Earth Wind & Fire: A Learning Community Approach to Build Ties Between Degree Programs in a Geoscience Department

ABSTRACT

We describe the components of a learning community program for meteorology, geology, and Earth Science undergraduates in a geoscience department. The learning community provides the students with opportunities to interact with each other and with faculty, and it helps them in the transition from high school to a large public university. Enrollment data show that, in addition to being a successful community-building approach, the learning community has a positive impact in major retention to the programs and is well received by the students.

Key words: :

• learning community
• geoscience department
• student retention
• orientation course

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank all the undergraduate peer mentors who helped us shape our program and guided our students, and Doug Gruenewald and Jen Leptien for funding and mentoring. Jonathan Compton kindly provided enrollment and retention data. We are also grateful to Editor Kristen St. John, Associate Editor Daniel Dickerson, and two anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful comments.