Hannah and Claire Williams co-developed an interactive 3-day Coral Reef Ecology and Conservation lesson series for 9-11 year old students based on the US Next Generation Science Standards. They taught a version of these lessons adapted to Texas reefs to nearly 70 students in the Port Aransas Independent School District, and shared them with the Texas State Aquarium, the Mission-Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve, and UT Summer Science Program.
In 2022, they collaborated with scientists and educators in Jamaica to adapt this lesson to focus on Jamaica's reefs and meet local educational standards. They shared the lesson plans with 24 teachers and 60 students in Negril, Jamaica during a STEM camp as part of a collaboration between the University of Texas at Austin, the Negril Education Environment Trust, and the University of the West Indies. Hannah, Claire, and Rodnyel Arosemena López are adapting these lessons to be a multilingual resource focused on different Caribbean regions. They plan to share these as a freely available Open Educational Resource on OER Commons in the coming months. |
Public talks – Hannah has given 13 public research talks in the United States and parts of the Caribbean where she has lived and worked to date on topics such as 'Importansia di gutu pa nos ref di koral' (English: The importance of parrotfishes on Caribbean reefs) with Roxanne-Liana Francisca from the STINAPA Bonaire National Parks Foundation, 'Diving into citizen science: parrotfish, corals, and conservation' at Dive Friends Bonaire, and 'Shark Surveys and Coral Bleaching Monitoring in the Bonaire National Marine Park' at the Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance.
Community science – While conducting research on Bonaire in 2019, Hannah collaborated with Dive Friends Bonaire to developed and implement a community science parrotfish monitoring program to engage local divers and tourists in monitoring population trends of several less common parrotfish species on Bonaire. She shared these data with local scientists and gave presentations on findings to members of the Bonairian community. While working as an Assistant Research Biologist for the STINAPA Bonaire National Parks Foundation from 2016-2017, Hannah trained community volunteers and worked with them to monitor coral bleaching. She also helped lead activities for the Bonaire Junior Rangers program– a program that engages local teens in activities to learn about, monitor, and conserve Bonaire's flora and fauna. News articles and popular science– Hannah has written 7 public science communication pieces for the Bonaire Reporter. Her research has been featured by reporters in the Science & the Sea Podcast and Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance Bionews. She also volunteer member of the communications team of the Association of Marine Laboratories of the Caribbean for two years, communicating research by AMLC members to the public on various social media platforms. |
A Molly miller blenny (Scartella cristata) surrounded by Dictyota sp. and Caulerpa racemosa algae in pen and watercolor. This piece was inspired Hannah's ongoing research on this species.
A 4th grade student's illustration of an imaginary cat with "superpowers" to thrive it in a tropical jungle environment. She described that because the cat has to face lots of competition in the jungle it's adapted to have
aposematic (warning) coloration and poisoned tail it has to ward off predators and wings so it can fly/perch in tree branches to avoid competition for space to live! |
Art can be a powerful way to communicate the beauty of science and engage a wider audience in research. Through hand-drawn, painted, and digital scientific illustrations, Hannah uses art as a medium to communicate research.
One of her illustrations was awarded the 2022 Editor's Choice and People Choice Awards in the University of Texas at Austin Visualizing Science competition. This piece is now on display at the Texas Science & Natural History Museum. Buy art to support student researchers–
For a limited time, this illustration of a Molly miller blenny is available for purchase on the Fine Art America Society for Integrative & Comparative Biology page. All proceeds support the SICB Student Fund! Integrating art in STEM activities–
Researchers and educators are increasingly recognizing the importance of art in teaching science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (i.e., emphasizing STEAM in lieu of STEM). A high school senior project spending hours illustrating and learning about the specialized movement of orangutans at the zoo is what first drew Hannah into learning about biology. Now, she often integrates art activities in her outreach to engage students in creative scientific learning and expression. The science behind the STEAM learning– Through hands-on activities that use art to engage students in critical thinking about STEM topics, students can improve their critical thinking in creative ways (Bertrand and Namasuka 2022). Additionally, having multiple means for students to engage in and express their learning is a core principle of Universal Design for Learning that can promote equitable learning by students with diverse learning styles and needs. |