A First Year Experience Team-Based Interdisciplinary Research Project

1. A First Year Experience Team-Based Interdisciplinary Research Project Renee Eaton, Margaret Merrill, Cindy Wood, Eric Kaufman

2. CALS First Year Seminar • 210 students in • Agriculture and Extension Education • Animal and Poultry Sciences • Crop & Soil Environmental Science • Food Science and Technology • Human Nutrition, Foods & Exercise • Life Science Undecided • 200 first year students, 10 transfer students

3. Group Project • 29 groups • Most groups had 7-9 students • Transfer students were grouped together; 2 groups of 4-6 students. • Each group had at least 3 different majors/departments represented. • Each group was assigned a peer leader.

4. How can we meet our goals?

5. There’s A Heifer In Your Tank! University of Alberta 2050

6. Formulating Questions

7. For Example…. Does agriculture contribute (positively or negatively) to water quality? How does agriculture contribute to water quality? Does animal waste from confined animal feeding operations have an environmental impact? What role do animal wastes have in the environment?

8. Selected Topics • Why is there now greater concern about how food is grown/raised than there was 20 years ago? • What are the impacts from organic farming? • Why is chicken cheaper than beef? • Should you exercise outside during rush hour? • A steer’s not a steak and a hog’s not all cops. What do we get from animals besides meat? • Tobacco & cotton helped shape Virginia. What is their status today? • Is “Eat Local” more sustainable? • How have automakers changed design to accommodate “meals on wheels”- literally eating in the car? • Why are Farmers Markets suddenly so popular? • Why are earthworms so important? • Why are pigs used for human research? • What role do animal wastes have in the environment? • How does agriculture contribute to water quality?

9. Project Design • Group Introduction • The First Essay • Group Responsibility Worksheet • Annotated Bibliography • 25-Word Summary • The Final Essay

10. Why is there now greater concern about how food is grown/raised than there was 20 years ago? Demand Social Pressure Health Nutrition Regulation Genetic Engineering Sustainability / Environmental Impact Media Safety Movement Economy Technology Knowledge / Education

11. Goal Achievement

12. What we learned: • Provide additional time in class for group work, especially at the beginning. • Assignment must be targeted to specific learning objectives. • Locating sources • Evaluate for relevance • Evaluate for reliability • Citations • Ethical Issues • Incorporating sources into an assignment • Relevance to class / other classes

13. Practice Points • Identify goal(s) of project. • Identify the deliverables. • How do the goals relate to student needs / student learning objectives? • What are potential common topics? • How are the topics relevant to each individual discipline?

14. Design your project! • What should students learn? • What will students do to learn these things? • How will you know what they have learned?

15. Possible Common Topics • Obesity • Climate Change • Energy • Environment • Increasing Lifespan

16. Project Collaborators • Eric Kaufman, Agriculture & Extension Education • Cindy Wood, Animal Poultry Science • Ann Dunnington, Animal Poultry Science • Ozzie Abaye, Crop & Soil Environmental Science • Bill Eigel, Food Science & Technology • Alex Niemiera, Horticulture • Renee Eaton, Human Nutrition, Foods & Exercise • Susan Sumner, College of Agriculture & Life Sciences • Margaret Merrill, University Libraries • Rebecca Miller, University Libraries • Kiri Goldbeck-DeBose, University Libraries • Jamie Penven, Residence Life • Barb Weimerskirch, Center for Academic Enrichment and Excellence