The varied experience of undergraduate students during the transition to mandatory online chem lab during the initial lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The radical global shift to online teaching that resulted from the initial lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic forced many science educators into the predicament of translating courses, including teaching laboratories, that were based upon face-to-face or practical goals and conventions into ones that could be delivered online. We used this phenomenon at the scale of a research-intensive, land-grant public institution to understand the various ways that the switch was experienced by a large cohort of 702 undergraduate students taking General Chemistry Laboratory. Data was collected over 3 weeks with identical surveys involving four prompts for open-ended responses. Analysis involved sequential explanatory mixed methods where topic modeling, a machine learning technique, was used to identify 21 topics. As categories of experience, these topics were defined and further delineated into 52 dimensions by inductive coding with constant comparison. Reported strengths and positive implications tie predominantly to the topics of Time Management Across a Lab Activity and a Critique of Instruction. Consistent with other reports of teaching and learning during the pandemic, participants perceived Availability of the Teaching Assistant for Help as a positive implication. Perceptions of weakness were most associated with Having to Work Individually, the Hands On Experience, a Critique of Instruction, and Learning by Doing. Hands on Experience, which was interpreted as the lack thereof, was the only topic made up nearly entirely of weaknesses and negative implications. The topic of Learning by Doing was the topic of greatest occurrence, but was equally indicated as strengths, positive implication, weakness, and negative implication. Ramifications are drawn from the weaknesses indicated by students who identified as members of an underrepresented ethnic minority. The results serve as a reminder that the student experience must be the primary consideration for any educational endeavor and needs to continue as a principal point of emphasis for research and development for online science environments.

Scientific Twitter: The flow of paleontological communication across a topic network.

The field of paleontology, which is based principally on observations of the natural world, includes an active community that is engaged across multiple social media platforms, consisting of museums, academic researchers, amateur fossil collectors, paleontological artists, and commercial fossil dealers. As such, it represents an ideal environment for examining the people, interactions, and flow of scientific information. Using interactions involving the four most popular Twitter hashtags for paleontology, this embedded mixed methods study defined the members of this social world and investigated how they influenced and controlled the flow of information, as well as how their expression of scientific practice was related to their identity. Results provide further evidence for the diversity of people and practice involved in this domain of science and indicate that the magnitude and breadth of the public's impact may be larger than previously projected. Certain types of messages were shown to be effective for different segments of the community, but news posts, essentially media outlet stories, were ineffective for generating any form of engagement. This study adds to our understanding of the important scientific contribution being made by members of the public as they interact with professional scientists and educators as peers in an open social media platform that supports a diverse and active community.

High school students' learning and perceptions of phylogenetics of flowering plants.

Basic phylogenetics and associated "tree thinking" are often minimized or excluded in formal school curricula. Informal settings provide an opportunity to extend the K-12 school curriculum, introducing learners to new ideas, piquing interest in science, and fostering scientific literacy. Similarly, university researchers participating in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) outreach activities increase awareness of college and career options and highlight interdisciplinary fields of science research and augment the science curriculum. To aid in this effort, we designed a 6-h module in which students utilized 12 flowering plant species to generate morphological and molecular phylogenies using biological techniques and bioinformatics tools. The phylogenetics module was implemented with 83 high school students during a weeklong university STEM immersion program and aimed to increase student understanding of phylogenetics and coevolution of plants and pollinators. Student response reflected positive engagement and learning gains as evidenced through content assessments, program evaluation surveys, and program artifacts. We present the results of the first year of implementation and discuss modifications for future use in our immersion programs as well as in multiple course settings at the high school and undergraduate levels.