B.Sc. (Hons) Earth Systems students spend 3 days under canvas
A group of 27 students following the ’ B.Sc. (Hons) in Earth Systems course, accompanied by six of the Institute’s staff members, recently spent three days under canvas while on a field trip to the Għajn Tuffieħa area. The field trip, which took place between 4 and 6 May 2016, was originally planned to be held in Comino but had to be relocated at the last minute to the Għajn Tuffieħa campsite on account of the gale force winds and rough seas that were forecast to continue throughout the week.
This activity was an integral part of the second-year study unit titled “Environmental Monitoring: Survey and Recording Techniques for Life and Earth Sciences”, which aims to give students hands-on experience of collecting and analysing scientific data in the fields of geomorphology, soil science and ecology. Students worked together in small groups on a programme of tasks which included onsite soil analysis, beach profiling, water monitoring, GeoCaching, and biotope mapping (conducted in Comino on the last day). This type of intensive outdoor experience, requiring students to live and work together outside their usual environment, is also instrumental in developing the key elements of team building, cooperation and communication skills.
These fieldwork exercises are also intended to help students understand the necessity of having a robust research design, and to underline the importance of collecting and analysing data rigorously. These are particularly valuable concepts for students in their second year of study, as this is when they finalise their proposals for their dissertation research to be carried out in the final year of the course.
Fieldwork is essential to the study of Earth Systems, and is carried out regularly throughout the three years of study that comprise the course. are currently being accepted for the course starting in October 2016, and an [PDF] is available for download.
The Institute would like to thank the Planning Authority, Għajnsielem Local Council, the Comino Hotel and the Scouts Association, Malta for their assistance with the planning and camping-related logistics of the field trip, in relation to both the originally planned Comino site and the actual site at Għajn Tuffieħa.
