Public Scholarship Student Projects for Introductory Environmental Courses

Abstract

This paper presents a model project for introductory undergraduate courses that develops students as citizens contributing scholarship to public discussions of environmental issues. In this field-based project, students actively and independently engage with an environmental issue and present their project experience to a relevant public forum. In two implementations of the project, we find that the project succeeds at each of five goals: exposing students to public scholarship, connecting course material to environmental issues and students' lives, giving students experience with professional environmental work, building student enthusiasm, and, finally, providing the public with insights from students' scholarship.

How do introductory field biology students feel? Journal reflections provide insight into student affect

“…Several studies indicate that students feel positive emotions such as enjoyment (Kern & Carpenter, 1984 ; Scott et al, 2019 ; Van Loon, 2019 ) during field‐based instruction. However, other research has found that students can also express negative emotions during field instruction such as frustration (Baum et al, 2012 ), boredom (Goulder et al, 2013 ; Orion & Hofstein, 1994 ), and even fear (Brenner et al, 2018 ).…”

“…They require intensive planning, organization, and a unique level of adaptability from instructors who may lack support from their institutions or experience in facilitating such courses (Fleischner et al, 2017 ). Additionally, students occasionally find field experiences to be frustrating (Baum et al, 2012 ), anxiety‐inducing (Cotton, 2009 ), or even boring (Boyle et al, 2007 ). Students who identify with minoritized races/ethnicities and other identities can sometimes feel uncomfortable, a lack of belonging, or even unsafe in outdoor learning environments (Demery & Pipkin, 2021 ; Malm et al, 2020 ; O’Brien et al, 2020 ).…”