GEO FYRST: CREATING MAJORS WITH A PRE-SEMESTER FIELD TRIP FOR FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS

The Earth Sciences Department at State University of New York, College at Oneonta, runs a 5-day, pre-semester field trip for incoming first-year students called GEO FYRST (Geologic Experience Outdoors, First-Year Regional Summer Trip). The goals are to expand students’ geologic knowledge using field examples, to foster a student-friendly culture, and to increase the number of majors. Targeting classic field sites that are beyond the range of a normal weekend field trip, GEO FYRST brings 12 first-year students, 2 faculty, and 2 upper-level student mentors to the Catskill Mountains (New York), the Berkshire Hills (Massachusetts), the Connecticut River Valley (Massachusetts), Walden Pond (Massachusetts), and Cape Ann (Massachusetts), culminating with 2 days on Cape Cod (Massachusetts). These locations expose students to fundamental geologic principles including plate tectonics, deep time, the rock cycle, the water cycle, glaciation, and coastal processes. In the subsequent semester, participants enroll in a special section of Introduction to Geology taught by one of the trip leaders where they develop field observations into semester-long research projects. The trip satisfies the lab requirement for this course, providing students with extra time during the fall semester.

We present 3 years of assessment data on the effectiveness of GEO FYRST from 2007, 2008, and 2009. These include the results of an un-graded quiz given before the trip, after the trip, and at the end of the semester using 16 questions from the Geoscience Concept Inventory. In 2008, average raw scores increased from 55% pre-trip to 70% post-trip, and slightly decreased to 67% at the end of the semester, indicating that the field experience produced the most significant learning. Post-trip surveys indicate that GEO FYRST not only increased students’ interest in majoring in Earth Sciences, but also provided a powerful social networking experience. For the first 2 years of the program, 50% of participants chose majors in the geosciences. In principle, the social fabric of each GEO FYRST cohort may promote greater retention of majors as well.