FIELD-BASED UNDERGRADUATE SCIENCE EDUCATION ON ST. CATHERINES ISLAND, GEORGIA

St. Catherines Island (SCI), Georgia is an undeveloped barrier island owned and managed by the St. Catherines Island Foundation, and host to varied ecological regimes including salt and brackish marshes, fresh water ponds, ephemeral freshwater wetlands, maritime forests, lagoons, beaches and coastal dunes. The beaches are critical nesting habitat for loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) that begin nesting in May and continue through early August. Georgia Southern University (GSU) has operated field based educational programs on SCI since 1992. The GSU Sea Turtle Program at St. Catherines Island, is an undergraduate concurrent course package consisting of Sea Turtle Natural History (GEOL 5740) and Barrier Island Environmental Geology (GEOL 5340). The package includes 10 days in residence on SCI for 18 students. GEOL 5740 requires teams to monitor segments of SCI beach each morning as sea turtle conservationists, documenting and reporting all crawlways and nests and relocating some nests. Teams report their work at daily debriefings and the collective data is entered into the seaturtle.org web site. Students keep a daily journal of their work and prepare a paper on loggerhead sea turtles focused on conservation and nesting activity, illustrated with their collection of images. GEOL 5340 requires field project design and data collection summarized with a written report and presentation. Additional activities include documentation of barrier island environments and geomorphological features for an image collection, field trips to explore anthropogenic features and impacts, and geologic and hydrogeologic features of SCI. Enrichment activities include lectures from geologists, biologists, and wildlife and veterinary specialists. Pedagogic strengths of the program include place-based learning in a dynamic coastal setting, service learning as conservation workers, hands-on experiential learning that builds observational skills and critical learning ability, daily adaptation, flexibility and team work in field programs, integrated applied science, and practice in scientific communication. The program extends its educational impact with informal outreach through social media outlets and presentations to regional civic groups.