FIELD-BASED LEARNING FOR NON-MAJORS: GETTING OUR STUDENTS’ FEET WET IN THE OCEAN SCIENCES

Outdoor field experiences successfully engage and enhance the learning of students in geoscience courses. Despite this, courses that incorporate significant field-based components are typically for majors, leaving non-majors in the classroom. Given the high level of knowledge acquisition and student satisfaction in field-based courses, the field component of an upper level science course has been adapted into a series of field trips specifically tailored for non-science majors, called ‘Beaches and Coasts.’ Fields trips have been designed to be (1) exploratory, allowing students to experience the coastal environment and develop their own questions about the processes underway; (2) explanatory, allowing students to observe and measure scientific processes in the real world; and (3) inquiry-driven, allowing students to design and implement a small field study. To assess student learning pre- and post-knowledge tests will be administered and students will be given a post-course satisfaction survey. Majors and non-majors enrolled in field-based courses will be similarly assessed to compare the effect of the field experience between science and non-science majors. Regardless of major, all students are expected to develop scientific literacy and appreciate the scientific method, becoming effective problem solvers and more informed citizens. These goals can be accomplished with outdoor field experiences that put the fun back into learning; yet serve an important role in students' academic development and intellectual maturity.