T204 The Future of Geoscience Field Courses I

Wednesday, 31 October 2007
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM

EARTH SCIENCE FIELD COURSES AT THE YELLOWSTONE-BIGHORN RESEARCH ASSOCIATION YBRA

Paper number: T204-6
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 9:05 AM – 9:20 AM

Authors

Abstract

The Department of Earth & Environmental Science of the University of Pennsylvania has administered a Summer Course in Geologic Field Methods at the Yellowstone-Bighorn Research Association (YBRA) in Red Lodge, MT, since 1992. From 1930 to 1992, that course was operated by Princeton University, with administrative assistance from Amherst and Franklin & Marshall Colleges (see Kauffman, this session). Penn State University and Southern Illinois University (Carbondale) also conduct field courses at YBRA.

The Penn/YBRA course has emphasized durable established methods of topographic and geologic mapping; stratigraphic, petrographic, structural, tectonic, and environmental interpretation; and reconstruction of local and regional Earth history. We have used GPS technology as a complementary strategy to locate data points on base maps and air photos, but we have not yet chosen to integrate data collection fully with GIS software.

In recent years, we have observed a decline in both applications and enrollments, which we attribute to:

1. the substitution of research opportunities for field-course requirements in many programs;

2. the financial difference between a subsidized internship and a tuition-demanding field course; and

3. the growing conviction that the study of Earth history can be pursued principally by manipulating computer models in laboratories.

This decline has continued despite the assertion of both natural-resource industries and government agencies that field instruction is vital to the education of those they hope to employ. This decline threatens the survival both of Earth-science field courses and of facilities dedicated to the operation of those courses.

YBRA has ensured its financial survival by diversifying the educational programs that operate from its field station.

The decline in enrollment of Geology majors in Earth-science field courses might be reversed by the circulation to Earth-science departments of a statement, from a consortium of Earth-science professional organizations, re-asserting the value of formal field education for the coming generations of Earth scientists, and emphasizing that an Earth-science student who has participated in a formal field course would be expected to contribute more to a funded research program than a student lacking that preparation.