A Multidisciplinary Approach Transforming Student Experiences
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By DERON SNYDER (as published by Juniata College)
Sophomore Madison Seipp, a history major, typically isn’t attracted to courses that involve engineering or the environment.
“Those are not two fields I’m usually interested in,” she says. But Seipp signed up for “Engineering, Empire & Environment” anyway, figuring “this must be a cool class” because it was taught by Alison Fletcher, the W. Newton & Hazel A. Long Professor of History.
The course, which Seipp says indeed was cool, exemplifies Juniata offerings that embrace hands-on use of sophisticated technology and touch multiple disciplines, integrating liberal arts principles into technical fields. Fletcher decided to teach it in response to Juniata’s burgeoning civil engineering program.
The final project required students to select an engineering feat across the British Empire and build their own three-dimensional model. They worked in close conjunction with Justine Black, Director of the Statton Learning Commons, and Tom McClain, Assistant Director of Instructional Technology. Students incorporated a wide range of technological advances into their projects, including micro:bit devices, 3-D printers and a riverbed simulator that’s 14 feet long and four feet wide.
“They chose a wide variety of things,” says Fletcher, mentioning the Anglo-American Submarine Cable, U Bein Bridge, Crystal Palace and Victoria Bridge, among others. “Then they had to tell a story about their project. The storytelling in many ways is at the heart of this.”
Spieth chose to create the Spitfire, the World War II airplane renowned for its performance and crucial role in the Allies’ victory. She came away with greater appreciation for interdisciplinary practices and enjoyed the way engineering, the environment and history intersect.
“Before this class I didn’t use technology as much,” she says. “I was kind of opposed to learning about this new technology but now I see the possibilities of what it can create and do. It’s gotten me a little more open minded about how I view technology and use it in my day-to-day life, especially when doing academic work.”
Fletcher says the course worked because it allowed for different types of approaches. In addition to history students, the class contained students from environmental engineering. museum studies, accounting and STEM. Many had never done anything like the final project and it made them nervous.
“When it all came together at the end, they were so excited by what they had created,” Fletcher says. “They wanted to show it to other people so I invited other people for presentation day.
“I wasn’t quite sure how it would end up, but the students were amazing,” she says. “They were creative. They put in hours of work and they had to do the research, the building, and then they had to build a podcast and tell a story, which for me was very important.”
Seipp walked away with an additional benefit from the experience.
“I actually have a job now on the Instructional Design team,” Seipp says. “It kind of exposes people – both students and staff – to new technology we have on campus, especially in the library.”
THERE’S A RIVER IN THE LAB
Dennis Johnson, the Biechmidt Professor of Environmental Science, helps oversee a massive piece of technology that Juniata obtained in October.
Two of Fletcher’s students used the Emriver EM4 Stream Table to look at water flow in their recreation of the Thames Embankment. The table, which can hold 70 gallons of water and 360 pounds of media, is capable of simulating floodplains, deltas, groundwater processes and sediment transport. The students created a historical model of rivers in the United Kingdom and demonstrated the effects of tide and erosion.
“It’s a really unique piece of equipment,” Johnson says. “To my knowledge there are only three or four in Pennsylvania and they’re relatively rare for schools our size. We just ordered another really nice piece of equipment – a flume – that will be added to the lab. The goal is to get many disciplines in here.”
Johnson plans to invite students from the Education department – “teachers for the future” – and host connection classes in the summer. He says students use the stream table regularly every week and are drawn to the water’s movement. “I always joke if we put pizza and televisions in there we’d never leave; we’d just sit there,” he says.
The ability to visualize effects and make hands-on adjustments is a game-changer for students’ experience in the lab.
“I can’t tell you how many times I see people in there,” Johnson says. “When the river is running it’s almost mesmerizing. It’s pumping water and the sand’s moving and they’re just laughing. The students are playing but you can take this from the lab to the field. It’s a pretty big deal for us.”
Johnson is also excited about a grant that will allow an increased use of drones by multiple classes, including geology, communications and physics. Additional drones are on order as students learn about becoming certified and licensed by the Federal Aviation Association.
“We did a course at our Raystown Field Station and ended up doing some really nice aerial photographs,” Johnson says. “We made a video on what it’s like to be at the field station. We’re going to grow our use of drones and several departments are interested in that.”
MORE IN-HOUSE TECH FOR HANDS-ON USE
Johnson isn’t the only faculty member who’s looking forward to students’ work with new equipment.
Juniata recently added an IC PMS Multicollector to its assemblage of tech devices. The instrument is used for high precision isotope ratio analysis of liquid and soil samples. Ryan Mathur, Associate Professor and Department Chair of Geology, said he’s used such multicollectors in labs all over the world and the device usually costs more than $1million. “Luckily Penn State was getting another one and I was able to get this one at a reduced price,” he says.
In his Environmental Geochemistry class, Mathur takes students to mining sites where they use different devices to take samples of the groundwater and surface water. Then they return to the lab and make their own measurements, interpreting and analyzing the information in reports.
“It’s an eye-opening experience for the students,” Mathur says. “One, they get to go out and collect the information. Two, it kind of goes against a little bit of what they were initially thinking they’d find. I do that on purpose to show you have measure and figure stuff out. You can’t just automatically assume something’s bad.
“It’s a unique class because it’s packed with a lot of really cool instruments,” he says. “And the students get the opportunity to practice science while using the instruments. So, it’s much different than typical science classes.”
Instrumentation has a heavy presence in other classes, too, including Geoarchaeology where many students aren’t scientists and might not be as familiar or comfortable with the gadgets.
“There are historians in there, game studies people and museum study people, in there” Mathur says. “I make tasks for everyone to do and then rotate them around so they get a chance to press the buttons and do the stuff, see how the numbers are generated.”
Juniata’s technology lets students glean results from their samples in person, instead of waiting for data sent back from an outside lab. Mathur says the discovery process is enhanced when it occurs in real time, like when his class returned from a field visit with three different types of metal.
“We had no idea,” he says. “We thought they were all lead but we found out some were zinc and the others were mixtures of zinc and copper and zinc and iron. Everybody was going crazy because they didn’t understand. Everyone was thinking it’d all be lead.”
The immediate connection between samples and data leads to better work on both ends. “Seeing the results happen even though they might not understand everything makes it more real,” Mathur says. “And you see it in the output, too.
“The reports are far superior with the stuff that we collect now.”
