Disclaimer: All of the way off campus educational experiences that I have described here must be used as a supplement to a solid campus-based education.
I believe that all these experiences require the solid foundation, especially in science, that a student gets in their basic undergraduate courses. That said, elements from these practically immersion level learning experiences can be brought on campus and into the classroom. For those students that are not fortunate enough to have the opportunity to participate in the off campus experiences that I have described, active learning and hands-on teaching and learning techniques can bring the flavor of an immersion experiences on campus. I think it is absolutely essential for any undergrad in science major to complete a research project of some kind before graduating. Whether it is a simple in class team project and report or a senoir thesis, undergrads at schools big and small have to learn to apply the science that they have learned. Science is, after all, a very practical, applied field.
Monday, May 14, 2007
Actual immersion learning aboard a sailing school vessel
A long, long time ago, I spent a semester as an undergrad on a sailing school vessel. In place of a regular semester on campus, I spent 9 weeks sailing and learning aboard the tallship Spirit of Massachusetts and I haven't experienced anything like that since. I didn't take much away from the experience in terms of new scientific knowledge, in fact for me Seamester was a academic waste of time, but many other students on my ship learned some science along the way. And we all took home life lessons (cheesy as that sounds). Intense doesn't begin to describe this immersion learning, off campus educational experience. We sailed and navigated the ship, we attended classes on deck and on shore in domestic and tropical ports, we stood watch at all hours of the day and night, and we ate, bathed, hiked, sang, danced, and lived with our instructors (and the crew). You learn a lot about who you are and how you relate to other people in addition to anything academic that you pick up along the way. As an educational experience for undergraduates (especially a marine biology major), a semester aboard a sailing school vessel is like no other.
I was thinking about this way off campus educational experience again recently as a result of a conversation with a friend that had participated in a similar program, SEA semester. In their program, they spent six weeks on shore in the classroom before heading out to the blue waters of the Atlantic or Pacific. The science education part of their program was much more intense - they actually have a fully functional science lab on their ship - and I'm sure that graduates of that program could run circles around Seamester grads when it comes to ocean sampling. I once spoke with a faculty members that had participated in both programs and he said something like an SEA grad could run the science program on a research vessel, but a Seamester grad could actually sail the boat. But those people that are fortunate enough to have completed either program, have had a totally unique educational experience unrivaled by any class on any college campus.
I was thinking about this way off campus educational experience again recently as a result of a conversation with a friend that had participated in a similar program, SEA semester. In their program, they spent six weeks on shore in the classroom before heading out to the blue waters of the Atlantic or Pacific. The science education part of their program was much more intense - they actually have a fully functional science lab on their ship - and I'm sure that graduates of that program could run circles around Seamester grads when it comes to ocean sampling. I once spoke with a faculty members that had participated in both programs and he said something like an SEA grad could run the science program on a research vessel, but a Seamester grad could actually sail the boat. But those people that are fortunate enough to have completed either program, have had a totally unique educational experience unrivaled by any class on any college campus.
REU or learning what life as a scientist might really be like
The Research Experience for Undergraduates is an NSF-sponsored program in which undergraduates work side-by-side with researchers in their field and conduct an independent project. This is as hands-on as it gets in undergrad science education and, as it fits with the theme of this blog, it is usually an off campus learning experience. I was fortunate enough to have an REU and since then I have also observed REU participants at the Shoals and Bodega Marine Labs (see previous post). I even temporarily helped to supervise an REU, but that is a topic for a whole different blog.
Upper level undergrads can experience what life would be like for them as a 'real' scientist while benefiting from the guidance of an established researcher. Much like taking an intensive class at a marine lab, the REU also fits the immersion learning approach. Most REU design, execute, and report on their own research project thereby taking their classroom science education and putting it to work. For many REUs, this is also a unique chance to take part in a off campus learning experience with all the associated intensity and benefits.
In class student projects and laboratory exercises and reports are valuable learning tools in science, but an REU may have the opportunity to publish their research and for a future career scientist there is no equivalent undergrad experience. Even if a student does not continue on to a career in science, there are several benefits to being an REU that they might not get in on campus classes. They spend more time working closely with and learning from a researcher than could on campus (I think even more than in a semester as an assistant in a lab). If they are part of an institutional REU in which a group of undergrads are accepted by a research facility and go through the program together, they could form a close bond with other REUs that will be their future science peers. And the organizational, planning, and communication skills that are an integral part of any REU are beneficial regardless of career path.
Upper level undergrads can experience what life would be like for them as a 'real' scientist while benefiting from the guidance of an established researcher. Much like taking an intensive class at a marine lab, the REU also fits the immersion learning approach. Most REU design, execute, and report on their own research project thereby taking their classroom science education and putting it to work. For many REUs, this is also a unique chance to take part in a off campus learning experience with all the associated intensity and benefits.
In class student projects and laboratory exercises and reports are valuable learning tools in science, but an REU may have the opportunity to publish their research and for a future career scientist there is no equivalent undergrad experience. Even if a student does not continue on to a career in science, there are several benefits to being an REU that they might not get in on campus classes. They spend more time working closely with and learning from a researcher than could on campus (I think even more than in a semester as an assistant in a lab). If they are part of an institutional REU in which a group of undergrads are accepted by a research facility and go through the program together, they could form a close bond with other REUs that will be their future science peers. And the organizational, planning, and communication skills that are an integral part of any REU are beneficial regardless of career path.
The battle of the marine labs for undergrad minds (and hearts)
I have TAed (translation: been a teaching assistant; please note that I will use TA as both a noun and verb throughout this blog) at both the Shoals Marine Lab and the Bodega Marine Lab and the experiences could not have been more different for me. But the real question is: how was it for the undergraduate science students that were there to learn?
Meet the contenders.
Shoals Marine Lab is a facility shared by Cornell and the University of New Hampshire with the primary mission of undrgraduate education. It is a summer-only lab mostly because it is on a very small island that is six miles off the coast of Maine and almost inaccessible and fairly inhospitable in the other three seasons. The students come from all levels of undergraduate studies and from campuses all over the country (as do the faculty). Courses that I have TAed there include Field Marine Science and Marine Invertebrate Zoology.
Bodega Marine Lab is a research unit of the University of California at Davis whose missions include research, graduate training, and undergraduate and public education. We are all out here year-round, but the resident undergrad classes are offered in the spring and summer. At times BML may seem very isolated from campus, but we are connected to the mainland and students can come and go at will. The students in the classes are mostly upper level undergrads from UC Davis (and the faculty are all Davis as well). Courses that I have TAed include Physiological Adaptations of Marine Organisms and Environmental Stress and Development in Marine Organisms.
Though the two labs seem miles apart (and there are literally about 3000 miles between them), they are both striving to provide undergraduates with educational experiences that they would not get in their on campus science classes. Classes at both labs are intense. Summer students are regularly in class 8 to 12 hours a day and at Shoals classes run 7 days a week (of course, they are on an island with nothing else to do). But I think that the intensity is an important and necessary part of the experience. Students in these 4- to 6-week courses receive credit equivalent to a full semester or quarter class on campus. But the learning experience is so different that I think that they take away more than they ever could from a campus classroom. Traditional lectures and lab exercises are part of classes at both labs and students at both labs have unparalleled access to the field (aka the intertidal, the mud flats, the tide pools, etc.). They are living and breathing science all day, every day. In all these courses, student projects and reports give the undergrads a glimpse of life as a scientist.
There are differences. At Shoals, students and instructors learn and live together on a small patch of land on a rock in the middle of the ocean. Everything is amplified a bit. This can be good and bad, but I do not think learning at Shoals could ever be a neutral experience. I have found that the instructors take every advantage of the unique learning environment and the students all benefit from that approach in their own individual ways. At BML, the students can readily escape from Bodega Bay and head back to friends and family inland on weekends. They do have way more contact with the instructors and their fellow students than they would back on campus, but they do not spend every waking hour together and that approach to the off campus learning experience has its advantages.
In my experiences at both labs over the many years that I have been a TA there seem to be things that students take away from these courses, that they may never get a chance to on campus. The total immersion in science can be a life-shaping experience for these undergrads. Regardless of the course or teaching style, students at both labs experience something of what doing science is really like and this often influences career paths. I have run into former students as they start graduate programs in science and at national scientific conferences. On a more personal level, the intense level of contact between the students and between the student and their instructors can have lasting results. Some students form lifelong friendships with people that will become their scientific peers. Others make personal discoveries, like self-confidence or independence, that they might not otherwise have in their four (or five) years on campus.
I am sure that the intensity of learning science way off campus works better for some students than others. But from my own observations as a TA, there have been only a few cases over the years that I can think of that a student returned to the real world the same student that they came in. And I think that is a good thing. I consider learning science by immersion at field stations like these two marine labs an invaluable part of the undergraduate experience. So much so that if I do chose a teaching career, I will have teach a course like those that I have TAed. I only hope that I have learned enough from the excellent instructors of those courses to provide life-shaping experiences to my future students.
Meet the contenders.
Shoals Marine Lab is a facility shared by Cornell and the University of New Hampshire with the primary mission of undrgraduate education. It is a summer-only lab mostly because it is on a very small island that is six miles off the coast of Maine and almost inaccessible and fairly inhospitable in the other three seasons. The students come from all levels of undergraduate studies and from campuses all over the country (as do the faculty). Courses that I have TAed there include Field Marine Science and Marine Invertebrate Zoology.
Bodega Marine Lab is a research unit of the University of California at Davis whose missions include research, graduate training, and undergraduate and public education. We are all out here year-round, but the resident undergrad classes are offered in the spring and summer. At times BML may seem very isolated from campus, but we are connected to the mainland and students can come and go at will. The students in the classes are mostly upper level undergrads from UC Davis (and the faculty are all Davis as well). Courses that I have TAed include Physiological Adaptations of Marine Organisms and Environmental Stress and Development in Marine Organisms.
Though the two labs seem miles apart (and there are literally about 3000 miles between them), they are both striving to provide undergraduates with educational experiences that they would not get in their on campus science classes. Classes at both labs are intense. Summer students are regularly in class 8 to 12 hours a day and at Shoals classes run 7 days a week (of course, they are on an island with nothing else to do). But I think that the intensity is an important and necessary part of the experience. Students in these 4- to 6-week courses receive credit equivalent to a full semester or quarter class on campus. But the learning experience is so different that I think that they take away more than they ever could from a campus classroom. Traditional lectures and lab exercises are part of classes at both labs and students at both labs have unparalleled access to the field (aka the intertidal, the mud flats, the tide pools, etc.). They are living and breathing science all day, every day. In all these courses, student projects and reports give the undergrads a glimpse of life as a scientist.
There are differences. At Shoals, students and instructors learn and live together on a small patch of land on a rock in the middle of the ocean. Everything is amplified a bit. This can be good and bad, but I do not think learning at Shoals could ever be a neutral experience. I have found that the instructors take every advantage of the unique learning environment and the students all benefit from that approach in their own individual ways. At BML, the students can readily escape from Bodega Bay and head back to friends and family inland on weekends. They do have way more contact with the instructors and their fellow students than they would back on campus, but they do not spend every waking hour together and that approach to the off campus learning experience has its advantages.
In my experiences at both labs over the many years that I have been a TA there seem to be things that students take away from these courses, that they may never get a chance to on campus. The total immersion in science can be a life-shaping experience for these undergrads. Regardless of the course or teaching style, students at both labs experience something of what doing science is really like and this often influences career paths. I have run into former students as they start graduate programs in science and at national scientific conferences. On a more personal level, the intense level of contact between the students and between the student and their instructors can have lasting results. Some students form lifelong friendships with people that will become their scientific peers. Others make personal discoveries, like self-confidence or independence, that they might not otherwise have in their four (or five) years on campus.
I am sure that the intensity of learning science way off campus works better for some students than others. But from my own observations as a TA, there have been only a few cases over the years that I can think of that a student returned to the real world the same student that they came in. And I think that is a good thing. I consider learning science by immersion at field stations like these two marine labs an invaluable part of the undergraduate experience. So much so that if I do chose a teaching career, I will have teach a course like those that I have TAed. I only hope that I have learned enough from the excellent instructors of those courses to provide life-shaping experiences to my future students.
Way Off Campus Education
Those of you that participated in the Seminar on College Teaching retreat at the Bodega Marine Lab have had a taste of the experiences about which I will blog. When you take education away from campus, you experience teaching and learning in a whole different, and I think more valuable, way. In addition to the SCT at Bodega, I have had opportunities as both a student and a teacher to learn in off campus settings that add a intensity to education that you just cannot achieve in a traditional classroom. I was inspired to write about way off campus experiences by three recent events: 1) reminiscing about learning aboard a sailing school vessel with a fellow survivor (although of a rival program) during an afternoon at the wine bar, 2) a sweet card that my advisor shared with me from a former student of ours who discovered how capable she really was during one of our BML classes, and 3) being seated next to a former student of mine at a recent wedding and hearing from her that she had doubts about sticking with biology until she took the field class at Shoals.
I have tried to find a label for the type of education that I am describing here. My first thought was 'experiential learning' and certainly some of the concepts of that theory are put to use in these off campus experiences. In experiential learning, students participate in an activity in some way related to set educational goals, then they are asked to reflect or report on the activity and what they have taken away from it. There's a great wikipedia entry on this educational theory - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experiential_learning - and while reading through that and other web resources, I realized that that label didn't quite fit. While the off campus experiences that I will describe contain hands-on activities and sometimes forums for reflection, that is not all that they are about. And, in similar ways, 'hands-on education' isn't a good fit either. While all the experiences rely heavily on hands-on learning, these off campus experiences take hands-on to a whole new level. Also, many of the experiences contain 'active learning' by necessity, but this too is a simplification of the overall experience. I think that the label with the closest fit would be 'immersion learning'. While this term is most often used to refer to the learning of foreign language by immersing oneself completely in that culture, it fits well because in the off campus experiences that I will describe the students and instructors are very much immersed in science. They are living together completely surrounded by their learning experience and, in a way, the students are learning foreign languages - scientific names, sailing and navigation terms, or the language of scientific research. The success of the students depends, in part, to their willingness and ability to adapt to this foreign setting and immerse themselves in the learning.
So, I will continue to use my made-up term off campus learning/educational experience, but it is a bit cumbersome and a little vague. Keep in mind the concept of immersion education because I think that, in many ways, this is a pretty accurate description. I will blog about three very different off campus science educational experiences - two of which I had the opportunity to participate in as an undergraduate student and two of which I have had a hand in instructing. I will first compare teaching classes at marine labs 3000 miles apart. Then I'll chat a bit about the Research Experience for Undergraduates program supported by the National Science Foundation. And finally, I'll blog about learning on the high seas aboard sailing school vessels.
I have tried to find a label for the type of education that I am describing here. My first thought was 'experiential learning' and certainly some of the concepts of that theory are put to use in these off campus experiences. In experiential learning, students participate in an activity in some way related to set educational goals, then they are asked to reflect or report on the activity and what they have taken away from it. There's a great wikipedia entry on this educational theory - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experiential_learning - and while reading through that and other web resources, I realized that that label didn't quite fit. While the off campus experiences that I will describe contain hands-on activities and sometimes forums for reflection, that is not all that they are about. And, in similar ways, 'hands-on education' isn't a good fit either. While all the experiences rely heavily on hands-on learning, these off campus experiences take hands-on to a whole new level. Also, many of the experiences contain 'active learning' by necessity, but this too is a simplification of the overall experience. I think that the label with the closest fit would be 'immersion learning'. While this term is most often used to refer to the learning of foreign language by immersing oneself completely in that culture, it fits well because in the off campus experiences that I will describe the students and instructors are very much immersed in science. They are living together completely surrounded by their learning experience and, in a way, the students are learning foreign languages - scientific names, sailing and navigation terms, or the language of scientific research. The success of the students depends, in part, to their willingness and ability to adapt to this foreign setting and immerse themselves in the learning.
So, I will continue to use my made-up term off campus learning/educational experience, but it is a bit cumbersome and a little vague. Keep in mind the concept of immersion education because I think that, in many ways, this is a pretty accurate description. I will blog about three very different off campus science educational experiences - two of which I had the opportunity to participate in as an undergraduate student and two of which I have had a hand in instructing. I will first compare teaching classes at marine labs 3000 miles apart. Then I'll chat a bit about the Research Experience for Undergraduates program supported by the National Science Foundation. And finally, I'll blog about learning on the high seas aboard sailing school vessels.
Monday, March 26, 2007
wow this class was great!!
totally tired, but feeling really informed about college teaching right now.
can't wait to put all this knowledge to good use someday!
can't wait to put all this knowledge to good use someday!
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