I Have a Hypothesis

An eager arm shot into the air; “I have a hypothesis,” the student boldly offered.

Nothing new here, I can see many of you thinking; this goes on in classrooms every day. This classroom, however, was anything but typical. This CASL student and her peers were working in the field at Djúpalónssandur beach in Iceland’s Snæfellsnes National Park to interpret and understand a geologic formation that lay before them.

I had the amazing good fortune to accompany Professors Jacob Napieralski and Mark Salvatore and their geology students as they traveled across Iceland applying the theoretical information learned in the classroom to real life scenarios that they encountered throughout Iceland’s otherworldly landscape. The trip provided me with a deeper appreciation for the impact of hands on learning and the vital importance of insuring that all CASL students have access to this sort of impactful experience.

When the trip began students cautiously approached the site under consideration and asked simple, direct questions. Very quickly, however, as their confidence built and as they dug deeper into their academic tool kits their approach became much more sophisticated and they began to think long and hard about not only what they were seeing but also about why they were thinking along the lines that they were thinking. It was here where the rubber hit the road. It was here that the many abstract things that the students had learned in their reading, lectures, and labs suddenly and tangibly became real. Studying the orientation of geologic formations, plotting these against fault lines, and reading the layers of the rock strata in front of them, brought all of this learning sharply into focus and enabled the students to interpret what they were seeing and to better understand the geologic history that shaped a particular area and the geologic forces still at work. That this geologic history also shaped the human history of Iceland did not pass unnoticed by our students. Very quickly geologic history and human history merged together and yet another body of disciplinary knowledge assumed greater relevance than many previously imagined.

This is learning at its finest and it is what we strive to provide for each and every CASL student. Indeed, ensuring widespread access to this sort of opportunity (travel abroad, field work, mentored research, internships and co-op, etc.) has been a priority for my office since I became dean in 2013. Nothing could be more important for our students and nothing differentiates an UM-Dearborn education from its peers more than this practical approach to learning. That active scholars whose research is shaping the field of study that the students are engaged in are also facilitating this learning only enhances the experience and the impact of the work.

In a world where the liberal arts and humanities are increasingly under assault as superfluous luxuries it is all the more imperative that CASL remain committed to this proven pedagogy and to helping our students to see and appreciate the relevance of what they have been exposed to across the spectrum in their classrooms. Doing so will empower our students to be the confident, thoughtful, and creative thinkers that our modern world needs.