Assistant Professor of Conservation Biology University of Maine Orono, ME, United States
Abstract: Over the past several decades, academic curricula have offered diminishing exposure to natural history and field experiences in ecology. This is part of a larger trend of increasing disconnection between society and nature, which, among other problems, may result in environmental policy decisions that don’t adequately incorporate an understanding of the ecosystems being impacted. Recently, there has been a concerted effort among some ecologists to reintroduce natural history into standard ecology curricula. To this end, I published a book and associated lesson plans based on a highly successful model used in the University of Vermont Field Naturalist Program. In the course, which I adapted and taught for two years, students are faced with ecological puzzles each week that they are asked to decode by thinking about the abiotic and biotic pieces, patterns, and processes. Throughout the semester, students are also tasked with unpacking the ecological layers of their own project sites. The book follows this same structure: each chapter begins with photographs depicting the actual puzzles used in the course, readers are led to untangle the clues by the end of each chapter, and readers are then prompted to delve deeper into their home landscapes. The focal field sites are used to teach universal ecological principles as readers learn to unravel the layers of geology, ecology, climate, natural history, human land-use, conservation values, and other inter-related topics that form natural areas and our perceptions of them. The associated syllabus, classroom activities, and other online materials can be used either as supplemental components of existing introductory courses in Ecology or Environmental Science, or as the central focus of new courses based on the problem-based immersive field model. This narrative pedagogical approach offers an engaging window into ecology while conveying basic field sense and understanding of landscapes that students will carry forward as they become the future generation of scientists and decision-makers.
