. critically appraising published data. There are a raft of expectations and assumptions associated with student learning objectives that include the expectations that our students have reasonably well-developed numeracy skills from their previous studies in mathematics at secondary school, and that transferring and applying their numeracy skills into their science studies in other discipline contexts, such as the life sciences, will be relatively unproblematic. However, for a novice, there is a high degree of complexity of thought and critical thinking required to complete a single experiment and write it up as a report. Shifting from ‘novice’ to ‘expert’, developing skills and discipline sensitivities and building confidence requires students to be afforded opportunities to practice and to get feedback. There are insufficient opportunities for students to practice their skills (including numeracy and abstraction) particularly given the reduction in the number of assessment tasks our students now do, which is probably about a tenth of the assignments we were doing even a decade ago. Having a clearer understanding of when and how our biology and medical students disengage from learning when they encounter 'maths' when learning science will inform the best ways to offer them support.
Research Interests:
Background/context: In biology, numeracy skills are integral to our practice. Some students are reluctant to engage with biology content if it uses even rudimentary mathematical operations. We postulate that these students grapple with... more
Background/context: In biology, numeracy skills are integral to our practice. Some students are reluctant to engage with biology content if it uses even rudimentary mathematical operations. We postulate that these students grapple with “biomaths” as a transfer of their “maths anxiety” rather than as a failure to transfer numeracy skills. In conjunction with maths anxiety there appears to be a lack of confidence with calculating, a common, although not unique, obstacle to learning science.
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.
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.
Research Interests:
Students have diverse learning styles and we have been using statistical analyses of student survey data to group (or cluster) together students with similar characteristics in a process we call Learner Profiling. Learner characteristics... more
Students have diverse learning styles and we have been using statistical analyses of student survey data to group (or cluster) together students with similar characteristics in a process we call Learner Profiling. Learner characteristics include approaches to study and conceptions of subject, in this case Biology. Approaches to study are measured as surface and deep using a standard questionnaire (Biggs, Kember & Leung, 2001). Conceptions of subject are measured on two scales, fragmented and cohesive (Quinnell et al., 2005). In our previous work we ascertained that 48% of students in an introductory university biology course change their Learner Profile characteristics (approach to learning and conception of biology) from the start to the end of their first semester at university, with some Learner Profiles being more persistent than others. Here we employ post-hoc analyses to see how elements of the curriculum (as defined by Ramsden 1991) correlate to the changes in Learner Profile. We are begining to explore the notion of disciplinarity in our teaching and student learning and we will discuss the value of our learner profiling method to inform the curriculum which must, by necessity, be suitable for students across a broad range of degree programs. This workshop is a continuation of the work we presented at CONASTA’59.
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
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
Research Interests:
The thresholds concepts framework was used to identify the underlying dysfunctional attitudes and stances students may adopt that can preclude them from engaging in our discipline practices. In the sciences numeracy skills are integral to... more
The thresholds concepts framework was used to identify the underlying dysfunctional attitudes and stances students may adopt that can preclude them from engaging in our discipline practices. In the sciences numeracy skills are integral to the professional practice of data handling, data presentation and interpretation. We have found that students lacking in numerical confidence are more hesitant to engage in these activities, which impacts of their learning of the discipline by directly inhibiting how well the students tackle threshold concepts with numeracy elements.
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.
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.
Research Interests:
In order to reinforce key concepts, undergraduate science and medical students are given opportunities to link the descriptions of scientific phenomena presented in lectures to their own observations of similar scientific phenomena in... more
In order to reinforce key concepts, undergraduate science and medical students are given opportunities to link the descriptions of scientific phenomena presented in lectures to their own observations of similar scientific phenomena in class. Being able to conceptually move between the scientific phenomena and the abstracted figures or equations derived from experimental data requires the application of sound numeracy skills. Developing and applying numeracy skills is the implicit objective of many undergraduate practical science classes. At university, we expect that our students have developed sound numeracy skills from their previous studies in mathematics and that they are able to transfer and apply their numeracy skills into their studies in other discipline contexts, such as the life sciences. In reality, not all of our students see the relevance of developing numeracy skills for their studies and not all our students can transfer their numeracy skills without eliciting maths anxiety; maths having become more a transferable “anxiety" than a “skill”. Even in the context of science, “maths is boring”. Some of the work we have been doing re-viewing academic numeracy as a „threshold concept‟ where we challenge our students perceptions about their numeracy skills will be presented for discussion.
Research Interests:
We have been exploring the extent of 'the maths problem' in science teaching and learning at tertiary level. It has been useful for us to refer to the discipline matrix of Biglan1 where science is defined as a "hard discipline", where... more
We have been exploring the extent of 'the maths problem' in science teaching and learning at tertiary level. It has been useful for us to refer to the discipline matrix of Biglan1 where science is defined as a "hard discipline", where "applied" disciplines (e.g. Medicine) are distinguished from "pure" (e.g. Physics and Biology) and where disciplines focused on "life" (e.g. Biology and Medicine) can be distinguished from "non-life" (Physics). Our investigations into the extent of 'the maths problem' have crossed the pure and applied boundary and the 'life'-'non-life' boundary. It is of interest to us to see how closely correlated thresholds concepts are to discipline boundaries.
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.
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.
Research Interests:
The symbioses between anthozoan cnidarians (i.e. corals, sea anemones, zoanthids and gorgonians) and dinoflagellate symbiont (commonly referred to as zooxanthellae) of the genus Symbiodinium are responsible for the formation of coral... more
The symbioses between anthozoan cnidarians (i.e. corals, sea anemones, zoanthids and gorgonians) and dinoflagellate symbiont (commonly referred to as zooxanthellae) of the genus Symbiodinium are responsible for the formation of coral reefs which, in turn, maintain a rich biodiversity in shallow tropical waters and thus are vital in sustaining the coastal communities in these regions. In recent years there has been an increase in the frequency and severity of global episodes of coral bleaching (coral whitening due to mass expulsion of symbiotic algae and/or loss of photosynthetic pigments from individual zooxanthellae) resulting in degradation and mortality of coral reefs. To understand mass-bleaching events more insight is necessary into the physiological and molecular interactions involved in breakdown of symbiotic associations; there is a need to understand how the cnidarian-dinoflagellate symbiosis is initiated, integrated and maintained. This study examines the photosynthetic performance of symbionts and the translocation of carbon from symbiont to host during the course of symbiosis re-establishment, to assess the autotrophic potential of the association during recovery from bleaching. Symbiont-free anemones of the genus Aiptasia were used and reinfected with different Symbiodinium strains. Over the course of eight weeks maximum photosynthetic and dark respiratory oxygen fluxes were measured by micro-respirometer. The translocation rate of photosynthetically fixed carbon from the symbionts to the host was also estimated, by assuming that fixed carbon not utilised in algal growth was available for release. These various fluxes were then used to infer the potential contribution of different strains of zooxanthellae to the host's daily respiratory carbon requirements during symbiosis re-establishment. The various photo-physiological patterns observed will be described, as will the implications for the recovery of corals from bleaching events.
Research Interests:
The Secondary School Enrichment Program (SSEP) is one of several outreach initiatives within the Faculty of Science at UNSW. Developed in conjunction with a local, non-selective, high performing secondary school, the SSEP aims to draw... more
The Secondary School Enrichment Program (SSEP) is one of several outreach initiatives within the Faculty of Science at UNSW. Developed in conjunction with a local, non-selective, high performing secondary school, the SSEP aims to draw talented students into university science degree programs, particularly in the enabling science disciplines. SSEP offers secondary school students mentoring through current science research projects by postgraduate students in the Faculty. Since its inception, the program has obtained consistently positive feedback from all participants. However, in order to better understand the value of the program we have investigated the perceived benefits of the program through pre- and post-program surveys. Our earlier work focused on exploring the usefulness of such programs to stimulate interest among secondary school students studying science at the tertiary level. Here we focus on the experiences of the postgraduate participants, the mentors. Postgraduate mentors were provided training and the opportunity to communicate their research outside the scientific community, experience teaching, acquire leadership skills, and network with other PhD students. Graduate students are seen as an untapped resource for public outreach (Giblin and Pagen (1998), Conservation Biology, 12 (6): 1421-1422); the SSEP utilises our postgraduate students as ambassadors for science in their respective areas of specialisation, promoting science as a career choice. Previously, postgraduate mentors rated themselves quite positively (on a 5-point Likert scale) for statements in the survey describing their ability to communicate, lead and show respect for social and personal diversity. Overall, there was only a slight increase in ratings for communication and leadership post-program and there was a decrease in the rating of their perception of collaborating with other postgraduate students in the program. Most of the mentors surveyed were concerned with communicating their research area to the students in a way that could be easily understood by them and this was the most challenging aspect of their experience. A 2009 cohort of mentors and high school students are currently completing the SSEP. The data collected from this cohort will be combined with data from previous years and presented at this meeting. Discussion will focus on effectiveness of the program in developing or enhancing among postgraduate mentors skills such as communication, leadership and teamwork (graduate attributes). We will share our experiences in developing and coordinating the program and discuss the merits and feasibility of expanding programs such as this.
Research Interests:
We undertook to determine the extent to which students alter their learner characteristics over a) the course of a semester and b) the course of a three-year science degree. The presumption is that our third year students have... more
We undertook to determine the extent to which students alter their learner characteristics over a) the course of a semester and b) the course of a three-year science degree. The presumption is that our third year students have successfully navigated our biology curriculum and will have adopted learning practices appropriate for the discipline of biology. Specifically, the longitudinal study of biology students aims to ascertain if and how their conceptions of biology and their approaches to learning have changed from the start to the end of their degree. Our question here is “What was the learning profile in first year biology of the students who proceeded to third year biology?”. In 2005 we surveyed incoming students at both the start and the end of their first semester of study in biology using a survey instrument that included a ‘Conceptions of Biology' and an ‘Approaches to Study' questionnaire. Two years later we surveyed our third year students. By identifying students who have completed all three surveys we were able to ascertain if our third year students exhibited any distinguishing learner profile characteristics during their first year of tertiary study. Our data suggest that our third year students had indeed adopted learning practices appropriate for the discipline of biology at an early stage in their degree. For our purposes as educators, we need to ensure that our curriculum and teaching practices support our students to develop the capacity to adopt deep approaches to learning that will allow them to succeed when they leave the confines of the institution.
Research Interests:
The Secondary School Enrichment Program (SSEP) is one of the outreach initiatives developed in the Faculty of Science, The University of New South Wales (UNSW). In the face of declining enrolments in the enabling sciences, the program... more
The Secondary School Enrichment Program (SSEP) is one of the outreach initiatives developed in the Faculty of Science, The University of New South Wales (UNSW). In the face of declining enrolments in the enabling sciences, the program seeks to foster a culture of academic generosity by bringing our current and future scientists together to participate in authentic scientific research. Developed jointly with a local, non-selective but high performing secondary school, the SSEP aims to draw talented students into university science degree programs, particularly in the enabling science disciplines.
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.
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.
Research Interests:
Note: these are the overheads from this presentation.
Research Interests:
Poster abstract 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’... more
Poster abstract
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).
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).
Research Interests:
Research is a complex process so teaching about it can be difficult. First year UNSW medical students learn evidence-‐based medicine and medical statistics but fail to see the relevance of their new skills (literature search, data... more
Research is a complex process so teaching about it can be difficult. First year UNSW medical students learn evidence-‐based medicine and medical statistics but fail to see the relevance of their new skills (literature search, data analysis, etc) in terms of their future practice, and this affects their engagement in further learning and understanding of research. A simple solution was devised to represent the process of research using an independent learning module that links to multiple resources that students self-navigate so as to comprehend research as a whole. The module will be adaptable to suit different students, disciplines and goals.
Research Interests:
For more than10 years tertiary education providers have gone to some lengths to define the attributes of their graduates. This has entailed a focus on transferable skills, which have been identified by their importance in educational... more
For more than10 years tertiary education providers have gone to some lengths to define the attributes of their graduates. This has entailed a focus on transferable skills, which have been identified by their importance in educational institutions
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.
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.
Research Interests:
eBot is an initiative of the University of Sydney Faculty of Science, School of Biological Sciences and the University of Sydney Library. eBot supports the use of images for research, teaching and learning in the plant sciences, with a... more
eBot is an initiative of the University of Sydney Faculty of Science, School of Biological Sciences and the University of Sydney Library. eBot supports the use of images for research, teaching and learning in the plant sciences, with a specific focus on the Australian context. To date, images have been submitted by members of the university community. All content is freely available to the wider community as web-ready or powerpoint-ready objects. Images are metatagged according to botanical conventions with plant ‘family’ as a mandatory field for plant images. The collection is presented, indexed and navigated using the eXtensible Text Framework (XTF). XTF can be adapted to suit diverse metadata, and this flexibility offers a way of accommodating future phylogenetic changes. We believe that this way of organising and tagging biological images could serve as a model for sister repositories in the sciences.
Research Interests:
Coral reefs are formed as a result of symbioses between anthozoan cnidarians and dinoflagellate symbionts of the genus Symbiodinium. In recent years there has been an increase in mass bleaching events. These events are not well understood... more
Coral reefs are formed as a result of symbioses between anthozoan cnidarians and dinoflagellate symbionts of the genus Symbiodinium. In recent years there has been an increase in mass bleaching events. These events are not well understood and more insight is necessary into the physiological and molecular interactions involved in the breakdown and potential recovery of the symbiotic association. This study aims to measure the influence of Symbiodinium type on the autotrophic potential of the symbiosis, as a means of assessing the physiological implications of establishing novel host-symbiont combinations after a bleaching event. Symbiont-free anemones of the genus Aiptasia were used as model organisms for corals and reinfected with different Symbiodinium strains. Over the course of twelve weeks, maximum photosynthetic and dark respiratory oxygen fluxes were measured using a micro-respirometer. The translocation rate of photosynthetically-fixed carbon from the symbionts to the host was estimated. These various fluxes were then used to infer the potential contribution of different strains of zooxanthellae to the host's daily respiratory carbon requirements (CZAR) during symbiosis re-establishment. The photo-physiological patterns observed will be described and compared amongst the various host-symbiont associations. The resultant implications for the recovery of corals from bleaching events will also be discussed.
Research Interests:
Quinnell R, Kazandjian A, Vella N, Larkum A. 2006. Preliminary observations of dividing symbiosomes in Zoanthus robustus. The 5th International Symbiosis Society Congress, Vienna, Austria. (August
2006)
2006)
Research Interests:
*Quinnell R, May E, Peat M, Taylor C. *presenting author We have been working on a project to determine the extent to which students alter their learning characteristics over the course of a semester and over the course of a three year... more
*Quinnell R, May E, Peat M, Taylor C.
*presenting author
We have been working on a project to determine the extent to which students alter their learning characteristics over the course of a semester and over the course of a three year science degree. Learning characteristics include approaches to study and conceptions of subject (in this case Biology). Approaches to study are measured as surface and deep using a standard questionnaire (Biggs, Kember & Leung, 2001). Conceptions of subject are measured on two scales, fragmented and cohesive, and for this project we had to develop and validate our own conceptions of biology questionnaire as none existed (Quinnell et al., 2005). We created a survey instrument that included these two questionnaires.
We have been surveying students for several years now (mostly in first year biology) and we have been using the data gathered to profile how students’ approaches to study and conceptions of biology change. This seminar will discuss the value of our learner profiling method to inform the curriculum and our teaching practices.
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.
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
*presenting author
We have been working on a project to determine the extent to which students alter their learning characteristics over the course of a semester and over the course of a three year science degree. Learning characteristics include approaches to study and conceptions of subject (in this case Biology). Approaches to study are measured as surface and deep using a standard questionnaire (Biggs, Kember & Leung, 2001). Conceptions of subject are measured on two scales, fragmented and cohesive, and for this project we had to develop and validate our own conceptions of biology questionnaire as none existed (Quinnell et al., 2005). We created a survey instrument that included these two questionnaires.
We have been surveying students for several years now (mostly in first year biology) and we have been using the data gathered to profile how students’ approaches to study and conceptions of biology change. This seminar will discuss the value of our learner profiling method to inform the curriculum and our teaching practices.
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.
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
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Several publications came from this initiative: 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... more
Several publications came from this initiative:
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)
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)
Research Interests:
Invited talk at the University of Sydney Curriculum Colloquium. Virtual Microscope in Teaching and Research was a successful Faculty Specific Research and Education Program (FREIP) grant application; an application I authored with J.... more
Invited talk at the University of Sydney Curriculum Colloquium.
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.
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.
Research Interests:
Invited talk to Faculty of Science "teaching tips" seminar series. 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... more
Invited talk to Faculty of Science "teaching tips" seminar series.
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.
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.
Research Interests:
My work was selected as the University of Sydney case study for the OLT Quantitative Skills project and several of my papers on academic numeracy are featured here.
Research Interests:
I was one of the contributors to the Microbiology module on this WRiSe site (and ALTC, now OLT, funded initiative) and a contributor on the precursor writing module "How to write a report in Biology".
Research Interests:
This case study of good teaching practice was selected for inclusion in the BioAssess project [http://bioassess.edu.au] (Carrick Institute, now OLT). After a series of practical classes in plant anatomy, students are provided with a... more
This case study of good teaching practice was selected for inclusion in the BioAssess project [http://bioassess.edu.au] (Carrick Institute, now OLT).
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.
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.
Research Interests:
This case study of good teaching practice was selected for inclusion in the BioAssess project [http://bioassess.edu.au] (Carrick Institute, now OLT). In addition to this case study of good teaching practice being selected for inclusion in... more
This case study of good teaching practice was selected for inclusion in the BioAssess project [http://bioassess.edu.au] (Carrick Institute, now OLT). In addition to this case study of good teaching practice being selected for inclusion in the BioAssess project, it was presented at the Vice-Chancellor's teaching forum in 2001.
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.
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.
Research Interests:
Quinnell, R. (17th April, 2019). Illustrations to micrographs: Visualising patterns in Botany. Rare Bites #2. The Library. The University of Sydney. Sydney. Retrieved from https://usyd.libcal.com/event/5174039 Rare Bites is a series of... more
Quinnell, R. (17th April, 2019). Illustrations to micrographs: Visualising patterns in Botany. Rare Bites #2. The Library. The University of Sydney. Sydney. Retrieved from https://usyd.libcal.com/event/5174039
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.
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.
Research Interests:
Quinnell, R. (15 April, 2019). Botany, the wonderful world of plants. The University Sydney: Taylor’s college talk.
Research Interests:
Quinnell, R. 2015. Botany, Mathematics and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in the BSc. Presented at the Faculty of Technology & Environment. Prince of Songkla University, Phuket Campus, Thailand. December 16, 2015.
Research Interests:
Seminar: Faculty of Technology & Environment. Prince of Songkla University, Phuket Campus, Thailand. 20 April 2015.
Research Interests:
Rosanne Quinnell's partnering with undergraduate students on a campus-wide learning and teaching App addresses Botanical literacy and, she declares, her plan to take over the world one campus at a time. Caroline Cheung is one of the... more
Rosanne Quinnell's partnering with undergraduate students on a campus-wide learning and teaching App addresses Botanical literacy and, she declares, her plan to take over the world one campus at a time. Caroline Cheung is one of the undergraduate student partners who contributed to this project and she is co-presenting. The University of Sydney Campus Flora Apps were created through a partnership with undergraduate students, professional and academic staff and by harnessing new technologies. Effectively CampusFlora has extended the learning space for Botany from the classroom to the entire campus. The pedagogic focus was to address 'botanical literacy' by providing an interactive map for users (students in Botany, Biology, Ecology, Science plus university community and visitors) to locate, identify and learn about plants. We are now investigating the potential to share our software system so that other universities can offer their own CampusFlora.
Research Interests:
This is the presentation we gave to students from Tsinghua University (China) and Pukyong National University (Korea) who were participating in the 'Young Leader Program on Environment and Sustainable development' and hosted by the Office... more
This is the presentation we gave to students from Tsinghua University (China) and Pukyong National University (Korea) who were participating in the 'Young Leader Program on Environment and Sustainable development' and hosted by the Office of Global Engagement, The University of Sydney.
Research Interests:
Presentation to visiting Chinese dignitaries including 25 senior management from universities in central and west region in China as well as senior staff and representative from the PRC Ministry of Education and National Academy of... more
Presentation to visiting Chinese dignitaries including 25 senior management from universities in central and west region in China as well as senior staff and representative from the PRC Ministry of Education and National Academy of Education Administration.
Research Interests:
With respect to my education research, I am interested in how students learn science, including how to best use ICT in science curricula. Part of my research has been identifying where science students get stuck as we introduce them to... more
With respect to my education research, I am interested in how students learn science, including how to best use ICT in science curricula. Part of my research has been identifying where science students get stuck as we introduce them to our science discipline practices. The low level of confidence that science students appear to have when applying their numeracy skills to their science studies is alarming and with my colleagues at UNSW I am using the Thresholds Concepts Framework, Mindfulness in Learning, and Thinking Dispositions to better understand how students develop their quantitative skills. In addition to presenting my most recent research in biology teaching and learning that focuses on numeracy in biology teaching and learning, I will offer a short 'show and tell' of the eLearning resources in Botany developed in the School of Biological Sciences, The University of Sydney.
Research Interests:
All of my academic life I have been grappling to understand boundaries. Over the past twenty years I have worked to: 1) characterise endosymbiotic membranes, 2) understand the ‘maths problem’ as it relates to biology, and 3) define the... more
All of my academic life I have been grappling to understand boundaries. Over the past twenty years I have worked to: 1) characterise endosymbiotic membranes, 2) understand the ‘maths problem’ as it relates to biology, and 3) define the impact of new technologies on learning and teaching in science. In this seminar I will cover these three areas of my research and maybe just a little bit more.
Research Interests:
Quinnell, R. 2014. ELNs, OpenScience, Publish[at]source: enhancing research through socio-digital collaboratories or "how to blog your thesis". Seminar for Honours and Postgraduate students in School of Biological Sciences. 15th... more
Quinnell, R. 2014. ELNs, OpenScience, Publish[at]source: enhancing research through socio-digital collaboratories or "how to blog your thesis". Seminar for Honours and Postgraduate students in School of Biological Sciences. 15th September, 2014. The University of Sydney.
Research Interests:
Invited presentation in "The technology enhanced curriculum" Sydney Teaching Colloquium "Challenging Curriculum" 3-4 October 2012 Here I described the challenges of implementing a virtual microscope across the University of Sydney campus... more
Invited presentation in "The technology enhanced curriculum" Sydney Teaching Colloquium "Challenging Curriculum" 3-4 October 2012
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.
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.
Research Interests:
9 November 2011: Web-based collaborations for undergraduate science experiments: Group and individual assessment (Electronic Lab Notebooks) Presenters: Brynn Hibbert and Douglas Duffy (University of New South Wales, Australia) and... more
9 November 2011: Web-based collaborations for undergraduate science experiments: Group and individual assessment (Electronic Lab Notebooks)
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).
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).
Electronic laboratory notebooks (ELNs) have been embraced by many researchers as a way to harness the collaborative advantage provided by social networking and as a means of data archiving. This presentation will invite discussion on how... more
Electronic laboratory notebooks (ELNs) have been embraced by many researchers as a way to harness the collaborative advantage provided by social networking and as a means of data archiving. This presentation will invite discussion on how best to implement an ELN for students in science and so bridge the gap between traditional teaching practices and e-research practices.
Research Interests:
Symbiosis Cell Biology Workshop 22nd – 27th January 2007 (Brisbane – Heron Island Qld Australia)
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This project marks the formal bringing together of four areas of the University (Faculties of Science, Arts & Social Sciences, Medicine & Health, Sydney University Museums) to achieve the common goals of 1. connecting the University’s... more
This project marks the formal bringing together of four areas of the University (Faculties of Science, Arts & Social Sciences, Medicine & Health, Sydney University Museums) to achieve the common goals of 1. connecting the University’s heritage with our undergraduate curricula using new and emerging technologies 2. offering online access to the University’s significant heritage collections and key objects for examination by the University community at large as well as those further afield.
Research Interests:
University of Sydney Large Innovation Grant. Unsuccessful.
Quinnell, R. 2014. CampusFlora: a curriculum collaboration supporting Botanical Literacy. Expression of Interest to VIBENET and CUBENET to develop a "Bunch of Floras". Successful; Dr Quinnell invited to present this project at Australian... more
Quinnell, R. 2014. CampusFlora: a curriculum collaboration supporting Botanical Literacy. Expression of Interest to VIBENET and CUBENET to develop a "Bunch of Floras". Successful; Dr Quinnell invited to present this project at Australian Academy of Science, Dec 2014.
Faculty of Science Learning and Teaching Equipment Scheme (Funding for 2015). Successful. ~ $84, 000.
Hibbert et al. Competative grant ALTC (now OLT).
SoBS TComm Learning materials T+L grants: 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... more
SoBS TComm Learning materials T+L grants:
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
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
Rosanne Quinnell 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... more
Rosanne Quinnell
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?
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?
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Workshop 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... more
Workshop
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.
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.
Research Interests:
Within legume/rhizobia symbioses the plant provides oxidixable substrate to the endosymbiont in exchange for fixed nitrogen. C4-dicarboxylates, primarily malate, are considered to be the major carbon source provided to the symbiont to... more
Within legume/rhizobia symbioses the plant provides oxidixable substrate to the endosymbiont in exchange for fixed nitrogen. C4-dicarboxylates, primarily malate, are considered to be the major carbon source provided to the symbiont to sustain nitrogen therefore, analysis of enzymes able utilise malate as substrate, such as malic enzyme, is important.
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.
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.
Research Interests:
I don’t think I’m having an existential crisis but likely it is quite normal for everyone’s thoughts to wander to death from time to time, to remember those who passed away from us, to think about what it will be like to pass away. Given... more
I don’t think I’m having an existential crisis but likely it is quite normal for everyone’s thoughts to wander to death from time to time, to remember those who passed away from us, to think about what it will be like to pass away. Given the global COVID-19 crisis these thoughts of death and dying have gone beyond fleeting musings. We have all be touched by death. 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. [continued in the blog piece]
Research Interests:
Fyuse. A strange name for one of the neatest imaging apps I’ve come across in ages. What does it do? This app generates gifs. There are two options – either the in-frame subject moves and the phone is static. Or the phone moves changing... more
Fyuse. A strange name for one of the neatest imaging apps I’ve come across in ages. What does it do? This app generates gifs. There are two options – either the in-frame subject moves and the phone is static. Or the phone moves changing frame in the process. The results are just wonderful and particular important for the Haswell digitisation project.
https://haswellmuseum.wordpress.com/2017/02/06/turning-haswell-specimens-into-gifs-for-sharing/
https://haswellmuseum.wordpress.com/2017/02/06/turning-haswell-specimens-into-gifs-for-sharing/
Research Interests:
Proficiency in any discipline requires exposure to both breadth and depth, where “breadth” is akin to acquiring the vocabulary and “depth” is akin to an understanding of the prevailing patterns, the rules of grammar. Developing botanical... more
Proficiency in any discipline requires exposure to both breadth and depth, where “breadth” is akin to acquiring the vocabulary and “depth” is akin to an understanding of the prevailing patterns, the rules of grammar.
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/
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/
Research Interests:
For university biology students transferring ‘mathematics’ to a life science discipline is as uncomfortable for them as being in a mathematics class. I say ‘uncomfortable’ as about 50% of our life science students tend to adopt a rigid... more
For university biology students transferring ‘mathematics’ to a life science discipline is as uncomfortable for them as being in a mathematics class. I say ‘uncomfortable’ as about 50% of our life science students tend to adopt a rigid stance when required to take their raw data and generate data suitable for their assignments. It is unlikely that my students are innumerate, rather this statement of not being able to “do maths” represents a reluctance on the part of these students to participate in activities that, to them, look like maths.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Three slideboxes: 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 -... more
Three slideboxes:
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/
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/
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Introduced in 2006.
Academic numeracy as an obstacle to learning in Life Sciences. Colleagues Dr Jenny Koenig and Prof Vicki Tariq.
August - Sept 2014
August - Sept 2014
Research Interests:
2008 - 2009 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... more
2008 - 2009
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.
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.
Research Interests:
Now my motivations … so, my aspirations for all of this is of course first and foremost, I want to learn my own language again, I want to have that knowledge point. People ask me how to speak, “do you speak Aboriginal?” I feel like that’s... more
Now my motivations … so, my aspirations for all of this is of course first and foremost, I want to learn my own language again, I want to have that knowledge point. People ask me how to speak, “do you speak Aboriginal?” I feel like that’s a really weird question, but yes, I can. Second of all, I want to bring that back to my family.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Botany, Symbiosis, Biology, Algae, Medicine, and 3 moreBiological Sciences, Glycerol, and Sea Anemone
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
A reliable assessment strategy for allocating different summative marks for individual contributions in groupwork is a perennial problem that using the TeCTra online tool can resolve. By collecting weekly quantitative and qualitative data... more
A reliable assessment strategy for allocating different summative marks for individual contributions in groupwork is a perennial problem that using the TeCTra online tool can resolve. By collecting weekly quantitative and qualitative data to support the individualising of contributions and ...
Research Interests:
Rice, wheat and corn are the three most consumed crop foods worldwide and, as such, are important when considering future global food security. All three species are members of the Poaceae family and are silica accumulators. For those... more
Rice, wheat and corn are the three most consumed crop foods worldwide and, as such, are important when considering future global food security. All three species are members of the Poaceae family and are silica accumulators. For those plants that accumulate silica, silica fertilisation is considered to improve plant health and alleviate abiotic and biotic stresses thereby lessening reliance on pesticides. Measuring the silicon (Si) content in soils and plants is useful for identifying Si-poor systems; however, traditional chemical digestion methods to measure Si are hazardous and time consuming. Advances in the sensitivity of handheld X-ray fluorescence spectrometers (hh-xrf) create new opportunities for rapid plant elemental analyses. We present a Si analysis of using two handheld X-ray fluorescence devices (SciAps X-300 and the Niton XL3t GOLDD+) compared with a traditional NaOH-digestion method. The SciAps was found to be more accurate than the Niton and the average time taken to...
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Citizen science, though well established in Australia has not yet found wide use in tertiary science education. We offer case studies to illustrate that Citizen Science approaches are slowly being adopted and we highlight the spectrum of... more
Citizen science, though well established in Australia has not yet found wide use in tertiary science education. We offer case studies to illustrate that Citizen Science approaches are slowly being adopted and we highlight the spectrum of experiences in higher education from undergraduate to alumni. Courses that integrate citizen science methods tend to focus on the involvement of students in scientific research. More recently, however, citizen science theories and practice have been explicitly taught, empowering students to bring a critical lens to citizen science approaches in addition to contributing to scientific research. Integrative citizen science approaches can draw together research and teaching in higher education. When combined, these authentic learning experiences provide opportunities for students to practice contemporary science as part of new and emerging research frameworks. This article draws together citizen science initiatives from Australian universities. We discu...
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Citizen science, though well established in Australia has not yet found wide use in tertiary science education. We offer case studies to illustrate that Citizen Science approaches are slowly being adopted and we highlight the spectrum of... more
Citizen science, though well established in Australia has not yet found wide use in tertiary science education. We offer case studies to illustrate that Citizen Science approaches are slowly being adopted and we highlight the spectrum of experiences in higher education from undergraduate to alumni. Courses that integrate citizen science methods tend to focus on the involvement of students in scientific research. More recently, however, citizen science theories and practice have been explicitly taught, empowering students to bring a critical lens to citizen science approaches in addition to contributing to scientific research. Integrative citizen science approaches can draw together research and teaching in higher education. When combined, these authentic learning experiences provide opportunities for students to practice contemporary science as part of new and emerging research frameworks. This article draws together citizen science initiatives from Australian universities. We discuss the benefits of immersive citizen science projects for learning, the potential of citizen science to connect campuses with community, and the importance of critical approaches to citizen science in a pedagogical setting. We consider ways to shape citizen science in higher education settings to broaden inclusion in science both on and beyond campuses.
Research Interests:
In our first-year university botany classes at Charles Sturt University, we noticed that in laboratory class, students were taking photographs of their specimens with the dissecting and compound microscopes using their mobile phones.... more
In our first-year university botany classes at Charles Sturt University, we noticed that in laboratory class, students were taking photographs of their specimens with the dissecting and compound microscopes using their mobile phones. Student-generated images as “learning objects” were used to enhance the engagement of all students, including Distance Education students who used images provided by the on-campus students. The Distance Education students did all the laboratory work at an intensive residential school, and they were encouraged to take images; these were shared with on-campus students, making them aware of the laboratory practical work they were yet to do. In other cases, images from students were incorporated into lectures and tutorials, preparing students for the lab exam. Botany students have shared their photomicrographs with their friends and family via social media. We saw interesting examples of students excitedly describing their images to non-science friends, tea...
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BACKGROUND Our recent experiences as guest editors for a special issue on ‘Science meets Art’ in education for International Journal of Innovation in Science and Mathematics Education (Quinnell, Wegener, LeBard & Beames, 2019) have made... more
BACKGROUND Our recent experiences as guest editors for a special issue on ‘Science meets Art’ in education for International Journal of Innovation in Science and Mathematics Education (Quinnell, Wegener, LeBard & Beames, 2019) have made us wonder how ‘scholarship’ is defined when working in transdisciplinary spaces that map across STEAM. Strategies that significantly enrich student experiences and invite broader adoption deserve sharing. However, some strategies are not being disseminated through SOTL research fora because they are judged to lack scholarly framing. CASE STUDIES We offer a synopsis of the submissions that came across our desks. We wonder at how best to offer work that sits at the edges of science, science education and creative arts, and where the scholarly frame is somewhat mercurial. We offer a compelling study from the University of Queensland (UQ) where medicine students were asked to respond artistically to pathology museum specimens and associated case notes, a...
Research Interests:
Now my motivations … so, my aspirations for all of this is of course first and foremost, I want to learn my own language again, I want to have that knowledge point. People ask me how to speak, “do you speak Aboriginal?” I feel like that’s... more
Now my motivations … so, my aspirations for all of this is of course first and foremost, I want to learn my own language again, I want to have that knowledge point. People ask me how to speak, “do you speak Aboriginal?” I feel like that’s a really weird question, but yes, I can. Second of all, I want to bring that back to my family.
Research Interests:
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... more
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 ...
Research Interests:
The maths problem refers to the perceived shortfall in numeracy skills required in the workforce that are provided by the education system. In Biology the maths problem manifests as a rigid stance of students claiming that they can’t do... more
The maths problem refers to the perceived shortfall in numeracy skills required in the workforce that are provided by the education system. In Biology the maths problem manifests as a rigid stance of students claiming that they can’t do maths and a reluctance to participate in biology when the focus shifts to data-handling and calculations. We hypothesis that this ‘rigidity’ masks a high degree of attitudinal complexity that is effecting student engagement with learning; the link between attitude . Studies from the past decade or more have demonstrated that approximately half of life science students lack confidence in in their mathematical abilities (Tariq, 2002; McMullan, et al., 2012; Quinnell &amp; Wong, 2007), and this has implications for students actively engaging in biology when it looks to them like maths. We surveyed students enrolled in an introductory biology course (n=254) as to their attitudes to mathematics (Doepken, et al., 2003). Our results show that; approximately 50% of students self-reported that they were not mathematically confident, consistent with (Tariq, 2002; Quinnell &amp; Wong, 2007; McMullan, et al., 2012), female students were less mathematically confident than male students, consistent with (Durrani &amp; Tariq, 2009; Matthews &amp; Hodgson, 2012; Tariq, et al., 2013) and mathematical confidence did not differ between students in the advanced course (ATAR: 90) and standard students (minimum ATAR: 70.5). Our preliminary findings suggest that HSC appears not likely to be an adequate predictor of biology students’ numeric confidence, however we intend to conduct follow-up studies to determine how students’ background (performance in high school mathematics) shapes their confidence, and in turn may influence their performance at university, overall and within mathematics and biology.
Research Interests:
When new technologies arrive they come with promises to solve our problems. Technology has offered ways to get information faster, to communicate and collaborate synchronously, asynchronously. In our teaching we have crafted online... more
When new technologies arrive they come with promises to solve our problems. Technology has offered ways to get information faster, to communicate and collaborate synchronously, asynchronously. In our teaching we have crafted online learning modules to affords flexibility for students so that they can engage with our disciplines outside of the confines of physical classrooms. Smart phone technology allows us to ‘google’ information (and misinformation) from anywhere - provided you have a smart device, a WIFI connection and a service provider that covers your location. In short, technologies have allowed us to work faster, and facilitated the expansion of the digital asset realm, and they have served as catalysts for innovation and thinking differently about education. With the adoption of each technological implementation I ask both “what are the gains?” and “what are we losing?”. I offer my reflections on three technologies. Email: When I first started as an associate lecturer there...
Abstract: Scientists view their disciplines as being practiced collaboratively with discussion and debate ignoring national borders. Clearly the international arena cannot be understated for our practice of research and its importance to... more
Abstract: Scientists view their disciplines as being practiced collaboratively with discussion and debate ignoring national borders. Clearly the international arena cannot be understated for our practice of research and its importance to infuse the global nature of science into science education. In an exchange program developed between the Faculties of Science at an Asian university (NUS) and an Australian university (UNSW), students were provided an opportunity to study science in another University, in a foreign country. To define the educational benefits of the exchange program, we obtained responses from UNSW and NUS science students, through pre- and post-program questionnaires, regarding their perceptions of the program and their motivations for joining the program. Students from both Universities appreciated participating in the program and found it met their expectations, with “development of inter and intrapersonal and self management skills ” and “learning more about the ...
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... 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 person...
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BACKGROUND: WHAT THE PAPERS SAY The maths problem refers to the broadening gap between increasing demand for numeracy skills in the workforce and the decreasing numeracy skills supply provided by the education system. In recent years... more
BACKGROUND: WHAT THE PAPERS SAY The maths problem refers to the broadening gap between increasing demand for numeracy skills in the workforce and the decreasing numeracy skills supply provided by the education system. 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 trend aligns with the ‘20-year decline in science and maths education’ (Phillips, 2015). Smith (2015) tells us in The Conversation that ‘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 adeq...
Research Interests:
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... more
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 u...
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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,... more
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 perspect...
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BACKGROUND This project describes a collaboration between Cambodian and Australian scientists to develop a contemporary transnational Cambodian curriculum in agriculture to support the next generation of technology-focused land management... more
BACKGROUND This project describes a collaboration between Cambodian and Australian scientists to develop a contemporary transnational Cambodian curriculum in agriculture to support the next generation of technology-focused land management practices in Cambodia and to improve Cambodian teaching and learning practices in higher education. The project has grown from our existing international research and development partnership Cambodian Sustainable Intensification and Diversification, which is funded by Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research; the World Bank is supporting the work to revise the Cambodian curriculum. PROGRESS TO DATE To date, Cambodian and Australian academics and students have worked closely together to collect data pertaining to the current agricultural practices. We have identified areas where we can introduce technology to support farmers and agricultural students, for example we have developed mApps in both Khmer and English, making learning sci...
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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)... more
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 arriving at a clear view of a concept may involve a process of working through a range of misconceptions about a phenomenon or experience that may or may not create a threshold experience in a learner. We argue that the journey through conceptual change and thresholds requires 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, rea...
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Effectively incorporating cultural competence into tertiary institutions is paramount to the creation of cross-cultural settings where undergraduates and academics can develop understandings of how culture and belief systems influence... more
Effectively incorporating cultural competence into tertiary institutions is paramount to the creation of cross-cultural settings where undergraduates and academics can develop understandings of how culture and belief systems influence professional decision making. Processes that incorporate cultural competence are viewed as particularly challenging in science disciplines, particularly non-vocational science disciplines where “western” or reductivist ways of teaching and “doing” science remain dominant.
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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,... more
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, ...
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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... 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 cours...
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In the last decade, the Australian higher education sector has championed the inclusion of cultural competence (CC) as a key graduate quality. Diverse disciplinary learning and teaching approaches requiring careful consideration about how... more
In the last decade, the Australian higher education sector has championed the inclusion of cultural competence (CC) as a key graduate quality. Diverse disciplinary learning and teaching approaches requiring careful consideration about how best to achieve the end goal of supporting graduates on their individual, life-long pathways to engage with CC. Science can be viewed as an inflexible and immovable discipline. This perception seems particularly prevalent with respect to scientists acknowledging epistemes outside of a western cultural frame. It follows that eliciting curriculum reform with respect to CC broadly, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives more specifically, was perceived to be a significant challenge. Through interviews with eleven non-Indigenous academics across the Faculty of Science at the University of Sydney, we uncovered several strategies for including multiple knowledges in science, with academics traversing these new horizons by building on the ...
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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... 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.
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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... 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.
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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... 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) = 879.3 ± 65.31 μmol photons m–2 s–1 or ~45% of full sunlight qualifying it as a sun plant. The maximum photosynthetic electron transport rate (ETRmax) was 77.77 ± 3.423 μmol e– m–2 s–1 or, on a Chl a basis 350 ± 36.0 μmol g–1 (Chl a) s–1. The photosynthetic efficiency (α0) is α0 = 0.2404 ± 0.02076 e– photon–1 or 1.082 ± 0.137 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 photosyntheti...
Research Interests: Botany, Microbiology, Photosynthesis, Plant Biology, Biology, and 5 moreEcology, Lichen, Australian botany, fERN, and Epiphyte
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This paper is about a perceived link between students&#39; conceptions of biology and the recent change in the way biology is being taught in high school in NSW. The philosophical change within the high school certificate (HSC)... more
This paper is about a perceived link between students&#39; conceptions of biology and the recent change in the way biology is being taught in high school in NSW. The philosophical change within the high school certificate (HSC) syllabus was to move from a teacher-centred, content driven syllabus to a student-centred, investigative, concept driven one. In the paper we describe an analysis of students&#39; responses to the open-ended question: &quot;Much of Biology is about the way organisms have become adapted to their environment through the process of evolution. What do you know about adaptation?&quot; Students who were enrolled in first year biology at the University of Sydney in 2001, 2002 and 2005 were surveyed and their responses were analysed using a SOLO taxonomic method.
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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... more
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.
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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... 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.
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Page 1. NOTE Mauricio Rodriguez-Lanetty Æ Carol Scaramuzzi Rosanne G. Quinnell Æ Anthony WD Larkum Transport of symbiotic zooxanthellae in mesogleal canals of Zoanthus robustus? Received: 22 August 2003 / Accepted ...
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Michelle Kofod1 The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia m.kofod@unsw.edu.au ... Rosanne Quinnell The University of Sydney, currently The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia rquinnel@bio.usyd.edu.au;... more
Michelle Kofod1 The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia m.kofod@unsw.edu.au ... Rosanne Quinnell The University of Sydney, currently The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia rquinnel@bio.usyd.edu.au; rosanne.q@unsw.edu.au
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Abstract: The ability to profile students by assessing their approaches to study and conceptions of discipline is valuable for educators at all levels. Detailed analysis of these factors has been undertaken in science disciplines at the... more
Abstract: The ability to profile students by assessing their approaches to study and conceptions of discipline is valuable for educators at all levels. Detailed analysis of these factors has been undertaken in science disciplines at the University of Sydney to (i) determine the ...
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It is through being able to 1) identify vegetative and reproductive structures and 2) identify shared characteristics that students of botany learn how to discriminate between taxa, particularly at the level of family (Quinnell et al.,... more
It is through being able to 1) identify vegetative and reproductive structures and 2) identify shared characteristics that students of botany learn how to discriminate between taxa, particularly at the level of family (Quinnell et al., 2008). Table 1 shows the alignment of eBot content to ...
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2009 UniServe Science Proceedings 202 Motivating Science Undergraduates: Ideas and Interventions Postgraduate students as research mentors for secondary school students in science: experiences from UNSW Chong Eng Tay, Michelle Kofod,... more
2009 UniServe Science Proceedings 202 Motivating Science Undergraduates: Ideas and Interventions Postgraduate students as research mentors for secondary school students in science: experiences from UNSW Chong Eng Tay, Michelle Kofod, Rosanne Quinnell, Bianca Lino, Noel ...
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We have been exploring the extent of 'the maths problem' in science teaching and learning at tertiary level. It has been useful for us to refer to the discipline matrix of Biglan1 where science is defined as a "hard... more
We have been exploring the extent of 'the maths problem' in science teaching and learning at tertiary level. It has been useful for us to refer to the discipline matrix of Biglan1 where science is defined as a "hard discipline", where "applied" disciplines (eg Medicine) are ...
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Abstract: As part of a study to assess the impact on tertiary biology students of changes to the NSW HSC biology curriculum, we developed a questionnaire to survey student conceptions of biology. This required the creation of multiple... more
Abstract: As part of a study to assess the impact on tertiary biology students of changes to the NSW HSC biology curriculum, we developed a questionnaire to survey student conceptions of biology. This required the creation of multiple Likert-scale items in two sub-scales: (i) ...
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Tertiary Biology students are expected to calculate parameters from their experimental data gathered in practical classes, interpret the meaning(s) of these biological parameters and then discuss their findings in the context of the... more
Tertiary Biology students are expected to calculate parameters from their experimental data gathered in practical classes, interpret the meaning(s) of these biological parameters and then discuss their findings in the context of the published literature. As teachers we expect students to have developed sound numeracy skills from their previous studies and be able to transfer these numeracy skills into their studies in Biology. However, Biology students are less than confident about performing calculations. Using research on student anxiety of learning mathematical skills (Meece , Wigfield and Eccles 1990; Boyd, Cullen, Bass, Pittman and Regan 1998; Klinger 2004) and self-efficacy intervention strategies (Hattie, Biggs and Purdie 1996; Pajares, Miller and Johnson 1999; Phan and Walker 2000; Schulz 2005), a numeric skills task was designed for second year plant science students and has been implemented since 2001. The numeric skills task allows each student to determine their confiden...
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Background The interconnectivity between the nature and origins of mathematics and science cannot be overstated. However, studies over the past decade have shown that approx. 50% of life science students lack confidence in their... more
Background The interconnectivity between the nature and origins of mathematics and science cannot be overstated. However, studies over the past decade have shown that approx. 50% of life science students lack confidence in their mathematical abilities, and as a result, often adopt a rigid attitude to learning mathematics. This is particularly problematic in undergraduate life sciences, when the focus shifts to data handling and calculations. It was hypothesised that this ‘rigidity’ would relate to lower academic performance in biology and mathematics. Aims This study was framed using Bandura (1977) self-efficacy theory 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 Fenne...