Professor Raritan Valley Community College Branchburg, New Jersey, United States
Abstract: It can be challenging to engage early undergraduate students in introductory ecology courses. These courses focus on foundational theories and concepts, making it difficult for students to see the connection to real world issues they care about, such as degraded ecological condition caused by regional land use change, climate change, invasive species, and other pressing environmental concerns. In order to increase student engagement, we redesigned our introductory ecology course at Raritan Valley Community College (RVCC) to incorporate applied research. During the first half of the semester, students studied organismal, population, community, and ecosystem ecology in the classroom. At the same time, students participated in weekly field exercises to learn and practice basic field techniques, including qualitative analysis of local ecosystems, species identification, and quantitative analysis of animal and plant populations. We then introduced the applied research project that they would conduct in groups during the remainder of the semester. We shared a portion of RVCC's master plan, focusing on the schematics that show proposed locations and types of future campus development. Small student groups were then assigned to study particular sections of the 80-hectare campus. The objective of each group was to first assess the current ecological condition of their assigned campus area, using their foundational ecological knowledge and practical field skills. Groups measured microclimate conditions and characterized butterfly, bird, and plant populations; used their measurements to calculate indicators of ecological condition; and created graphs and tables to present their data. Then groups analyzed the campus master plan to determine how proposed campus development may impact the ecological condition of their assigned campus area and make ecologically-informed recommendations to the college administration about how to mitigate or eliminate those potential impacts. Groups prepared formal scientific reports and gave oral presentations in class as the summative assessments for the project. After two semesters of assigning this project, we have found mixed results in achievement of student learning objectives. Some groups have thrived, both in data collection as well as presentation and interpretation of their findings. Other groups struggled in one or both of these aspects despite our attempts to scaffold those skills during the structured first part of the semester. Options for improving student outcomes include scaling back the scope of the project, redesigning the project, or replacing the project with other activities that require the students to apply their knowledge of ecological concepts.
