TEACHING OBSERVATIONAL SKILLS AND PRACTICAL FIELD METHODS IN A CORE GEOLOGY COURSE

Field experience is an invaluable asset in teaching and learning geology. Critical skills needed to succeed and contribute in the workforce are mastered with this practical exercise. Although classroom discussions are necessary to introduce students to geologic principles and concepts, observation and practical field methods promote real-world geologic experience.

A semester-long stream monitoring project was assigned to students of an undergraduate sedimentology and stratigraphy course at Southern Utah University to engage students with practical field experience and teach them how to make observations and collect, document, interpret, and synthesize data. Students were paired and assigned a section of a local stream in which they had to observe twice monthly for four months. The students were required to post their data on a website and provide a presentation to the class at their location during a field trip at the end of the semester. The level of observation increased over the course of the project, as did the quality of scientific language. The students applied the concepts they were learning in the classroom to what they observed in the field.

Student feedback was very positive. At the completion of the project, many students commented on their experience as fun, unexpected, and rewarding. Several students noted that they visited their locality more often than required just to observe the changes. Others planned to continue the project through the next term to see how spring runoff modified the site. This exercise can be modified to many areas and could be used in introductory level courses.