PROMOTING UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH WITHIN A LIBERAL ARTS CURRICULUM: AN EXAMPLE USING SAN ONOFRE STATE BEACH, CA

During the past several decades there has been a growing awareness of the educational benefits to students who participate in undergraduate research experiences. Several programs have been developed to provide summer research opportunities for undergraduates; however these programs are normally limited to only a handful of students each year. For the past half-decade, the Pomona College Geology Department has focused on incorporating multiple original research experiences into the geology curriculum. A central component to this curricular “thread” is a semester-long research methods course required of all geology majors; students are encouraged to take this course prior to their senior year (and mandatory senior thesis). The Research Methods course is designed to translate the benefits of a focused summer internship into a semester-compatible format. In this course, students formulate research questions, design and implement procedures for data collection and analysis, and present their results in multiple formats. The topics and faculty change each year, promoting a constant sense of intellectual challenge and diversity.

In Fall 2002, six students conducted field-based investigations at San Onofre State Beach, California. Three students studied active beach-forming processes and three studied deformation associated with a fault exposed in the cliff. Students chose, designed and conducted individual projects, presenting their progress to the group in several oral presentations throughout the semester. Student surveys show that by the end of the course, the group of students increased their comfort in conducting original independent research, presenting their original ideas, and using professional (rather than informal) language. The six students have submitted the results of their research via two abstracts to the Undergraduate Research Posters session at this conference.