Under mentor supervision, teams of undergraduate students design and complete ecological research projects in a field setting.  Each team also creates a teaching activity and lesson plan based on their research project.  Teams engage K-12 students in their teaching activity during a field day, or through visits to schools and other institutions.  ISU students gain experience in written, visual, and oral communication by developing research and teaching activity proposals, research reports and outreach materials, and by delivering a presentation of project results.  ISU students promote environmental stewardship by enhancing youth interest in ecology.   

This course addresses the need for closely-mentored practical experience/career exploration for undergraduate students interested in research, as well as science teaching and communication with multiple audiences.  This course contributes to meeting many educational goals of ISU and participating departments and colleges.  Students objectively analyze information when conducting research and assessing impact of teaching activities.  They gain communication skills by interacting with youth, and by disseminating their work as professional presentations and written reports or manuscripts.  Students prepare for roles as broadly-educated leaders that have strong collaboration skills and can communicate effectively to address environmental issues.  Student teams are encouraged to develop projects that produce information and services that improve our natural environment and human lives. 

Specific course-level student outcomes address goals articulated above for students to use ecological methods to identify and investigate focused research questions, collaborate with peers from their own and other disciplines (e.g., NREM and School of Education), and develop appropriate messages for K-12 audiences.  In addition, this course addresses program-level learning outcomes for students in multiple curricula.  For example, this course enables assessment of NREM Student Learning Outcomes related to objective analysis and evaluation of information, leadership, and written and oral communication skills (Catalog - CALS/NREM).  The course allows assessment of Student Learning Outcomes related to new teacher education standards in areas of The Learner and Learning, Content, and Instructional Practices and Professional Responsibility (Iowa Core).  Future teachers enrolled in this course will develop activities that enable them to meet expectations of Next Generation Science Standards including “Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems”, “Earth’s Systems”, and “Matter and Energy in Organisms and Ecosystems” (Next Generation Science), and Iowa Core New Science Standards in Life Science including “From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes”, “Earth and Human Activity”, “Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics”, and “Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity” (Iowa Core).