A decade ago the Kaimu–Kalapana shoreline, in the Puna District of the Big Island of Hawaii, was engulfed by pahoehoe lava flows. Now, a new black sand and cobble beach lies seaward of the famous former Kaimu Beach. An encounter with the New Kaimu transformed our geomorphology class fieldtrip (University of Hawaii-Hilo, Fall 2000) into a class project and directed team study. Three students investigated complimentary themes of quantifiable change within the beach environment: topography, sediment distribution, and longshore transport. Investigation was centered in earth-based reasoning, experiential, and dialogic inquiry learning approaches. Teacher served as mentor and team member. Operation of equipment and development of research design were learned and practiced in the field. Weekly meetings of the team were used to debrief from field experiences and plan new approaches. Improvisation was encouraged.

Students entered the beach site with low and high technology field tools and preliminary research plans. Their plans evolved. Establishment of a reproducible set of topographic transects was achieved through a Nikon Total Station baseline and pantometer transect lines. Boulders were painted, cobbles counted, and sand samples collected and sieved. A dangerous wave environment led to a search for an applicable, doable formula for transport calculation. Team data gathered from five monthly visits provided evidence of a great volume of sand movement, wind-blown as well as wave-washed beach deposits, movement of boulders, and sediment transport rates which appeared to correspond to the transect profiles

Field investigation through dialogic inquiry and experiential learning was time-consuming, challenging, and uncomfortable but rewarding. The many decisions and adjustments made during the research process helped to develop each student’s field confidence and experiential common sense. Teamwork was stronger in the field than during data analysis and synthesis. In retrospect, task accomplishment criteria defined specifically in terms of the experiential learning process could have strengthened this project. Kaimu kept many of her mysteries, yet sent us away with a deeper understanding of scientific fieldwork, environmental humility, and ourselves.