Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL)

Many people can agree that a good education, whether formally delivered at a school or informally acquired through personal studies or workshops, aid in developing critical thinking skills and the ability to positively contribute to society. However, the methods that educators employ may not be the most effective given societal culture. Adapting delivery methods to intended audiences has been a critical component of developing educational materials. Within this lab, focus will be broad in terms of evaluating both formal and informal educational practices with the hope of providing future recommendations.

Species Checklist Generation

With changing climatic variables globally, organisms may respond positively or negatively to habitat suitability shifts. However, tracking such changes becomes difficult or impossible if there are no baseline data for comparison across time. In recent years, species checklists (an annotated list of organisms occurring in a certain area or region) has been compiled for many insect groups across the United States and globally. The information generated by these extensive investigations can aid in identifying insect distribution shifts, locally extirpated species, and new or invasive species. The lab, though in its early stages, hopes to contribute to Indiana species checklists within the insect order Hymenoptera – ants, bees, and wasps.