NEWSLETTER
  Animal Behavior Society

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Outreach Fair: Adventures in Animal Behavior- Call for Participating Scientists!

Is your lab interested in communicating the importance of animal behavior research to the general public? Then please join us for the 7th annual ABS outreach fair, this year to be held at the Toronto Zoo. Participants present hands-on activities for kids of all ages, from behavior-tracking games and listening to sounds through the ears of different animals to searching for radio-collared stuffed mice and inspecting brains under the microscope. This year, stations will be spread throughout the zoo adjacent to animals that researchers study. Transportation to and from the zoo and campus will be provided. If you are interested in participating, please contact Emilie Snell-Rood ([email protected]).

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Teaching Workshop: Re-Invigorating Your Classroom with Module-Based Teaching

The goals of this half-day workshop are to demonstrate a module-based approach for Animal Behavior courses and to develop the resources for new modules with the assistance of the attendees. A module-based approach to teaching Animal Behavior involves organizing courses or sections of courses around fundamental conceptual issues taught through a series of units focused on fascinating topics or case studies in Animal Behavior. Each module includes short “Just-In-Time” lectures, deep reading of primary literature using the C.R.E.A.T.E. method (teachcreate.org), opportunities for student-developed research projects, and multiple forms of assessment. As examples, topics used by practitioners of this method include: How do animals with the same genotype manifest different phenotypes? and The controversial evolution of monogamy. The workshop will begin with a brief demonstration of the module-based approach followed by a three-hour boot-camp style work session in which small groups complete a series of exercises leading to a final product--a module with all of the resources needed to teach it. Modules will then be made publicly available. The modules can be adapted to be appropriate for courses taught at the level of 10th grade (age of students: 15-16 years) and above. Questions can be addressed to Laura Sirot ([email protected]) or Heather Zimbler-DeLorenzo ([email protected]).

 

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Conservation Behavior Workshop: Merging Science and Application

There is often a lack of communication between the fields of conservation and animal behavior. To bridge this gap, we will be conducting a one‐day workshop aimed at applying behavioral theory and research to solving real‐world conservation problems. The workshop will provide a unique and valuable opportunity for the practitioners to learn about the challenges and rewards of applying behavioral biology in the field. Ideally this two‐way interaction will inspire future research and networking to aid in solving the increasingly complex problems of real‐world conservation. Three conservation problems for which a behavioral approach is likely to facilitate solutions will be presented by wildlife managers at the beginning of the day. We will then break out into focus groups and discuss potential solutions. At the end of the day we will regroup, report on the potential solutions and identify commonalities that may be applicable more broadly to other systems. New collaborations between wildlife managers and animal behaviorists are expected to emerge from this workshop.