Waterfowl and Watercolors: Enhancing Undergraduate Students’ Waterfowl Identification Skills

Abstract

Core Ideas: Species identification skills are challenging to develop, necessitating effective pedagogies. Watercolor painting may enhance students’ ability to learn challenging scientific material. Art-based nature identification assignments may provide enhanced student learning opportunities. Accurately identifying waterfowl species can help students understand principles of waterfowl ecology and appreciate biodiversity. Acquiring these skills can be challenging, and effective pedagogies are needed to enhance student learning. I tested if watercolor painting assignments could enhance students’ waterfowl identification skills. Students enrolled in the Waterfowl and Wetlands Management course at Kansas State University were instructed how to identify waterfowl species and their sex using traditional teaching methods (e.g., study specimens, photos) for 4 weeks. I measured baseline knowledge of students’ waterfowl identification skills by administering an unannounced quiz (pre-test). Immediately after the pre-test, students were provided with foundational watercolor training and given a take-home assignment that involved creating four paintings of seven waterfowl species (two of each sex). I administered an unannounced quiz (post-test) immediately after students completed their painting assignments. Average post-test scores increased 13.19 points (range = −15 to 35) and there was a significant difference in the distribution of pre- and post-test scores (P = 0.06). My results suggest that lessons involving student-generated watercolor paintings may enhance student learning. This technique may be useful for other undergraduate science courses (e.g., mammalogy, dendrology) that require identification of species or phenotypes.