Day 11: Panama Marinera con Investigación - A recipe for experiential learning

Ingredients:

-8 (up to 12) undergraduate science majors

-Add 2 mentors (R. Emlet and M. Watts)

-Mix in discussions of ca. 2 dozen papers on tropical marine environments (spring term)

-Student pairs incubate short, field projects, testing a hypothesis of interest 

     (summer, with mentor feedback)

-Go to Panama’s Caribbean coast; work at the Smithsonian’s Bocas Research Station 

     (12 days in early September)

-Snorkel on corals reefs, in seagrass beds and near mangroves; include 10 topical lectures.

-Students execute research projects, make mistakes, and mentors nurture the learning process.

-Students make posters on their research projects and mentors coach the process.

-For spice add 3-toed sloths, howler monkeys, an iguana, a caiman, frigate birds, dolphins, and indigenous cocoa farming (see earlier blogs).

Outcome: Students living and learning about research in tropical marine systems.

“OIMB goes to Panama” was established in 2012 as an experiential learning course and has used this recipe four times.  With support from the Ted and Carol Williams Fund of the University of Oregon, we have strived to create an opportunity “for better and more effective ways of learning.”

This year’s recipe is almost finished and I AM VERY PLEASED with the outcome.  Our students have tasted the tropics, nibbled on the different cultures of Panama, and soaked in what it means to do their own field research.  I am proud of their effort, their enthusiasm, and their willingness to work so hard in a very short time as we baked the recipe.  Well Done Students!

And thanks to my colleague Maya, STRI Bocas staff, our cooks and boat drivers.  Richard Emlet

 Back on the boat after our last snorkel.

 Good night.