TRANSLATING TRADITIONAL FIELD-BASED LEARNING OBJECTIVES INTO A LAB-CENTERED CAPSTONE EXPERIENCE FOR GEOLOGY MAJORS: PRELIMINARY RESULTS FROM THE LAB CAMP PROJECT

Lab Camp is a National Science Foundation-funded program at Western Washington University (WWU) intended to reduce barriers inherent to traditional geology field camp courses while providing the same experiential learning environment for undergraduate students. Field Camp at WWU is a traditional and highly successful 6-week camping-based field course. Students who experience difficulties coping with the mental stress or physical demands of Field Camp are provided ad hoc alternatives such as modified field exercises or additional upper division elective courses. The new Lab Camp alternative attempts to meet the capstone learning objectives of Field Camp in a more inclusive and accessible manner while allowing students continued access to services such as mental and physical healthcare. Here we provide an overview of the expectations, challenges, and successes of translating traditional field-based learning objectives into an equally valuable and rigorous lab-centered capstone course.

Lab Camp was offered as a 6-week, 12-credit program consisting of three courses built around a source to sink concept: Tectonic Processes, Fluvial Sedimentary Processes and Marine Sedimentary Processes. The program covered the traditional Field Camp objectives and provided students with opportunities to develop high-impact lab-based research skills which are increasingly valuable in geoscience professions. Some of these skills included satellite-based digital mapping and remote sensing, geochemical analysis, and computer modeling of Earth systems. Lab Camp was housed at the Shannon Point Marine Center, a location that provides easy access to local geology, including the Salish Sea basin, San Juan Islands, and North Cascades. As a residential program (M-F, 9am-5pm), students were able to learn and live together as a cohort of geoscientists. During Lab Camp, students developed field and laboratory-based geoscience research skills and were able to design research questions to interpret the geologic history of coastal western Washington, from source (North Cascades) to sink (Salish Sea).