A TEAM MENTORSHIP APPROACH TO UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH IN GEOSCIENCE: UNITING NON-MAJORS AND MAJORS WITH GRADUATE STUDENTS AND FACULTY

Genuine scientific research experiences are difficult to incorporate within courses for majors. They are even more intractable for non-major, general education undergraduates. Yet a research experience is perhaps the best way for a layperson outside of science to appreciate the practice and value of the scientific method. We have developed a team mentorship approach to undergraduate research that brings non-majors together with science undergraduates, graduates, and faculty in an intensive field course. All parties participate in the scientific investigation. While science students prepare the science as a capstone paper, the non- major students develop customized alternative final products that embrace the science and simultaneously connect with their own discipline. Curricular background is provided by all participants from their respective disciplines. This teaching model was employed within a two-week geoscience course on the island of San Salvador, Bahamas. The course’s overarching theme concerned the effects of climate change and sea-level rise on the history of the island’s development. Four collaborative research projects were undertaken that drew on background from sedimentology, stratigraphy, sedimentary petrology, marine and terrestrial ecology, and paleontology. Three non-science persons participated: an undergraduate education major, an undergraduate communications major, and a faculty member in poetry and children’s literature. They were united with 2 science majors, 2 graduate students, and 2 faculty members with background in geology. Each student participated in a capstone project that was designed to build on disciplinary strengths. These included a lesson plan that introduces elementary students to modern and ancient sedimentary environments, a documentary highlighting the impacts of sea-level rise on San Salvador, a collection of poetry, and a scientific investigation designed and written in journal article format. The work produced during this course demonstrates the potential for experiential learning in science, in combination with an inter-disciplinary, multi-level mentorship approach, to foster creativity, critical thinking, scientific literacy, and cooperation among students and faculty.