FACULTY NOTES

      The two parts to Figure 1 are ideal for practice with data observation (knowledge) and interpretation. Give the groups enough time to discuss the figures - 5-10 minutes should be sufficient but they may need more. Before students discuss the figure give them a brief overview of the situation in the Florida Bay. Also, be sure they understand what "percent change" on the y axes means.

      After students discuss the figures with their neighbors, ask for a volunteer (or call on someone) to describe the patterns they see in both figures. The most important point is that the pattern of change in regard to diversity is similar in the three locations but different in regard to cover. As the students bring out these and other points, write them down on an overhead or the board. The Student Instructions ask students why the two measures might show different results and if one is "better" than the other. They are also asked to contrast the reef appearance to a diver in the two years.

      Now go to the interpretations. In regard to diversity there are many reasons why coral diversity might decrease and reasonable guesses are hurricanes, water pollution of some sort or other changes in the water (e.g. temperature), anchor or diver damage, and grazing by fish and invertebrates. These and other changes to the Bay are described in the Overview of this Issue.

      After discussing this figure the students should be ready to hear you talk about what has happened in the Florida Keys. You can describe the situation in whatever detail seems best; there is a good deal of background information in this issues section and on the websites listed. It is important to emphasize that scientists disagree as to the cause of the coral disease and die-off and you can list and explain the various hypotheses. This would be a nice opportunity to discuss why scientists studying the same place and phenomenon can disagree with each other - and that there may not be a clear "right" and "wrong."

      This figure can also lead to a discussion about diversity. Coral diversity off Florida is not especially high, probably because the Keys are at the northern extent of coral distribution. Coral diversity increases with proximity to the equator where diversity of hard (reef building) corals is as high as 60 genera. Questions about diversity for discussion include: What might ecologists use as a measure of diversity? Imagine 10 species of corals in site 1 and site 2; in site 1 there are 10 individual corals for each species but in site 2 one species has 90 individuals and only 1 individual represents the other 9 species. Is the diversity of the 2 sites the same or not? Why is there so much interest in preserving tropical rain forests and coral reefs because they are highly diverse ecosystems? Is high diversity "good" and low diversity "bad"?


Student Assessment: Newspaper Article.

      Write a 200-300 word description for a newspaper audience about the decrease in coral diversity in the Florida Bay. Include specific information about the loss of corals, how the data were obtained, several possible causes, and why this is interesting or important.



EVALUATING AN ISSUE: How do you know whether it is working?

      On-going (also called formative) evaluation of the approaches your are using is critical to the success of student-active teaching. Why try out new ideas if you don't know whether or not they are working? This is a brief overview of formative evaluation. For more information, go to the Formative Evaluation essay in the Teaching Section.

Course Goals:

      Formative evaluation only works if you have clearly described your course goals - because the purpose of the evaluation is to assess whether a particular technique is helping students reach these goals. For instance, most of us have "learn important ecological concepts and information" as a course goal. If I reviewed the nitrogen cycle in a class, for evaluation I might ask students to sketch out a nitrogen cycle for a particular habitat or system. Each student could work alone in class. Alternatively, I might ask students to work in groups of 3 and give each group a different situation (e.g. a pond receiving nitrate from septic systems, an organic agricultural field, an agricultural field receiving synthetic fertilizer). The students could draw their flows on a large sheet of paper (or an overhead transparency) and present this to the rest of the class.

The Minute Paper:

      Minute papers are very useful evaluative tools. If done well they give you good feedback quickly. Minute papers are done at the end of a class. The students are asked to respond anonymously to a short question that you ask. They take a minute or so to write their response in a 3x5 card or a piece of paper. You collect these and learn from common themes. In the next class it is important that you refer to one or two of these points so that students recognize that their input matters to you. The UW - FLAG site (www.wcer.wisc.edu/nise/cl1/flag/) gives a good deal of information about using minute papers including their limitations, how to phrase your question, step-by-step instructions, modifications, and the theory and research behind their use.