Dune restoration in Monterey Bay: Introductory biology students collect and analyze long-term ecological monitoring data for the community

A student-active teaching approach within an applied project setting can be a powerful tool to enhance student interest and learning in lower division courses.  In the ecology-oriented semester of the majors-level Introductory Biology sequence at CSUMB, students have collected over 6 years of monitoring data at a local restoration site in dunes that were formerly used as military firing ranges.  The activity involves using the jigsaw method to allow students to quickly learn the plant species and then use transects to assess percent cover.  Students analyze the data collected to evaluate progress toward restoration goals in a lab report.  In addition to the known benefits of an applied, hands-on approach, the activity has multiple advantages.  The approach is logistically simple because all students collect the same field data.  Yet due to the spatial and temporal nature of the dataset, it allows more advanced students to select questions and levels of analysis that challenge their abilities.  It also benefits the local community.  The land managers of the dunes (state parks) have access to a much more extensive dataset than they would be able to collect with their own resources.  Students also repeatedly express in evaluations and in person that this is their favorite lab experience of the semester.  The activity could easily be adapted to other ecosystems and to upper division ecology courses.