Introductory collegiate courses in the ecological and environmental sciences typically focus on giving students a base of fundamental knowledge, so that students are well prepared for further study and professional practice in these fields. These goals serve well those students heading into majors and careers in ecological science, but given the general education requirements in U.S. universities, many of the students in these classes are not majoring in science fields and will not pursue further study or professional experience in these fields. In this paper, we argue that these general education students present ecological science educators with an opportunity and a responsibility to help create an ecologically conscious and literate citizenry. To fulfill this responsibility, ecology educators must shift the focus of their pedagogy from transmitting factual knowledge to developing skills of observation and investigation. Central to this shift is an expanded emphasis on experiential and practical activities. This paper examines the authors’ effort to implement such a pedagogical approach in the introductory physical geography course at The Pennsylvania State University, Geographic Explorations of Earth’s Ecosystems. We describe the activities developed for this class and assess their impacts on students. Data for this assessment include the observations of the instructor and teaching assistants and student reports of their experiences with and impressions of the activities, gathered through an online survey.

Results/Conclusions

Mean Likert scores in the survey data indicates greater learning and enjoyment from activities that involve tactile experiences, both field trips and hands-on classroom activities, compared with Internet or textbook-based activities.  Some differences are statistically significant (p<.05), but many are not significant at that level.  Qualitative analysis of responses to open-ended questions confirms the general pattern of preference for hands-on activities and reveals additional factors that impact student experience, including level of difficulty (students prefer easier assignments), clarity of instructions, and exogenous factors such as weather conditions during field trips.  Responses varied greatly from student to student, but these variations were not significantly correlated with the student’s major, class status, or extent of prior background in natural science or geography.  The analysis is limited by small sample size, possible selection bias in response rate to survey.  Relying on student self-reporting of experiences also limits the scope of the analysis.  Based on our experiences and data, we present recommendations on how to effectively engage diverse students and to integrate experiential learning activities into introductory ecological science courses.