Pandemic Online Ichthyology Teaching, by Don Orth

Teaching Ichthyology online was never imaginable nor desirable. Lab periods in Ichthyology were typically a chance for students to get hands-on training in anatomy, dissections, and identification of many fish orders, families, genera, and species.  Field trips provide access to live unknown specimens in their natural habitats.  Without these options, Ichthyology instruction had to adapt to a virtual world. Two teaching strategies persisted in the pivot to online teaching— the concept of mere belonging and the student notebook. 

When students engage in synchronous behavior and/ or feel connected to others in some way, its easier to complete learning tasks. While this may appear to be an unreachable challenge when teaching online.  Students no longer shared the experience of working over smelly, long preserved fish specimens. Classroom Jeopardy sessions were difficult to organize. Mere belonging was achieved by assigning students work (reviewing fish identifications, peer reviewing essays)  to pairs or groups to complete assignments. Further, student's mastery work during lab periods were shared in Flickr and/or Facebook groups. In this and other ways social connections were maintained. Field trips were replaced with virtual field trips and students still worked together to check field identifications. Finally, in lieu of group photos in the field, students shared personal photos so a collage could be created.

Students may never encounter an arapaima in lab or a local field trip.  This close-up photo of Arapaima sp., taken at Shedd Aquarium in 2019, does provide a study in mouth shape. Photo:  D.J. Orth 

The Lab Notebook is one well accepted, long standing, and low tech learning method. Sketching what is observed and writing observations is how we have always made sense of the world. It is an essential skill of the scientists. Swiss naturalist Louis Agassiz told his students “a pencil is one of the best of eyes.” While high tech tools, photography, CT scans, 3d models, and other visualization tools provide more information, the Student’s Notebook depends on students observing and sketching with a virtual fish specimen collection.  Drawing also enhances a student's memory (Fernandez et al. 2018). Each day’s observations were recorded, reviewed, corrected, and built upon. When moving to field work, the scientist uses a Field Notebook to organize observations, sketches, and data, and skills learned will transfer. Scientists have always used raw, observable data to infer patterns, over space and time, to generate  hypotheses.  Online learning activities required Ichthyology students to engage in these authentic tasks.

Sample page of Lab Notebook by Ichthyology student, Jaimee Dolan. Source. 

In February while still teaching in face-to-face mode, we had Shark Day for one lab. Learning objectives were to (1) Become familiar with the diversity of sharks, skates, and rays, (2) identify sharks, skates, and rays to family or species (as appropriate) with a variety of approaches, and (3) identify difficulties in studying sharks, skates, and rays. Our museum collection of sharks, skates, and rays is very limited.  Consequently we reviewed the Shark Pulse website, presented by Francesco Ferretti, and identified sharks, skates, and rays from models, specimens, and photographs.  In SharkPulse, students could view sharks photographed in all parts of the world. Together, they could work to determine appropriate identities. 

Students enrolled in Ichthyology in spring 2020 during pandemic online teaching. 

At the end of the Lab session, each student presented one shark, skate, or ray in a "sharks I know well" series to teach other students.  In a short presentation, each student provided the best diagnostic characters to identify to family, genus, or species.   In the process, we also addressed many of the difficulties in identification of Chondrichthyes specimens under authentic conditions.  For example, there are color variants, juvenile and adult differences, lack of detail in photographs, and in fish markets sometimes only the shark fin is available for making an identification.  In that case, iSharkFin provides expert advice in identifying species from shark fin shapes alone.

After all classes shifted to remote, online instruction we adapted this model for learning freshwater fishes.  By the end of the semester, the students identified 45 specimens collected virtually from different drainages of Virginia.  Students were provided with photos of fish specimens in hand just as they would observe them immediately after capture. The virtual field trip will be adapted for future labs even if we meet face to face.  For example, we can create videos and specimen photos to simulate a field trip to the Caribbean or south Atlantic and struggle to identify sharks and rays (FAO 2016; Florida Museum of Natural History N.D.).   While this learning experience is not equivalent to a genuine field trip to these distant locations, the opportunity to travel virtually with a large group of Ichthyology students and provide them this training may be worth it.

A Former Pupil (1874) revealed the methods used by Louis Agassiz. The student was provided a wet, smelly fish in a tin pan. "Take this fish," said Agassiz, "and look at it; we call it a haemulon; by and by I will ask what you have seen." Agassiz would then leave and return hours later. But Agassiz would say very little except “look at your fish!”   Rather than quit, the student would really concentrate and take his time in observing the fish.  Each stage of the process of looking at the fish forced him to concentrate and focus more and see connections.  

References
A Former Pupil. 1874. In the laboratory with Agassiz. Every Saturday: A Journal of Choice Reading (April 4, 1874).
FAO. 2016. Identification guide to common sharks and rays of the Caribbean. By Ramón Bonfil. FishFinder Programme. Rome, Italy.

https://reefbuilders.com/2016/06/08/free-book-identification-guide-to-common-sharks-and-rays-of-the-caribbean/

Fernandes, M., J. Wammes, and M. Meade 2018. The surprisingly powerful influence of drawing on memory. Current Directions in Psychological Science 27(5):302-308.

Florida Museum of Natural History. N.D. Field Key to Sharks Encountered in the U.S. Atlantic Bottom Longline Shark Fishery and Recreational Anglers. Website 

https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/discover-fish/sharks/id-guide/

Accessed 20 May 20, 2020