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The boreal bivalve Arctica islandica is an important fishery in the United States (US), yet very little is known about the resiliency of this species to fishing activity due to limited understanding of localized population demographics. Demographics including age frequency, recruitment patterns, mortality rates, and sexual dimorphism were evaluated for a population sampled off Long Island (LI, 40.09658°N 73.01057°W) and compared with samples from Georges Bank (GB, 40.72767°N, 67.79850°W) collected in 2015 and 2017, where GB was described in a previous study. This study supports evidence that this species is sexually dimorphic. Earlier assumptions of prolonged lapses in recruitment were not substantiated for either the GB or LI populations; yearly cohorts were observed for the past century, and both populations presented recruitment pulses in approximately 8-y periods. Estimated ages from this study are older than previously reported for the US Mid-Atlantic with the oldest animal represented by a 310-year-old male collected from LI. Simulated total mortality was higher at GB than LI, and higher for GB females than GB males, with simulated mean longevity estimates greater at LI than GB. The population sex ratio at GB was 1:1.1 (female:male), whereas the LI ratio was 1:1.4 and relatively deficient in large females. Recruitment into the populations occurs routinely with substantial hiatuses being rare and substantive year classes occurring at least decadally with lesser, but contributing, recruitment in most years in between. Routine recruitment may insulate this species from risks posed by overfishing to an extent not typical for other long-lived species.

The ocean quahog, Arctica islandica, is a commercially important bivalve in the eastern USA but very little is known about the recruitment frequency and rebuilding capacity of this species. As the longest-living bivalve on Earth, A. islandica can achieve lifespans in excess of 200 y; however, age determinations are difficult to estimate and age variability at size is extreme. Objectives for this study included the creation of an extremely large age-composition dataset to constrain age at length variability, development of reliable age-length keys (ALK), and descriptions of sex-based population dynamics for the quasi-virgin A. islandica population at Georges Bank (GB) within the greater US Mid-Atlantic stock. Sexually dimorphic characteristics are clearly present, as females are larger than males within age classes and males tend to dominate the oldest age classes. A male represented the maximum age of 261 years and is older than the maximum age previously documented for this region. Sex-specific ALKs were robust and reliable but not interchangeable. This population had higher estimated natural mortality rates than presumed for other regions in the Mid-Atlantic, and females have the highest mortality rate. However, recruitment expansion was also occurring which would affect the age-frequency data used to derive mortality estimates and result in higher mortality. Age frequencies at GB suggest effective recruitment to the population each year since 1867 CE. Reduced recruitment periods are documented and likely attributed to fluctuating environmental conditions. Sex-based demographics are clearly divergent in regard to growth rate, maximum size, longevity and mortality rates.

The ocean quahog, Arctica islandica, is a commercially important species on the northwestern Atlantic continental shelf. This species can live over 200 years with ages varying widely per 5-mm size class (shell length), making study of age-related demographics difficult. To determine how the demography of this species differs across its range, including age frequencies, age-at-length relationships, and sex ratios, ocean quahogs from multiple sites distributed from the Mid-Atlantic Bight to Georges Bank were studied. The age and length frequencies from two populations collected in 2019 from New Jersey, north and south of Hudson Canyon (39.840556 N, 72.821667 W and 39.33 N, 73.545 W, respectively), were analyzed and compared to two other populations from Long Island (40.09658 N, 73.01057 W) and Georges Bank (40.72767 N, 67.79850 W), previously collected in 2015 and 2017. Sex-specific differences were also analyzed to determine how said differences influenced a range of demographic metrics. Though some similarities in recruitment trends exist, likely caused by large-geographic-scale environmental conditions, each site contains a distinct population with distinct demographics. Recruitment is consistent over hundreds of years, but year-to-year and decadal-length variations are apparent. One age–length key may potentially be used to represent Long Island and northern New Jersey, but the remaining sites are significantly dissimilar. Sex ratios also vary, potentially caused by differential survival of one sex during certain times in the past. Mortality rates for Georges Bank are distinctly higher compared to the other populations. Based on these results, the use of separate age–length keys would seem necessary for each population and each sex.

A college professor redesigns an undergraduate media literacy course to focus on ecomedia literacy and participatory culture skills, with the goal of addressing climate change and cultivating active hope with postmillennial learners.

This study examined the impact of remix journaling as a new media literacy practice on undergraduate students’ engagement and ownership of learning. Using arts-based pedagogy combined with new media literacies, this study chronicles students’ perspectives on knowledge-building, expression, and social agency through remix journaling. Findings suggest remix as a contemporary literacy practice that expands and enhances students’ critical thinking while cultivating authentic classroom cultures that bridge digital worlds by supporting reader engagement and the development of media literacies. Findings have implications for educational professionals, administrators, librarians, and media specialists seeking low-tech, high impact strategies for cultivating new media literacy practices in their classrooms and school communities.

The purpose of this article is to investigate the concept of \"texts\" and how the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) affords teachers opportunities to implement media literacy education, in turn providing developmentally and culturally responsive middle level practice and promoting 21st century skills. This has implications for middle level teachers seeking to meet and move beyond Common Core Standards in ways that extend and expand notions of text while also supporting middle level practice and 21st century skills. The article begins by contextualizing media use by adolescent learners in the 21st century, briefly reporting the time teens spend with media and technology and how the media affects them. This discussion is followed by a brief examination of the Common Core's concept of texts, seeking to define the concept in alignment with research and scholarship on 21st century skills. Perspectives and practice from a case of media literacy instruction is then described, including accounts of teaching and learning activities that integrate a variety of texts. In conclusion, suggestions are offered for connecting Common Core Anchor Standards with responsive and relevant curricula for reaching and teaching middle school students in the 21st century.

This article reports on the preliminary results of a pedagogical experiment instituted by a community of practice (CoP) called the Creativity Collaborative, which is composed of scholars from varying disciplines, backgrounds, and scholarship interests: library and information science, technical education, academic librarianship, media literacy, and rhetoric and composition. In a desire to broaden approaches to teaching and research, the CoP came together around the shared interests of visual methodology and arts-based expression and embarked on a journey to infuse creativity in their professional practice. Through the methodology of self-study, including the CoP acting as a critical friends group, the Creativity Collaborative engaged in individual research activities and then brought data from those projects to the group for discussion and reflection. The results thus far indicate that providing students with opportunities for creativity and arts-based expression lead to a welcome and positive disruption of traditional teaching and learning, increased student engagement, meaning making and real-word connections, and collaborative risk taking that decenters traditional pedagogical systems. Together with students, the Creativity Collaborative discovered the freedom to depart from the normative traditions of higher education pedagogical practices.