CLASSROOM EARTH
Learning in the Outdoors: Field-based undergraduate education during the COVID-19 pandemic
– why not? Jon Rotzien, Ryan Sincavage, Nuri Uzunlar, Harry Filkorn and Yann Gavillot
had organized and run field camps for years (1967 is the first field course led by the Black Hills Natural Sciences Field Station), this year was completely different. How would we design and structure the class? What would we do if someone became symptomatic? How would we even feed the students, when normally we’d just have a big camp cookout? These were just some of the challenges that made running a field camp like this one a logistical mountain climb (think Denali).
All 12 TPG •
Jan.Feb.Mar 2021
In March, most of the colleges and universities shuttered their doors, sent their students home and transitioned many of the face-to-face classroom courses to fully online classes so their students could complete the semester. But what about students of geology, a discipline where so much of our cur- riculum is based upon making observations and learning while in the field (sensu Oliveri and Bohacs, 2005, Field safety in uncontrolled environments: A process-based guidebook). For many reasons, fully online geology courses cannot replace the experiences of making geologic maps in the field. The funda- mental skills that students learn throughout the coursework of an undergraduate geology program also require time studying rocks and the natural world in the great outdoors, the more the better. This educational pathway typically culminates in a focused and sustained five- to six-week-long geologic mapping course that completes the geology Bachelor’s degree require- ments of most universities. However, dealing with pandemic- related issues to deliver field-based learning was going to be complicated. The first hurdle was to have enough planning in place to ensure the safety of the participants and thereby
www.aipg.org
of us were a bit hesitant at the thought of run- ning an out- door field-based undergraduate geology course in the Black Hills this summer. Even though we
gain the required approvals of the state’s health officials and the Board of Trustees. To most students, field camp is a life- changing experience as they live in shared accommodations with other fellow students and faculty for five to six weeks learning about rocks and life.
The Black Hills Natural Sciences Field Station offers field courses around the world: in one year alone, nearly 21 sessions are taught, including camps in USA, Turkey, New Zealand, France, Spain, Morocco, Iceland, Ecuador, Nepal and soon other countries. As the pandemic progressed, nearly all these camps were canceled or rescheduled at first, and then ulti- mately canceled. However, there remained a strong demand for students who needed to complete their 3- to 6-credit field geology capstone to complete their degree. Naturally, we wanted to help our students. So we began a 5-month-long mis- sion to build a course and assess its logistical and academic viability. Were we out of touch? Or did we really think we could engineer and plan successful logistics and contingen-
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