FIELD STUDIES IN NATURAL SYSTEMS [EARTH SCIENCE, BIOGEOLOGY & MARINE BIOLOGY OF BELIZE]: A PORTABLE WAY TO PROMOTE HIGHER ORDER LEANING & CRITICAL THINKING Kenneth Thomas & Marcy Yeager Northern Essex Community College, Haverhill, MA, 01830

IN-CLASS ACTIVITIES, ON CAMPUS CREATE: FIELD STUDY ABROAD, BELIZE Group Presentations, Travel Journal • Natural Selection & Evolution • Marine TREC (San Pedro, BZ) EVALUATE: • Geology Primer Thought Questions  Mangroves, Tres Cocos, Pillar • Concept Mapping Exercise: Belizean ANALYZE: Coral, Turtle Rock, Shark Ray Alley, Student Picture Field Observations, Student Picture Hol Chan Marine Sanctuary, Night Rainforest, Tropical Weather, Massive Sea Creature Bingo Seine Cave Systems & Coral Reefs – Make the APPLY: Concept Mapping, Snorkeling • Belize Zoo connections! • Clarissa Falls (San Ignacio, BZ) UNDERSTAND: • Coral Reef Ecology Class Discussions, Group Project Work  Xunantunich, Caracol, ATM • Student Presentations • Cave Formation REMEMBER: • Invertebrate/Vertebrate Organisms Readings, Geology Primer, Ecology Primer • Sea Creature Bingo • Thought Questions • Rainforest Ecology Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy • Journal Writing & Submission (post field • Mayan Culture study)

Snorkeling Mangrove Habitat Night Seine Study Making Geophysical Connections Investigation of a Hard Pan at the Mayan Ruins of Caracol Coral Community

ABSTRACT

Students in this course were tasked to develop a Belizean ‘concept map’ and made connections vs. between the rainforest, tropical weather, massive cave systems & near shore coral reefs. They built a knowledge base via study of coral reef ecology, cave formation, invertebrate & vertebrate organism investigation, and rainforest ecology. Students self-selected groups and developed a project to Pillar Coral Staghorn Coral complete stateside, which they later presented while in Belize. Field study was subsequently conducted in residence at Belize Marine Teaching and Research Center (San Pedro, BZ) and “The hard coral species known as Pillar Coral is what gave the location its name … and is a pseudo- included an inland portion in San Ignacio, BZ. Students were exposed to various types of coral nocturnal species, … these corals dictate the habitat by communities, as driven by local oceanic forces. They compared biophysical habitats both in and out Observation of limestone formation creating a coral reef most active during the day, as of environmentally protected areas, and examined diurnal, pseudo-nocturnal, and nocturnal in Belizean cave systems, connecting opposed to most other species.” Tarah M. communities. Students recorded their field experience in travel journals, written as ‘musings of a geological and marine processes young scientist explaining theory being seen in the field,’ which contained responses to thought questions based upon the day’s activities. They developed a final product suitable for their academic portfolio that they produced in traditional and non-traditional formats such as Glogster.