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Collaborative Student Research Project in Applied Paleontology: Course Capstone Exercise

This collaborative and comprehensive semester-long research project focuses on applying paleontology concepts to current environmental or restoration science problems. It serves as the capstone experience for upper-class undergraduate majors in Marine Science, Environmental Studies, and Biology. The project aims to conduct a complete scientific investigation in paleontology, analyze and interpret data, and prepare abstracts and posters for presentation at scientific meetings. The project follows the "collaborative undergraduate research" model and allows students to appreciate the value of geoscience and paleontology in solving environmental problems.

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Collaborative Student Research Project in Applied Paleontology: Course Capstone Exercise

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  1. Collaborative Student Research Project in Applied Paleontology: Course Capstone Exercise Michael Savarese Florida Gulf Coast University Whitaker Center for STEM Education

  2. Overview Collaborative, semester-long research project that serves as the course’s capstone experience. Project is comprehensive and apply numerous concepts, topical units, and methodologies from the course. Project typically concerns some application of paleontology to current environmental or restoration science problems of local concern. Follows “collaborative undergraduate research” model.

  3. The Audience . . . Upper class undergraduate majors in Marine Science, Environmental Studies, Biology. Not a geology course / no geology major. Geoscience as a supportive discipline for environmental science. An “applications of paleontology” course. Offered once every 2 years as an elective.

  4. Activity’s Goals Conduct a complete scientific investigation in paleontology. Collect, analyze, and interpret data. Prepare an abstract and a poster for presentation at a scientific meeting. Collaborative work. Engage as many concepts and methods from course as possible. Appreciate the value of geoscience & paleontology to understanding and solving environmental problems.

  5. Collaborative Undergraduate Research Model • Course based. Focus on your research program. • Students given a basic problem or question, then guided to a design. • Project worked to completion collaboratively; results shared; tasks delegated. • “Project manager” concept. • Students prepare final product as paper or poster. • Generate seed data for more formal studies. • Products often high enough quality for submission. • Spawn undergraduate or graduate student theses. • Alternative to independent senior research.

  6. Past Projects The tracking of Everglades watershed changes reflected in the history of late Holocene oyster reef development. Impact of water management practices in the Caloosahatchee River on the benthos as revealed through life and death assemblage comparisons. Ecological succession in vermetiform gastropod – oyster reefs in response to estuarine development. Time averaging in estuarine death assemblages: the temporal fidelity of the estuarine record.

  7. Most Recent Project . . . Presented at 2009 SE GSA meeting Holocene history of watershed change in Everglades’ estuaries. Implications for anthropogenic effects on freshwater flow. Involved stratigraphy, sedimentology, taphonomy, faunal analysis.

  8. Southwest Florida Coast Broad River

  9. I II III IV IPCC 2001

  10. Assessment Strive to have data analyzed, interpreted, figures ready, and abstract composed by end of semester. Poster preparation in subsequent semester. This all done collaboratively. Students required to independently write a Discussion as a final paper or such an essay is asked on the final exam. Often run short on time and don’t make it to the Abstract.

  11. Adaptability Difficult to transfer to other institutions. Coastal settings are best suited: settings with a subfossil record, Holocene sediments, and coastal management problems. The collaborative undergraduate research model is adoptable even if environmental problems cannot be engaged.

  12. Food For Thought How feasible is it to introduce environmental science applications to a paleontology course? How relevant are environmental science applications to your institution’s setting? How relevant are environmental science applications to your research interests? How difficult is it to reconfigure your course to accommodate a large research experience?

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