IMMERSION IN FIELD GEOSCIENCE DURING A NEW OFF-CAMPUS SEMESTER FOR SECOND AND THIRD YEAR STUDENTS FOSTERS GROWTH IN SKILLS AND PROFESSIONAL READINESS

Experience in the field is a highly valued commodity in the geoscience community. Nevertheless, field work has been reduced in many geoscience programs. As a declining number of departments require a field camp, many students leave college lacking professional skills rooted in field work or only obtain those skills as a capstone experience.

To address this challenge, we have chosen to create our own semester-length, off campus field program, but one specifically designed for mid-level students (second and third-year). This program, the Environmental Science Semester (ESS) at Saint Joseph's College of Maine, is structured around immersion and experiential pedagogies. In the fall of 2014, the first ESS consisted of four geoscience and environmental science courses: Climate Change & Glacial Geology; Marine Ecology; Oceanography; and Field Methods. Climate Change & Glacial Geology was conducted primarily in eastern Maine and Nova Scotia. Marine Ecology utilized the estuaries and marshes of central and southern coastal Maine. We sailed the coastal Gulf of Maine aboard a small schooner as our mobile classroom and lab for most of Oceanography. Components of Field Methods were concurrent with each of the other three courses.

The ESS is intended to enhance aspects of academic and personal growth relative to campus-based courses. Specific academic benefits include: i) enhanced critical thinking skills; ii) greater concept retention; iii) more active, collaborative learning; iv) field work in diverse environments; and v) greater synthesis of course topics. Specific personal growth benefits include: i) greater confidence; ii) elevated perseverance; iii) stronger student connectedness; iv) improved faculty-student interaction; and v) sharper focus and motivation. Longer term benefits cannot yet be assessed, but we anticipate greater retention and growth in number of students in our science majors.