Organizing a Campus Activity: An Alternative Learning Approach

Alternative teaching styles provide a unique and rewarding approach to reinforcing student knowledge and developing social skills. An approach that we implemented required students from the ecology class to organize and present information at the university-wide Earth Day celebration and exposition. In addition to the informational and research posters presented by the ecology class, the exposition included displays by local environmental groups, local and state agencies, student organizations on campus, research groups from the chemistry department, and an ethics class. We found that the level of student engagement far exceeded our expectations and that the students felt they had made a significant impact on the community. We highly recommend this approach to other faculty. (Contains 1 table.)