Geology faculty Nikki and Joe Elkins at Death Valley, one of the stops on GeoJourney.

Undergraduates experience America on GeoJourney

Nineteen BGSU undergraduates took off Aug. 15 on a “GeoJourney” that promises to be the trip of a lifetime and a unique educational experience.

Led by geology faculty members Joe and Nikki Elkins, the group is traveling in a modern-day caravan that will lead them through many of the nation’s most spectacular parks, monuments and educational sites, plus several major cities from Chicago to San Francisco to New Orleans and back. The group will camp out each night and move to new campgrounds every few days as they make their way across the country and back. During the day, the students will be completing day hikes in national parks, visiting regional museums and completing field projects.

“They will be getting the ‘big picture’ significance of geoscience education,” said Joe Elkins, who has been doing a similar trip for several years with the University of Georgia.

"We have three primary goals for the geology portion of the course. First, using their own observations, we want students to formulate questions about the development of their physical surroundings and the geologic process they see at work. Second, we want them to identify hand samples of geologic materials such as rocks and fossils and use the information in those samples as evidence to support their ideas about the geologic process responsible for shaping their environment. Third, we want them to communicate their ideas in writing and in discussions so that they are able to successfully defend their own ideas, and so that they will be able to evaluate the ideas communicated by others and determine the validity of those arguments."

During their eight weeks and 13,000 miles on the road, the students will take four classes—two in geology: Field-Based Historical Geology and Field-Based Physical Geology; one in American culture studies: Indigenous Cultures of North America, and one in environmental science: Environments in Context. All the classes count toward University general education requirements.

Glacier National Park

Mark Gromko, vice provost for academic affairs and director of general education, will be joining the trip for a week to 10 days. Other University personnel will also visit at times. Four of Elkins’ former students from the University of Georgia will serve as support staff.

“We want to push the boundaries of what we can do in field-based, interdisciplinary education,” Elkins said. “They will be getting over 200 contact hours of instruction—more than in a 16-week semester.”

Part of the uniqueness of GeoJourney is its interdisciplinary nature and the fact that it encompasses an entire semester. When they return, students will have 16 credits and will have completed fall semester, Elkins said. They will not be required to return to campus.

“We hope that GeoJourney will help Bowling Green's continuing efforts to take a leadership role nationally in general education reform,” Elkins said. “We think GeoJourney will help us recruit the best students to Bowling Green and give those students the opportunity to learn in a different context from the classroom.”

Instead of the typical laptop computers and textbooks of the traditional classroom, GeoJourney students will carry an orange-bound notebook in which to record their observations and class notes. Their preparations included outfitting themselves with sturdy hiking boots, rain gear and a good hat. In addition to the integrated academic experience, GeoJourney will be a learning exercise in planning, packing, conserving energy and group dynamics.

The University has committed about $20,000 in start-up funds to purchase tents, water coolers, cooking equipment, digital cameras, video cameras and other necessities.Tracy Budden, a former Technology Education Consulting Specialists (TECS) student, will be along to provide technical support and will maintain a Web site for the journey.

Traveling in three, 15-passenger vans, the students will participate in a sort of “mobile education,” Elkins said. The vans have been outfitted with flat-screen LCD monitors and public address systems so the faculty can teach and employ PowerPoint presentations as well as instructional videos during the long hours between stops.

“Learning en route will give the students more time to explore the actual sites on their own,” he said. Other instruction will take place around the nightly campfires, during which students will discuss what they’ve learned during the day. They also have been given reading packets of both scientific and popular literature designed to provide the local perspective on issues they will be studying, such as water rights and resource management, Elkins said.

Their first stop will be the Field Museum in Chicago, where the faculty will begin “laying the foundation for the rest of the course, and teaching the terminology and vocabulary they will be using,” Elkins said.

One of the class’s longer stops will be at Ranch A, an environmental science center in Beulah, Wyo. Described by Elkins as a “two-story log palace,” the center is the former site of a National Fish Laboratory and is where the GeoJourney students will participate in a week-long, intensive lecture-lab crash course in the four classes.

Holly Myers-Jones, geography and director of Environmental Science Programs, said there are three main goals of the environmental science component besides the usual course content: “First, we want students to have the opportunity to begin to become astute observers of how humans have reshaped the environment and impacted it in even the most remote and rural locations. Second, we want them to gain firsthand experience of regional differences in how we define environmental issues and sets of issues, and in how we approach their solutions and how stakeholders are represented in their solutions. And third, we really hope they will gain a greater appreciation that the United States is not the sole controller of many of our environmental assets, and that we have to consider our neighbors Canada and Mexico. As we come to the Pacific Coast, we even have to consider Japan. We want them to understand how important it is that we have to wisely manage our natural resources.”

Nikki Elkins, who will teach the American culture studies course, said, “My goal is for the students to understand and appreciate the enormous cultural diversity that existed in North America prior to Euro-American contact/influence as well as to recognize that this diversity continues to exist and influence regional politics, economies and culture.

“We will observe various cultures throughout North America from an archaeological, historical and modern perspective—from the vast Anasazi ruins of Chaco Canyon in New Mexico to the modern Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Ultimately, the student will be able to make connections about why people chose to live where they did, how/why they made their living the way they did, and to compare how modern societies/cultures utilize the same regions today.

Planning GeoJourney required extensive collaboration with numerous University offices and departments to work out the myriad details of such a large undertaking, Elkins said. Some of the key people were Gromko and Vickie Shields, associate dean in the College of Arts and Sciences, for help with the development of the four courses; Paul Moore, director of the Honors Program; Cecilia Born in admissions; Kim Miller, director of risk management; Rich Peper, purchasing; Norm Bedford in Student Financial Aid; Amy Dugan, clinic coordinator in the Student Health Service, and Bursar Nancy Colsman.