This paper describes a newly adapted instrument for measuring novice-to-expert-like perceptions about biology: the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey for Biology (CLASS-Bio). Consisting of 31 Likert-scale statements, CLASS-Bio probes a range of perceptions that vary between experts and novices, including enjoyment of the discipline, propensity to make connections to the real world, recognition of conceptual connections underlying knowledge, and problem-solving strategies. CLASS-Bio has been tested for response validity with both undergraduate students and experts (biology PhDs), allowing student responses to be directly compared with a consensus expert response. Use of CLASS-Bio to date suggests that introductory biology courses have the same challenges as introductory physics and chemistry courses: namely, students shift toward more novice-like perceptions following instruction. However, students in upper-division biology courses do not show the same novice-like shifts. CLASS-Bio can also be paired with other assessments to: 1) examine how student perceptions impact learning and conceptual understanding of biology, and 2) assess and evaluate how pedagogical techniques help students develop both expertise in problem solving and an expert-like appreciation of the nature of biology.
Many neuropeptide systems subserving sex-typical behavior are dependent on sex steroids for both their organization early in life and activation during maturity. The arginine vasopressin/vasotocin (AVP/AVT) system is strongly androgen dependent in many species and critically mediates responses to sociosexual stimuli. The bluehead wrasse is a teleost fish that exhibits a female-to-male sex change in response to social cues, and neither the development nor the maintenance of male-typical behavior depends on the presence of gonads. To examine social and gonadal inputs on the AVP/AVT system in the preoptic area (POA) of the hypothalamus, we conducted three field experiments. In the first experiment, we found that AVT mRNA abundance is higher in sex-changing females that attain social dominance and display dominant male behavior than in subordinate females, regardless of whether the dominant females were intact or ovariectomized. However, AVT-immunoreactive (IR) soma size in the gigantocellular POA (gPOA), but not in the magnocellular or parvocellular POA, increased only when females were displaying both dominant male behavior and had developed testes. In the second experiment, castration of dominant terminal-phase males had no effect on AVT mRNA abundance or any behavior we measured but did increase gPOA AVT-IR soma size compared with sham-operated controls. In the third experiment, 11-ketotestosterone implants in socially subordinate, ovariectomized females had no effect on either AVT mRNA abundance or AVT-IR soma size compared with controls. These results demonstrate that the AVT neural phenotype in the bluehead wrasse can be strongly influenced by social status, and that these social influences can be manifested independent of gonads.
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