WHAT FIELD COURSES HATH WROUGHT: THE USE OF FIELD CAMP STRUCTURES FOR BROADER AUDIENCES

An aspect of field courses not widely reported in a systematic manner is the extent to which they spawn “spin-off” opportunities for audiences other than geology students. As a part of the JMU contribution to geology field camp in Ireland, coursework for educators and public audiences have been developed utilizing the same settings as the field camp. These spin-off efforts have exploited the richness of the physical environment of Western Ireland with a mind to preparing communicators of Earth and environmental science.

Starting in 2011, cooperation between the Departments of Geology and Biology at JMU fostered a course for preservice teachers of across K-12 grade bands. Using field locations common to the geology field camp, the course extended beyond geology to include the biological aspects of the physical environment and the impact of humans on the environment, from the Mesolithic to the present. Over the two weeks of the course, instructional support was provided by NUI-Galway and the Petersburg Outdoor Education Centre. The focused on disciplinary content knowledge and organization of content knowledge for teaching in field settings. Students created both an instructional unit plan based on their experiences as well as informal science education materials, such as interpretive signage materials or web-based resources. These were vetted before public audiences at the base site in Ireland in a service-learning setting.

An unanticipated product of one of the courses was the organization and planning of a documentary film on the Connemara Marble, an ophicalcite unique to western Ireland. Sought for its aesthetic qualities, the geology and cultural history of the marble had not been shared in a video-based format, despite its appeal to the general public. A student in the 2014 course offering, as a dual-major in both Earth science and film studies, organized, planned, and film on locations a film depicting the history of the Connemara Marble for her senior research requirement in both majors.

This presentation will share the design and outcomes of the spin-off course for preservice teachers, as well as segments of the Connemara Marble documentary film. In the aggregate, such ancillary impacts from field courses can serve multiple audiences and provide a return-on-investment on the local support for field courses.