FITTING RESEARCH PROJECTS INTO THE CLASSROOM: SEDIMENTATION-STRATIGRAPHY COURSE PROJECTS AT GRAND VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY, ALLENDALE, MICHIGAN

Students in Sedimentation-Stratigraphy (GEO 312) at Grand Valley State University (GVSU) do independent, course projects in which they gather original data and present their results at GVSU's Student Scholarship Day (SSD) held each April. As the entire project must fit into one semester, the projects are relatively small scale. For example, a project might involve analysis of 7-8 sediment samples for grain size, mineralogy, and shape. A petrographic project might involve analysis of three thin sections. Abstracts are due to the university-wide SSD Committee in early February, five weeks after the start of the semester. This means the students must formulate a simple question, write a short research proposal, and submit an abstract in a very short timeframe. As in “real life,” the abstracts are usually written with very little data in hand. And, although the students have many, small-scale deadlines, some self-imposed and others set up by their instructor, they quickly appreciate that they must meet two absolute deadlines, the abstract due date and the date of SSD. With these deadlines in place and careful guidance to help the students decide how much research can realistically be done in a single semester, the students are able to complete their projects on time and give very good, oral or poster presentations.

Sedimentation-Stratigraphy is an ideal course in which to require a research project because even if your campus is far from rock outcrops, as is GVSU, sediments abound and provide ample research opportunities relatively close to campus. Indeed, the majority of the projects done by the students involve grain-size analyses in large part because of the lack of nearby outcrops. In the future, a wider variety of projects will be possible by developing links with other courses. Students can then opt to continue a project initiated on a field trip for another course.

Outside demands on GVSU students commonly prohibit participation in large-scale, research projects, so course projects are critical for these students. Although most of the GEO 312 projects done by students over the past 10 years did not go beyond presentation at SSD, one resulted in a poster presentation at GSA. Other students have been inspired to continue their research in Geology Seminar (GEO 485), and a few have gone on to do related, larger-scale, research projects.