The lab component of the course entails collection trips for the first month of the semester. We traveled to different natural habitats near WSU each week. After that, students spent lab periods learning families of different insect orders and preparing their own insect collection. This semester was a little different due to covid-19 restrictions, but we remained distanced and safe throughout the course. Lectures and discussions were transitioned to distance delivery and the labs were organized into two sections. I had two great teaching assistants, Abbey Hayes and Paul Bergeron, to help with all this!
Photos of the class are below.
Photos of the class are below.
Student webpage project: for the final project of the lecture portion of the course, each student developed a species webpage, under the theme "PNW Insects". Some students chose to feature insects that they had collected during the semester, and many chose to highlight insects related to their MS or PhD research projects. The students discussed the basics of website design, learned about website analytics, and completed peer reviews of others' site design and content.
* for the course syllabus, please visit: https://www.elizabethmurray.us/teaching.html
top photo: Wenatchee, WA, in February. The city of Wenatchee boasts the WSU Tree Fruit Research and Extension Center.