Bringing the ocean to the classroom: Using real scientific data to engage students in environmental stewardship

Within the broad context of environmental concerns that include coastal pollution, global warming, and Gulf Coast hurricanes, clear understandings of coastal processes and their response to change are essential for protection of coastal resources. Multiple locations along the Pacific coastline near Bodega Bay, California, provide an opportunity to collect a long-term data set of coastal morphology that students can use to examine environmental change in the coastal environment over a variety of spatial and temporal scales. As part of this exercise, undergraduate, general education students employ a variety of surveying tools, including total stations, laser rangefinders, tape measures, and telescoping staffs to compile profiles of the beach face perpendicular to the shoreline. Data collected by students are used to evaluate beach topography, sea cliff steepness, and the role of vegetation and land use in the stability of the sea cliff at the various study locations. Finally, students interrogate these data to evaluate erosion patterns and rates along the northern California coastline by comparing their results to data collected by previous classes and similar sets of data collected from Southern California beaches. While coastal erosion rates in Southern California are well understood, rates of erosion in Northern California are poorly constrained; student data collected during this project will contribute to the broader knowledge of coastal systems in California. Repetition of this exercise during the summer and winter seasons at the northern California study sites over several years will provide a basis for monitoring long-term changes in beach morphology and allow students to contribute to research on sea cliff and beach erosion rates. Thus, beach profiles are an example of a simple exercise where students can make accurate measurements with simple tools and relatively little training. In this example, the original data collected by students is added to long-term data sets that can be creatively integrated in to classroom and laboratory activities designed to develop skills related to data interrogation. Long-term data sets such as this allow continual evolution of guided instruction, as well as genuine opportunities for open-ended research.