STABILITY ANALYSIS OF NATIVE AMERICAN ROCK ART PANELS ENGAGES INTRODUCTORY LEVEL GEOSCIENCE STUDENTS IN THE STUDY OF ROCK DECAY (Invited Presentation)

The Rock Art Stability Index is a non-destructive weathering analysis of rocks containing Native American rock art. A four-year field study at the Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona, reveals that introductory level general education geoscience students have greater gains in learning and engage more deeply in science through discovery-based undergraduate research. This presentation will demonstrate how weathering science can be integrated into a course-based undergraduate research experience, as well as how data collected in the field by only a few students can be utilized in the curriculum for those students unable to participate in field research. Furthermore, examples of how students transferred their experiences in this project to capstone experiences at university, service learning, and graduate school will be shared