The Advanced Interdisciplinary Research Laboratory Course: Refinements, Reflections, and the Introduction of Earth Sciences

The Advanced Interdisciplinary Research Laboratory (AIRLab) is a team-based multidisciplinary research course that focuses on the development of advanced skills including critical thinking, limits of knowledge awareness, metacognition, autonomy, professional capacity, and decision making in complex environments. For many students, AIRLab represents a first attempt at autonomous research, and as such, instructors emphasize teamwork skills development by way of the Kolb Learning Style Inventory and Agile project management techniques necessary for effective research progress. Recent AIRLab course refinements--by way of the introduction of weekly reflection reports, a new digital project management platform, a revised course marking scheme with greater focus on teamwork contributions, and the inclusion of the Earth Science discipline--has improved student learning and driven the course into new directions of interdisciplinary research. In this case, a novel decay-monitoring vessel was designed, permitting for continuous, multifaceted investigations of decay processes that govern fossilization.