THE GRAND ISLE PROJECT: HOW A PLACE-BASED SERVICE-LEARNING PROJECT EVOLVED INTO A RESEARCH EXPERIENCE FOR UNDERGRADUATES DURING THE BP OIL SPILL

Of the linkages between the lives of the average student and the geosciences, the most undeniable is that we all live and work in real places formed and impacted by geological processes. Geoscience educators can leverage this connection as a mechanism for creating authentic geoscience learning opportunities. Reform of the physical geology course taken mostly by general education students at Tulane University included development of a service-learning component, allowing self-selected students to travel to, explore and take part in a beach erosion research project on Grand Isle, LA. This barrier island, critical to the defense of greater New Orleans from storm surges and the nation’s oil and gas infrastructure, is suffering from rapid subsidence and coastal erosion. Selection of the Grand Isle site was based on the rapid rate of geological processes allowing students to see changes in their study site during the course of a single semester combined with its proximity to campus and clear importance to the survival of their community. The decision to gather sound beach profile data, initially intended for educational purposes and to provide advice on use of local resources to Grand Isle State Park proved of far greater value as Grand Isle was impacted by an Army Corps of Engineers levee construction and beach nourishment project followed by the impacts of 2 hurricane storm surges within weeks of its completion. Continued student monitoring of the beach profile before and after these disturbances documented the beach’s destruction and recovery before a second beach nourishment project reset the system in time for the arrival of the BP oil spill! The history of student collected data on Grand Isle’s beaches was instrumental in securing NSF funds supporting a small REU program designed to monitor the state of the Grand Isle beach during and after the oil spill clean up with student data being used to advice the clean up and restoration process in some instances. The success of the Grand Isle Project can be replicated by geoscience faculty elsewhere, even with limited resources, by careful selection of a study site that offers students a compelling view of geological processes in a place of interest and relevance to the community in which they live and study. This presentation will discuss how his can be achieved from the faculty perspective.