Bruce J. MacFadden’s research while affiliated with Florida Museum of Natural History and other places

As artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly being adopted and used in society, it is imperative that teachers feel supported to integrate AI and computer science (CS) into their course-214 Wusylko et al. work. To help support teachers to integrate CS and AI into their instruction, we designed and developed an innovative AI curriculum, Shark AI, for in-service science teachers accompanied with a robust professional development and learning community. Shark AI is designed for middle school students grades 6-8, and the curriculum blends CS and paleon-tology as young people are guided in building and evaluating their own machine learning models they use to classify fossil shark teeth. In this paper, we describe the curriculum model, teacher (mis)conceptions about AI, teacher's perceived self-efficacy and attitudes regarding the curriculum material and on teaching STEM, and student outcomes from the project that are the ultimate reflection of the curriculum design and implementation.

Early Miocene land mammals from eastern North America are exceedingly rare. Over the past several decades a small, but significant, vertebrate fauna has been recovered by paleontologists and citizen scientists from the Belgrade Formation at the Martin Marietta Belgrade Quarry in eastern North Carolina. This assemblage has 12 land mammal taxa, including beaver (Castoridae), stem lagomorph, carnivorans (Mustelidae, Ailuridae), horses (Equidae), rhinoceros (Rhinocerotidae), tapir (Tapiridae), peccary (Tayassuidae), anthracothere (Anthracotheriidae), entelodont (Entelodontidae), and protoceratid (Protoceratidae). Taken together, the biochronology of this Maysville Local Fauna indicates a late Arikareean (Ar3/Ar4) to early Hemingfordian (He1) North American Land Mammal Age (NALMA). This interval, which includes the Runningwater Chronofauna, documents numerous important Holarctic immigrants, including Amphictis , Craterogale , and cf. Menoceras found at this locality. Strontium isotope stratigraphy (SIS) of shark teeth collected in situ from the Belgrade Formation yield an age of 21.4 ± 0.13 Ma, which validates the age of interbedded land mammals within this unit. It also is consistent with the late Arikareean (Ar3/Ar4) biochronology and Aquitanian Neogene marine stage. New SIS analyses of oysters ( Striostrea gigantissima ) and clams ( Chione ) from this mine, previously assigned to late Oligocene or Late Miocene, are significantly older (28.0 ± 0.22 Ma and 27.6 ± 0.26 Ma, respectively) than the land mammals. Depending upon stratigraphic interpretations, these may confirm an older marine facies within the Belgrade Formation. This locality is important because of its marine and terrestrial tie-ins that facilitate intercalibration of both NALMAs and Cenozoic marine stages.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming ubiquitous in modern society and advancing rapidly. Consequently, educators are struggling to keep pace with the changing landscape. Our three-year project uses fossil sharks to activate teacher self-efficacy and student interest in learning about AI, specifically machine learning (ML) and computer vision. Three cohorts of Florida middle school teachers, primarily from Title 1 schools, participated in a five-day professional development (PD) workshop hosted at the University of Florida and Florida Museum of Natural History. During this PD, teachers were introduced to a STEM-integrated curriculum, consisting of five scaffolded modules that are aligned with Florida and national K-12 education standards. The curriculum guides students through the process of developing and evaluating computer vision models to identify fossil shark teeth using a free, open-access platform, Google’s Teachable Machine. This process entails classifying fossil shark and ray teeth based on Linnaean taxonomy and functional morphology, developing training datasets reflecting these classification schemes, and then iteratively evaluating and improving their models by assessing the training data for potential sources of bias. The curriculum culminates with the opportunity for students to develop their own unique model, providing a summative assessment of students’ comprehension of the machine learning development process. Over the course of the school year, teachers are supported with quarterly check-ins and scientist role model visits facilitated by the Scientist in Every Florida School program. Through our project evaluation, teachers have indicated increased self-efficacy in terms of teaching AI and paleontology concepts, as well as increased student engagement and STEM career interest.

During the late Miocene and early Pliocene (latest Hemphillian, Hh4 interval, 5.7 to 4.75 Ma) a distinctive suite of four species of extinct horses (Family Equidae) were widespread in North America. This includes Nannippus aztecus , Neohipparion eurystyle , Astrohippus stocki , and Dinohippus mexicanus . In Florida, two additional equid species, Pseudhipparion simpsoni and Cormohipparion emsliei , are also typically found at Hh4 localities. Here we compare horses from four Hh4 Florida fossil sites, including three from the Bone Valley mines and a fourth from the recently discovered Montbrook site. Two of these sites have all six expected species, one has five species, and one has only four species present. To explain these differences, we used species counts from research databases and rarefaction simulation to clarify the relative abundances, species richness, and occurrences of these horses from these four sites. The Palmetto Mine (Agrico) site, with five equid species, appears to lack the sixth species owing to ecological reasons. This is different from Montbrook, the site with only four of the six species. Results indicate that Montbrook is likely lacking two missing equid species for a couple of reasons: sampling bias and biological/ecological causes. Our results demonstrate that sampling biases can account for observed equid species richness when the overall abundance of certain equid species is low. Nevertheless, other factors, including ecology and with sufficient resolution, perhaps also time, may also explain the distribution and occurrences of individual species at these and other fossil sites. In a broader perspective, analyses such as this example provide an opportunity to address a persistent challenge in paleontology, that is, how do we explain absences of extinct taxa from the fossil record?

Fossils of an insectivorous bat from the early Miocene of Panama are described as a new genus and species, Americanycteris cyrtodon (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae: Phyllostominae). Americanycteris is a large phyllostomine bat, similar in size to the living species Chrotopterus auritus. Americanycteris cyrtodon can be distinguished from other closely related species by a posteriorly curved p4 and a thick labial cingulum on m1. Americanycteris cyrtodon occurs in two early Miocene vertebrate faunas from Panama. The holotype mandible with p4–m1 and an isolated p3 of A. cyrtodon were recovered from the early Hemingfordian (19–18 Ma) Centenario Fauna, and a mandible with p2 was found in the older late Arikareean (21 Ma) Lirio Norte Local Fauna. A similar large phyllostomine bat is known from the early Miocene Gran Barranca Fauna in Argentina. The presence of early Miocene phyllostomids in both North America and South America confirms the overwater dispersal of bats between the Americas before the late Miocene onset of the Great American Biotic Interchange. Pre-late Miocene chiropteran dispersals between the Americas were previously documented for the Emballonuridae and Molossidae. Although the five endemic New World families in the Noctilionoidea, including Phyllostomidae, were previously thought to be South American in origin, the oldest fossil records of noctilionoids (Mormoopidae and extinct Speonycteridae) are from the early Oligocene of Florida and one of the earliest records of the Phyllostomidae is from the early Miocene of Panama. The currently available fossil records from Panama and Florida suggest a possible North American origin for the Noctilionoidea.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology is rapidly evolving and becoming increasingly accessible. The emergence and advancement of open-source AI tools, such as Google’s Teachable Machine (GTM) and Roboflow, provides novel opportunities for research and education that have not yet been explored for paleontological applications. Both GTM and Roboflow offer a free web-based platform to generate computer vision models using a branch of AI known as machine learning. In this study, we generated a variety of machine learning models capable of classifying 2D images of fossil shark teeth to explore the pros and cons of these two platforms, while identifying strategies for optimizing paleontological datasets. The images used to train these models were taken at the Calvert Marine Museum, representing six common chondrichthyan taxa that occur within the Neogene: Carcharhinus sp., Galeocerdo aduncus, Hemipristis serra, Carcharias sp., Otodus megalodon, and Notorynchus primigenius. Separate models were created for labial and lingual views of the teeth with 50 images per class, as well as a combined dataset, to assess the impact of specimen perspective on the models’ overall accuracy. All models performed well based on internal validation metrics, achieving 100% accuracy for each class. However, there is a risk of overfitting within the datasets that needs to be accounted for before the models could be released for real-world applications. Ultimately, both tools will be useful for paleontological research to keep pace with advancements in AI technology. GTM is very user friendly and ideal for basic education and exploration, but is limited in its potential for broad, real-world applications. For 2D images, the GTM platform only allows for the creation of single-label classification models and does not offer any embedded data augmentation tools. Roboflow has a more complex workflow and offers more advanced tools for collaboration, data annotation, and data augmentation that provide greater potential for research. Within the Roboflow platform, the user can create single-label classification models or object detection models, which offers more versatility for real-world applications. Additionally, Roboflow is a social media platform, in which users can make their models’ freely available for public use. While GTM is easier to learn, Roboflow offers a more sophisticated tool for paleontologists to develop and share models to advance paleontological research. This project was funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) ITEST (Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers) project 2147625.

Unlabelled: Scientist-teacher partnerships are highly beneficial to K-12 STEM education. While much is known about the benefits for teachers in these partnerships, the corresponding benefits for scientists are less well known. With emphasis on the scientists' perspective, here we describe our NSF RET (Research Experiences for Teachers) project consisting of five successive cohorts from 2012 to 2016. Coincident with a "once-in-a-century" expansion of the Panama Canal, the science research focused on the paleontology, evolutionary biology, and geology of this region to better understand the ancient Neotropical biota related to the Great American Biotic Interchange (GABI). In the field, scientists and teachers worked together collecting fossils and geological samples. Back in the K-12 classrooms, lesson plans related to their experiences were implemented and the teachers hosted scientist role-model visits. More than 30 scientists and 44 teachers participated in this Panama "GABI RET" project. Using a new validated survey developed during this project and focus groups, we explored the impact of this project, and in particular the perceived benefits accrued by the scientists. Our study confirmed that scientists felt they improved their communication skills, had a better appreciation for the K-12 teaching professions, greatly enjoyed working with the teachers, considered them colleagues, and many wanted to continue K-12 outreach as part of their careers. Overall, scientists perceived that they greatly benefited from these partnerships. In addition to describing their activities, they had numerous recommendations for similar partnerships in the future. For example, these include: (1) having more teachers participate in multiple cohorts, (2) continued opportunities for teachers to be involved in professional meetings, (3) ongoing webinars and face-to-face engagement, and (4) more diversity of racial and ethnic backgrounds, subjects taught, and regions represented. Although this case study was focused on the GABI RET, our results also potentially inform other projects that involve scientists' education and outreach activities. Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12052-022-00177-z.

Bringing Florida Museum of Natural History 3D Collections into K-12 Schools to Teach About Adaptations, Evolution, and Climate Change Authors and Affiliation: Stephanie Killingsworth (1,2), Brian Abramowitz (1,2), Bruce MacFadden (1,2), Jeanette Pirlo (1,2), Kate Carter (3) 1. University of Florida 2. Florida Museum of Natural History 3. Frost Science Aquarium and Planetarium Abstract: The Florida Museum’s Vertebrate Paleontology (FM-VP) collections provide the most complete study of Cenozoic vertebrate life in the eastern United States. Recent efforts to digitize collections and provide alternative modes of interaction with specimens has created a greater opportunity for K-12 students to experience collections. Florida’s public school system encompasses more than 4,000 schools, many of which serve historically excluded populations living in both rural and urban low-socioeconomic regions of the state. Economic disadvantage coupled with geographic disadvantage, given the stretched geography of the state, translates to issues in accessibility and equity for students who do not have the means to visit the FM-VP. The Scientist in Every Florida School (SEFS) program has successfully bridged museum collections and outreach into K-12 classrooms through it’s free and innovative programming. Its mission is to engage Florida’s students and teachers in cutting-edge research by providing science role models and experiences that inspire the future stewards of our planet. Program components consist of classroom visits by scientist experts and role models from diverse communities, professional development (PD) and research experiences for teachers, and livestream events throughout the year. Classrooms have interacted with curators and graduate students to learn more about their research and collections, contributing to the program’s reach of more than 55,000 students during the 2020-2021 school year alone. Livestream events such as Florida Museum 360° have captivated students as they explore the Florida Fossil Hall and Early Native Peoples exhibits alongside scientists. Additionally, hundreds of teachers have participated in collections tours and active research sites for fossil collections. One PD, Adaptations, Evolution and Climate Change, included 18 Miami-Dade County middle and high school teachers, impacting over 2,500 students. Teachers were introduced to a teacher-scientist curriculum, Chewing on Change, exploring the often complex and controversial topic of evolution. Teachers were provided a classroom set of 3D printed fossil horse teeth in order to execute the lesson in the classroom. In addition, participating teachers will visit the Frost Museum’s new Mammoths-Ice Aged Giants Exhibit with their students, connecting the concepts of Chewing on Change to mammoth ecology.