scholarly journals The Native Bees of Texas: Evaluating the Benefits of a Public Engagement Course

Insects ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 702
Author(s):  
Laurel Treviño Murphy ◽  
Shelly Engelman ◽  
John L. Neff ◽  
Shalene Jha
Keyword(s):  
Public Engagement ◽  
Ecological Knowledge ◽  
Native Bees ◽  
Point Scale ◽  
University Of Texas ◽  
The Public ◽  
Native Bee ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Bee Communities ◽  
The University

Declines in native bee communities due to forces of global change have become an increasing public concern. Despite this heightened interest, there are few publicly available courses on native bees, and little understanding of how participants might benefit from such courses. In October of 2018 and 2019, we taught the ‘Native Bees of Texas’ course to the public at The University of Texas at Austin Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center botanical gardens in an active learning environment with slide-based presentations, printed photo-illustrated resources, and direct insect observations. In this study, we evaluated course efficacy and learning outcomes with a pre/post-course test, a survey, and open-ended feedback, focused on quality improvement findings. Overall, participants’ test scores increased significantly, from 60% to 87% correct answers in 2018 and from 64% to 87% in 2019, with greater post-course differences in ecological knowledge than in identification skills. Post-course, the mean of participants’ bee knowledge self-ratings was 4.56 on a five-point scale. The mean of participants’ ratings of the degree to which they attained the course learning objectives was 4.43 on a five-point scale. Assessment results provided evidence that the course enriched participants’ knowledge of native bee ecology and conservation and gave participants a basic foundation in bee identification. This highlights the utility of systematic course evaluations in public engagement efforts related to biodiversity conservation.

Sabiedrības iesaistes akcija “Lasi skaļi”: estētiskie un izglītojošie dzejas ieskaņošanas aspekti

Letonica ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Eglāja Kristsone ◽  
Signe Raudive
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Public Engagement ◽  
Read Aloud ◽  
Sound Processing ◽  
The Public ◽  
Recording Process ◽  
Audio Recordings ◽  
Classical Poetry ◽  
Societal Participation ◽  
The University

Keywords: children’s poetry, public engagement, reading aloud, recording of poetry, Veidenbaums The development of public engagement technologies has provided new ways of ensuring societal participation. Public engagement events developed by various institutions provide ways to combine learning about cultural heritage with individual participants. Poetry readings serve as one of the ways the sound of Latvian literature and particularly Latvian classical poetry can be updated. The authors of this article analyse the first two public engagement actions (“Skandē Veidenbaumu” and “Lasīsim dzejiņas” of the series “Lasi skaļi” (Read Aloud) launched by the Institute of Literature, Folklore, and Art of the University of Latvia. During these events, participants were given the opportunity to record thematically-selected poems in the audio recording booth of the Latvian National Library or, as an alternative, to record a poem on their computer or mobile device and upload them to the action site. The events combined the creation of a recorded body of poetry readings with related educational content and represent one of the newer educational methods for reaching the general public and some of its subgroups (children, pupils, students, etc.). Through these events, the public was given the opportunity to become acquainted with Latvian cultural heritage while simultaneously creating new cultural artifacts. The participants creatively used different approaches of performance, recording the poems in a variety of voices, singing, or even incorporating digital sound processing programmes. They actively seized on the opportunity to create new versions of poems that had already been set to music. The main reasons for rejecting any particular recording were buffoonery or cursing during the recording process, or having left the recording unfinished. Both events resulted in more than 4,500 audio recordings which were then stored in the digital archive of the Institute. The set of recordings could be of interest to researchers in the fields of linguistics, sociolinguistics and computer linguistics, as it provides a unique representation of pronunciation during a specific period of time performed by people of different ages, genders, and nationalities.

scholarly journals Extracurricular Partnerships as a Tool for Enhancing Graduate Employability

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
David I Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Public Engagement ◽  
Work Experience ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
The Public ◽  
Graduate Employability ◽  
Key Skills ◽  
Global Demand ◽  
The World ◽  
The Right ◽  
The University

The world of work is changing rapidly, with an increasing global demand for employees with higher-level skills. Employees need to have the right attitudes and aptitudes for work, possess work-relevant skills, and have relevant experience. Whilst universities are embedding employability into their curricula, partnerships outside of the taught curriculum provide additional, largely untapped, opportunities for students to develop these key skills and gain valuable work experience. Two extracurricular partnership opportunities were created for Bioscience undergraduates at the University of Leeds, UK: an educational research internships scheme, where students work in partnership with fellow students and academic staff on on-going educational projects, and Pop-Up Science, a unique, student-led public engagement volunteer scheme. Both schemes generate substantial benefits for all. They enhance student’s skills and employability, facilitate and enhance staff-student education practices and research, and engage the public with research in the Biosciences. Collectively, they demonstrate the extraordinary value and benefits accrued from developing extracurricular partnerships between students, staff, and the community.

scholarly journals Does urbanization favour exotic bee species? Implications for the conservation of native bees in cities

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (12) ◽  
pp. 20190574 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gordon Fitch ◽  
Caleb J. Wilson ◽  
Paul Glaum ◽  
Chatura Vaidya ◽  
Maria-Carolina Simao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Native Species ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Native Bees ◽  
Urban Warming ◽  
Native Bee ◽  
Pollinator Conservation ◽  
Growing Body ◽  
Key Sites ◽  
Bee Communities ◽  
Bee Abundance

A growing body of research indicates that cities can support diverse bee communities. However, urbanization may disproportionately benefit exotic bees, potentially to the detriment of native species. We examined the influence of urbanization on exotic and native bees using two datasets from Michigan, USA. We found that urbanization positively influenced exotic—but not native—bee abundance and richness, and that this association could not be explained by proximity to international ports of entry, prevalence of exotic flora or urban warming. We found a negative relationship between native and exotic bee abundance at sites with high total bee abundance, suggesting that exotic bees may negatively affect native bee populations. These effects were not driven by the numerically dominant exotic honeybee, but rather by other exotic bees. Our findings complicate the emerging paradigm of cities as key sites for pollinator conservation.

scholarly journals SALT/HET Cooperation in Education and Public Outreach

2001 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 152-156
Author(s):  
Mary Kay Hemenway ◽  
Sandra Preston
Keyword(s):  
State Of The Art ◽  
Educational Outreach ◽  
Public Outreach ◽  
Educational Programming ◽  
University Of Texas ◽  
The Public ◽  
Astronomical Research ◽  
Education And Public Outreach ◽  
The University ◽  
Future Plans

AbstractThe “Science with SALT” meeting in March 1998 opened avenues of cooperation between SAAO and the University of Texas at Austin in education and public outreach. This paper will review past interactions and future plans. SAAO personnel have visited the HET and McDonald Observatory and have taken part in planning meetings for the Texas Astronomy Education Center museum area and educational programming. Discussions concerning the extension of the daily radio show StarDate (English), Universo (Spanish) and Sternzeit (German) versions to a southern hemisphere version are underway. In addition, we are cooperatively planning a workshop to discuss an international collaborative for educational outreach for state-of-the-art telescopes for which a regional collaborative in southwestern U.S. (SCOPE) serves as a model. The towns of Sutherland and Fort Davis are discussing forming a “twin-town” relationship. Projects and plans that link cutting-edge astronomical research to classrooms and the public will be reviewed.

scholarly journals The politics of public engagement – Reclaiming community?

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 160-66
Author(s):  
Sharon Clancy
Keyword(s):  
Adult Education ◽  
Community Engagement ◽  
Public Engagement ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
Community Activism ◽  
The Public ◽  
Real People ◽  
Research Programmes ◽  
The University

    This article examines the tension between the rhetoric and reality of public engagement, seen through the eyes of a practitioner who has worked in both the arenas of community activism and as a public engagement broker within a UK Russell Group university over the course of the last 15 years. This has coincided with the rise to prominence of public engagement as a means of re-energising the debate about the University as an ‘ethical beacon’ and as an agent of civic and social life. This renewed engagement with ‘the public’ has created many powerful research programmes, conferences, debates, resources and toolkits, has fostered organisations and influenced policy. But has it maintained a focus on ‘community’ as a means of understanding and listening to real people, on the ground, and the issues and concerns that animate and concern them? And how far has ‘community’ been squeezed out because it is no longer part of the prevailing political discourse, supplanted by the more broadly interpreted - and possibly more palatable - concept of ‘public’?Suggestions are offered to counter possible ambivalence on the behalf of universities with regard to engaging in ‘deep’ community engagement through both historical and new articulations of adult education and democracy.

scholarly journals Sources and Resources‘The NHS … Should not be Condemned to the History Books’: Public Engagement as a Method in Social Histories of Medicine

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Crane
Keyword(s):  
Cultural History ◽  
Public Engagement ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Professional Boundaries ◽  
The Public ◽  
Critical Methodology ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
History Of ◽  
Post War ◽  
The University

Summary This article explores the public engagement work of the Cultural History of the National Health Service (NHS) project, conducted at the University of Warwick between 2016 and 2019 and aiming to explore the meanings attached to Britain’s NHS over its 70-year history. The article situates public engagement as a critical methodology for social historians of medicine, exploring how events deepened this project’s understandings of post-war welfare, childhood treatments and activist cultures. Through reflection on these themes, the article emphasises that public engagement can generate rich new forms of qualitative testimony, complementing archival documents; point us towards ‘hidden archives’; and challenge cultural visions of historical research as ‘condemning’ or ‘celebrating’ its subjects. Finally, the article provides critical reflection on the challenges of such work and argues that engagement around health makes visible the broader research challenges of emotional intensity, personal and professional boundaries, and the hierarchies ingrained in academic research.

scholarly journals IYCr2014: "Crystals and Crystallography" at "Explore UT"

2014 ◽  
Vol 70 (a1) ◽  
pp. C1303-C1303
Author(s):  
Marvin Hackert ◽  
Lars Jacquemetton
Keyword(s):  
Public Awareness ◽  
3D Structure ◽  
Learning Tools ◽  
Molecular Models ◽  
University Of Texas ◽  
The Public ◽  
Central Texas ◽  
3D Printed ◽  
Graphics Software ◽  
The University

IYCr2014 is a unique opportunity for increasing the public awareness about the importance of crystallography, and promoting educational awareness of crystallography. Explore UT is a campus-wide open house of the University of Texas at Austin campus for the central Texas community that attracts thousands of visitors to campus each spring, including many busloads of school children and their teachers. We describe our experience at a booth for this event of presenting a variety of educational and learning tools to illustrate the benefits to society of 100 years of crystallography and the significance of IYCr2014. The exhibit featured posters, computer stations with web links and software, experiments and movies on crystal growth, lessons on symmetry, optical transform demonstrations, graphics software, as well as a variety of molecular models including 3D printed molecular models. Teaching structure/function concepts in chemistry, biochemistry, molecular biology, pharmacy, biomedical engineering, etc. has always been a challenge due to the inherent importance of understanding the role of 3D structure in order to understand function. Most students find it easier to understand the concepts when they have access to molecular models. For protein molecules, the sheer size and number of atoms involved make assembling molecular models from atomic parts impractical. Advances in computers and availability of high quality computer graphics software for the display of molecular models has helped, but does not replace the benefit of being able to hold and examine a physical model. We describe our experience using 3D printing technology to generate molecular models for use in the classroom and research laboratories to improve learning of structural concepts. See the IYCr2014 website for more information – http://www.iycr2014.org

scholarly journals An Unusual Caddo Bottle from the Walters Collection

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Walters
Keyword(s):  
Research Laboratory ◽  
Human Head ◽  
University Of Texas ◽  
The Public ◽  
The University ◽  
The Relationship

In this article, I discuss an unusual Caddo bottle in the Walters Collection. This vessel came from either Smith or Wood counties, Texas. The design on the bottle appears to depict a deer body with a human head. My purpose is to look at the vessel in more depth, explore the relationship between Caddo people and deer, and make information about the vessel available to the public. Plans are in place to curate this vessel at the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin.

scholarly journals Decades of native bee biodiversity surveys at Pinnacles National Park highlight the importance of monitoring natural areas over time

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joan M. Meiners ◽  
Terry L. Griswold ◽  
Olivia Messinger Carril
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Habitat Type ◽  
Native Bees ◽  
Natural Areas ◽  
Natural Habitats ◽  
Pollination Services ◽  
Agricultural Conversion ◽  
Native Bee ◽  
Bee Communities ◽  
Over Time

AbstractThousands of species of bees are in global decline, yet research addressing the ecology and status of these wild pollinators lags far behind work being done to address similar impacts on the managed honey bee. This knowledge gap is especially glaring in natural areas, despite knowledge that protected habitats harbor and export diverse bee communities into nearby croplands where their pollination services have been valued at over $3 billion per year. Surrounded by ranches and farmlands, Pinnacles National Park in the Inner South Coast Range of California contains intact Mediterranean chaparral shrubland. This habitat type is among the most valuable for bee biodiversity worldwide, as well as one of the most vulnerable to agricultural conversion, urbanization and climate change. Pinnacles National Park is also one of a very few locations where extensive native bee inventory efforts have been repeated over time. This park thus presents a valuable and rare opportunity to monitor long-term trends and baseline variability of native bees in natural habitats. Fifteen years after a species inventory marked Pinnacles as a biodiversity hotspot for native bees, we resurveyed these native bee communities over two flowering seasons using a systematic, plot-based design. Combining results, we report a total of 450 bee species within this 109km2natural area of California, including 48 new species records as of 2012 and 95 species not seen since 1999. As far as we are aware, this species richness marks Pinnacles National Park as one of the most densely diverse places known for native bees. We explore patterns of bee diversity across this protected landscape, compare results to other surveyed natural areas, and highlight the need for additional repeated inventories in protected areas over time amid widespread concerns of bee declines.

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