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Field courses can provide formative experiences that also reduce disparities in STEM education. Impacts of the ongoing COVID‐19 pandemic on‐field programs have been particularly severe, as many institutions shifted to online instruction. Some courses retained in‐person field experiences during the pandemic, and achieved high student learning outcomes. Here, I describe an approach to mitigating risk of COVID‐19 and other hazards during expedition‐based field courses, and student learning outcomes achieved using that approach. I applied comprehensive risk management to in‐person field expeditions that treated COVID‐19 as a hazard, requiring mitigation to maintain an acceptable low level of risk. Prior to broad availability of COVID‐19 vaccines, we applied a coronavirus‐free “bubble” strategy in which all participants passed a COVID‐19 PCR test immediately before departure and then avoided contact with people outside our bubble. In the future, vaccination can reduce risk further. We implemented additional safety factors to reduce risk of incidents that could require evacuation into medical facilities overloaded with COVID‐19 patients. The courses were successful: we had no infections or other serious incidents and student learning outcomes were transformative. The approach provides a model for conducting immersive field courses during the pandemic and beyond. Several field course networks are implementing similar approaches to restore valuable field education opportunities that have declined during the pandemic.

 

Five free environmental science modules, developed by the Virginia Commonwealth University’s (VCU) School of Education, the VCU Center for Environmental Studies and the VCU Rice Rivers Center, explore the role bivalves (mussels and oysters) play in sustaining local watershed ecosystems. Developed in collaboration with teachers and their students from four school districts along the James River in Virginia, the modules (a collection of thematic lessons coupled with digital media) are housed at the Virginia Department of Education GoOpenVA Open Educational Resources (OER) Portal. The modules include: a) virtual field studies for mussels and oysters, b) online roleplay experiences for mussels and oysters, and c) an online simulation integrating the impact and sustainability of mussels in an agricultural environment 

The Virginia Commonwealth University’s (VCU) three-year National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) grant worked with four school districts along the James River in Virginia helped teachers and the students they serve understand the role bivalves play in sustaining local watershed ecosystems. Two colleges across three centers at VCU contributed to the grant, which include the School of Education Center for Innovation in STEM Education, and VCU Life Sciences that included the VCU Rice Rivers Center and the Center for Environmental Studies. External partners included the Harrison Lake National Fish Hatchery-US Fish and Wildlife Service, the James River Association and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation to help deliver a comprehensive program. Students shared their stewardship efforts at the Virginia State Capitol. Five free environmental science modules (a collection of thematic lessons coupled with digital media) developed through this NOAA grant are housed at the the Virginia Department of Education “Go OpenVA” education portal. The modules present lessons in the following areas: a) virtual field studies for mussels and oysters, b) online role-play experiences for mussels and oysters, and c) an online simulation integrating the impact and sustainability of mussels in an agricultural environment. 

Interdisciplinary environmental and sustainability (IES) programs are different from other fields because they focus on a complex integration of humanities, social, and natural sciences concepts centered on the interactions of coupled human and natural systems. The interdisciplinary nature of IES programs does not lend itself to traditional discipline-specific concept inventory frameworks for critically evaluating preconceptions and learning. We discuss the results of the first phase of a research project to develop a next generation concept inventory for evaluating interdisciplinary concepts important for introductory IES courses. Using the Food-Energy-Water (FEW) Nexus (the intersections/interdependencies of food, energy, and water sectors) as our focus, we conducted a content analysis of eight representative college-level introductory environmental course syllabi and course materials (e.g., textbooks, journal articles, print media) to identify common interdisciplinary FEW Nexus concepts taught in introductory IES courses. Results demonstrate that all IES introductory course materials reference the FEW Nexus. Food, energy, and/or water resources as individual elements of the FEW Nexus are frequently described, but connections between these resource systems are included less often. Biology, energy systems, waste and pollution in the natural environment, agriculture, earth sciences and geology, climate change, behavioral social sciences, and economics concepts are most associated with FEW concepts, hinting at commonalities across IES topics that anchor systems thinking. Despite differences in IES programs, there appears to be some alignment between core concepts being taught at the FEW Nexus in introductory courses.