2014 Student Websites (scroll down for assignment details)

Imitation in Primates
- Annelise Hill & Yasemin Lopez

5 2
3 4
7

8

5

4

9
6
 

Hunting Behavior in type a and type b Orcas
- Cecile Erwin & Orien Evans

Phenomenon of Slave-Making Behavior in Ants
- Emma Schweitzer & Rob Haas

Mind Altering Animal: Adaptive, Mind-opening, or a Waste of Time?
- Jesse Duhan & James Fisher-Smith

The Zombie Ant: Parasitic Fungi and Behavior Manipulation
- Kristin Hirata

Color Change in Chamelions
- Kimmie McGowen & Madeline Robin

Leafcutter Ants, the Fungal Farmers
- Caleb Kalisher

Mantis Shrimp
- Leah Cepko & Mason Kennon

Cuttlefish Camouflage
- Emily Merfeld & Nicolette Tapia

How Interaction with Humans has Altered Animal Behavior
- Mara Kaiser & Michael Weiss

Environmentally Determined Sex in Marine Worms
- Mical Yohannes and Patrick Shan

Vanishing Wars: The Affect of Camouflage in Nature
- Nick Morales

Meerkat Surveyors
- Sofia Claesson & Lia Zallar

Mating System of the California Sea Lion (Zalophus californianus)
- Audrey Spaeth

Symbiosis in Pistol Shrimp and Goby Fish
- Sam Ramirez & Jaclyn Calkins

Roadside Foraging in Grizzly Bear Mothers and Cubs
- Tim Peters

Eusocial Behavior
- Karl Menzel and Allie Buckner

Communicative Vocalization in Orcas
- Hayley VanderJagt

 

 

 

 

 

Student pairs will create a web site for an animal behavior of their choice.
Students will comment on each other's draft website.

For examples from previous years see my TEACHING page.

FOR THIS INFORMATION AND ADDITION DETAIL DOWNLOAD THE ASSIGNMENT (handed out in class)

Animal Behavior Websites
Website design can be a very effective means of communication.  In science we use websites to advertise our own work, recruit students to our labs, convey the breadth of our research interests, discuss immature ideas, solicit collaborations, disseminate supplementary data, host databases that may be of use to other researchers in our field, organize our courses, advertise conferences, and generally communicate with scientists and the public around the world.

Your final website should summarize the current scientific understanding of a specific animal behavior in all areas of inquiry. You may choose to create a different page for each of Tinbergen's (1963) "Four main questions of behavior", but you are also free to develop your own comprehensive categorization scheme based on readings and in class discussin. Because some organisms are more suited to specific types of research, it may be necessary to incorporate research from multiple organisms in order to discuss the ontogeny, mechanism, phylogeny and adaptive value of the specific animal behavior. While books, websites, and newspapers may be used, the majority of the information presented should be supported by primary literature and all sources must be cited (including images). When appropriate, students should include historical perspective.  The completed websites will be hosted on the web with students' permission.

Evaluation:
Websites will be evaluated according to the "web critique" criteria. Students are expected to have a completed website by the draft due date. This draft will then be "polished" after receiving peer review. Both the draft, and the final product, as well as the critiques will be part of the total grade for this project.
Draft - 25%
Critiques - 10%
Final product 65%

See examples from past years at the "Teaching" page of my own website:
http://academic.reed.edu/biology/professors/srenn/pages/teaching/Renn_teaching_MAIN.html

Schedule:
Week3 During Lab: pairs and topics
Pick a partner to work with and pick an animal behavior topic.

Week7 During Lab: rough outline
By now, you and your partner should have begun to research your topic and have decided on a categorization scheme and have written some text for each area of inquiry including citations and images.

In lab time you will:

  1. pick which template you want to use
  2. Create a "site" folder with your chosen templates.
  3. Create a home page with:           
    1. the title.
    2. a brief outline and/or bullet points (to be expanded later).
  4. Create 5 sub-topics pages to be filled with information the draft information that you have.
    1. MECHANISM
    2. ONTOGENY
    3. PHYLOGENY
    4. ADAPTIVE VALUE and
    5. REFERENCES
  5. Experiment with colors and text styles using the style sheet.
  6. Learn to create internal and external links.
  7. Learn to add images to your webpage.

Week11 Monday Nov 10        
All websites must be posted on the courses server by 5:00 pm. 
The websites should be ready for public viewing.  It is each student's responsibility to check that all images and links are functional from any computer on campus.  If you have failed to create correct relational links and images they may work on your own computer but not when viewed across the web. Please seek advice before noon today for assistance.

Week 12 Wednesday Nov 19.
Constructive critique is due in class
These critiques will be delivered to the webpage authors

Week 14 Friday   Dec. 5   
Final websites, incorporating the critique comments, must be posted on the courses server by 5:00 pm. They will be linked to create a webpage for the course.