Mention Puerto Rico and spring break in the same sentence, and you'll quickly have the attention of most college students.
Jeff Clark, assistant professor of geology, used that combination to motivate his seminar students to turn the Caribbean island into a giant outdoor classroom in March.
Culminating ten weeks of classroom study on the geology, geomorphology, and tropical ecology of Puerto Rico, Clark led 11 students on a week-long expedition of hands-on field research. The students explored topics ranging from slope stability of steep tropical soils to coral reef formation and geoarchaeology.
"It was an incredible experience," says Jake Brenner, '00, of Menomonie. "I learned more in one week, with my hands in the dirt, than I ever could have in ten weeks in the classroom."
Prior to the trip, each student researched a specific topic of interest. Once in Puerto Rico, they took turns serving as "field guide experts," each leading a class presentation on that subject at an appropriate site. Members of the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Geological Survey, and the International Institute of Tropical Forestry also led presentations on current research projects.
"Working with the professionals in the field connected the actual practice of science with the theory we learned in the classroom," says Clark. "The students gained an appreciation for the complexity of natural systems and an understanding of the need to communicate and work across disciplines to find answers to environmental and ecological questions."
The trip was akin to an educational version of extreme sports. The students hiked mountain trails through tropical rainforests, rappelled down a cliff into a river canyon to explore a downstream cave, snorkeled around coastal reefs, and kayaked across a glowing bioluminescent lagoon.
"The whole trip was a great exercise in experiential learning," says Jenee Rowe, '00, of Traverse City, Michigan. "The days were long and intense, but we were having such a great time, we didnšt realize how much we were actually learning."
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