Students recently participated in a field trip to Hocking Hills State Park, to see and study the geology and soils of unglaciated Appalachian Ohio. Funding for this trip was generously provided by the Bieri Fund, a fund that was started to support faculty-led field trips for Natural History science classes. Our class visited Ash Cave and Conkle’s Hollow State Park. Feedback from the students was very positive, and Dr. Landsbergen is already planning more Ecology field trips.
Our Environmental Science program (ENVS) is currently led by Associate Professor of Biology and Environmental Science Kim Landsbergen, a forest ecosystem ecologist. At Antioch College, Dr. Landsbergen offers classes in: Introduction to Environmental Science, Ecology, Botany, Soils, Ecosystem Ecology, Conservation Biology, Global Climate Change, and Ecological Agriculture. Every Antioch College student must complete a Senior Project as part of their self-designed curriculum, and in support of our students, Dr. Landsbergen also offers many student-driven Independent Study Courses in Scientific Research and other advanced topics (Air Quality, Micrometeorology, Forest History, etc.).
The educational power of such experiences is related to three powerful things:
- Embedded understanding of Ecology of Place
- Seeing the application of the things read and discussed in the classroom, live, in-person
- Connecting the science findings of the trip to the larger scientific body of known published works. What new questions can arise from what we observe in the field? What is yet to discover, and how can Antioch students be a part of that?
The Robert Bieri Environmental Science Field Trip Fund will be used to pay for group camping equipment, travel expenses, lodging fees and lab fees for students and faculty to participate in experiential learning opportunities in environmental fields of study.