SWIMMING THE MOAT: A COLLEGE AND HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT FIELD-BASED RESEARCH PROJECT ON THE PEAT BOGS OF ALLEGAN COUNTY, MICHIGAN

The Hope College REACH (Research Experience Across Cultures) program is a 6-week summer research program in which local high school students and teachers research alongside college students and professors in the college's Natural and Applied Sciences Division. Recently, a pilot REACH II team comprised of two college professors, one Hope College undergraduate science education student, a local high school teacher, and four local high school students surveyed bogs in Allegan County, Michigan to determine their stratigraphy and geologic history. This project was designed to use field and laboratory methods that were readily learned and mastered by students with little to no experience in this area. The team first collected sediment cores from four different bogs using a Russian peat corer and a Livingstone sampler. This sampling constituted two weeks of the project. In the laboratory, smear slides were made along each core and percentages of selected components in each slide were estimated by the individual students. Near the project’s conclusion, each student was assigned a different bog and drew a stratigraphic cross-section and developed a geologic history from the smear slide data for that bog. Each student also prepared a poster summarizing their findings for presentation at the final REACH research celebration. This project involved significant amounts of both field and laboratory work. Students learned the problems of field work firsthand and yet this field time was integral in creating cohesiveness within the group and in maintaining morale during the many lab hours. In addition, a comparison of the pre- and post-program assessment surveys indicated that the REACH bog program significantly increased participant confidence in such areas as understanding the overall research process and dealing with frustrations in it, understanding research design and methodology, interpreting research results, and understanding how research can lead to new knowledge. Lastly, participants stated that their REACH experience helped to narrow down what they would like to do in science, made them more confident for next year's classes, opened up new fields of interest, and gave ideas of what to look for in their college search.