Broadening Student Horizons: The Development, Delivery, and Assessment of a New Course in Earth System Science

Journal of Geoscience Education, May 2006 by Hurtt, G C, Wake, C, Wawrzeniak, T, Frappier, A, Et al

ABSTRACT

Earth System Science is an exceptionally interdisciplinary field requiring knowledge and skills from multiple scientific disciplines. Many important questions lie at the intersection of traditional disciplines and require a systems level approach. The emerging educational challenge is to train the next generation of scientists to address these topics. Here, we describe the development, delivery, and assessment of a new course in Earth System Science designed for advanced undergraduates and beginning graduate students. The course was designed to meet specific learning objectives, delivered in an inquiry-based learning environment, and assessed to determine the extent to which the learning objectives had been attained. The course consisted of readings from both texts and primary literature, lectures by UNH professors and NASA scientists, computer modeling labs, and interdisciplinary student-team research projects. Results emphasize the importance of pre-planning and resources, establishing clear and concise student learning objectives, creating of an inquiry-based learning centered environment, role-modeling how Earth System Science research is done, and meeting student demand and institutional challenges. This class can serve as a model course for upper level undergraduates and beginning graduate students to expand their disciplinary scope, skills, and readiness to address Earth System Science questions.

INTRODUCTION

Earth System Science requires skills and perspectives that cross-cut traditional educational disciplines (Jacobson et al., 2000; Falkowski et al., 2000; Moore et al., 2001; Steffen et al., 2003; Pielke et al., 2003). The interactions between the major components of the Earth System including the atmosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, biosphere, and lithosphere are critical for understanding basic properties and dynamics of the Earth, and require more emphasis than can be obtained by studying the component spheres or isolated interactions alone.

Major national and international research organizations have identified the need for broader interdisciplinary approaches to Earth System questions. The eleven core projects of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program are all interdisciplinary and include such projects as the Biospheric Aspects of the Hydrological Cycle, Land-Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone, Global Analysis Integration and Modeling, Past Global Changes, and most recently the Surface Ocean-Lower Atmosphere Study. The concluding chapter of the International Panel on Climate Change's Third Assessment Report states that "Understanding the components of the Earth System is critically important, but insufficient on its own to understand the functioning of the Earth System as a whole" (Moore et al., 2001). Within the U.S., major research organizations now also foster an interdisciplinary perspective. For example NASA specifically has fostered this view for over a decade and currently supports several major interdisciplinary programs including the Interdisciplinary Science Program, the Large-Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Program, and others. Moreover, the five fundamental questions of NASA's Earth Science Enterprise (NASA, 2000; NASA 2002) focus on the Earth System as a whole and are:

* "How is the global Earth System changing?"

* "What are the primary forcings of the Earth system?"

* "How does the Earth System respond to natural and human induced changes?"

* "What are the consequences of change in the Earth System for human civilization?"

* "How well can we predict future changes to the Earth System?"

The NSF has several interdisciplinary programs including Biocomplexity and the Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training.

In contrast to the growing recognition of the need for interdisciplinary research and education, the educational experience of many undergraduate and graduate science students is one of decreasing breadth (increasing specialization) with increasing level of advancement. University curricula in science departments typically encourage or require students to begin by taking introductory courses that expose them to a broad range of scientific principles, concepts, and skills. These are then followed by increasingly advanced courses and research experiences on increasingly specialized topics. Culminating in the PhD, this approach to science education yields scientists who are highly trained on specific, often disciplinary topics. Wnile this approach has been effective in training scientists with expertise and knowledge in traditional disciplinary fields, the approach may need to be modified in order to effectively train students to address the complex interdisciplinary topics of Earth System Science (Jacobson et al., 2000; Falkowski et al., 2000; Moore et al., 2001; Steffen et al., 2003; Pielke et al., 2003).

National research agencies and universities across the country are beginning to respond to the need for interdisciplinary Earth System Science research and education. The NASA/ Universities Space Research Association (USRA) Program in Earth System Science Education (ESSE) has lea to nation-wide collaborative effort with universities to bring ESS to the classroom (Johnson and Ruzek, 2003). The University of New Hampshire (UNH), a participant in the ESSE program, is among the leaders in this trend. In 1985, UNH established the Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space (EOS) to foster interdisciplinary studies. In 2001, UNH and NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center joined to establish the Joint Center for Earth Sciences. In 2002 the cross-college Natural Resources and Earth System Science (NRESS) Ph.D. Program was established to replace the Ph.D. programs previously offered by the Department of Earth Sciences (College of Engineering and Physical Sciences- CEPS) and the Department or Natural Resources (College of Life Sciences and Agriculture - COLSA). At the undergraduate level, CEPS and COLSA have developed an inter-college multi-departmental program in Environmental Sciences. This interdisciplinary program is concerned with the interaction of biologicaC chemical, and physical processes that shape our natural environment.