Over the summer, 100 incoming freshmen and sophomores received an email about an upcoming course requirement. They were all registered in the fall for either BIO 1005 ecology and conservation with Andrew Nosal, Ph.D., or BIO 2011 ecological and evolutionary systems with Walter Cho, Ph.D. And as part of the semester’s course attendance, they’d spend a weekend on Catalina Island in late September.
“I had no idea what to expect at all,” said Micaela Hung, a second-year psychology major in Nosal’s class, after receiving the email. “But I had a close friend in the class, so I was looking forward to it.”
The trip would include enough field experiments and hands-on learning to replace three labs later in the semester for each class. “We are the only local university that does this kind of field trip that we know of,” said Nosal, who took the lead in drafting the proposal, securing funding and organizing the logistics of the trip. While other universities may take overnight trips to the deserts or other local places, he said, spending two nights in such a remote location is unique to the PLNU biology program.
The idea for the trip came about after teachers and professors from all over Southern California were invited for a preview day to a Christian retreat and summer camp facility on the island called Campus by the Sea. Nosal, who’s in his third year at PLNU, and three other biology professors made the trek and saw the possibilities the facility opened up for PLNU science students. “We saw lots of potential for bringing classes there and having a true, immersive field experience for our students,” Nosal said. “While at the same time, the fact that it’s a Christian facility with worship space outside by the beach, we also envisioned this as a great way to engage our students in creation care and environmental stewardship.”
In order to charter a ferry to Catalina, Nosal needed at least 70 people, so he partnered his ecology and conservation class of non-biology majors with Cho’s ecological and evolutionary systems class of biology majors. “The content is about understanding interaction among organisms and their environment,” Nosal said, “so those seemed to be the most logical classes to bring for this first time.”
On Friday morning, students left the PLNU campus in two buses then took a charter ferry from Long Beach to the camp, arriving by mid-afternoon. Then the weekend was packed with a mix of lab exercises and social activities. Cho’s class of biology majors participated in activities such as designing a nature preserve to protect species and doing a transect survey to evaluate the diversity of different plant species. Nosal’s class of non-biology majors did water quality testing, witnessed bioluminescence, and evaluated the difference in plant communities on both sides of a slope. Both groups also got to see an eel feeding demonstration, use motion sensor cameras to view wildlife (including a species of fox and quail that are unique to the island), and participate in water activities, which was “everybody’s favorite part,” Nosal said.
And Nosal was right. “I really liked the snorkeling [lab],” said Ashlyn Bennie, a second-year social work major in Nosal’s class. For the lab activity, students compared the differences in habitats between the rocky and sandy areas underwater. “That was fun because I feel like I do that naturally because I love nature,” she said, “so getting to compare them in a lab context was fun because you were already in a fun context.” They also towed plankton nets and viewed plankton under a microscope.
In between the lab activities, the students had bonfires, played volleyball, and stargazed—even with the lights of Los Angeles 22 miles away, you can see the Milky Way. “The students got to know each other,” Nosal said. “It was the beginning of the semester, so a lot of them didn’t know a whole lot of people and a lot of them were freshmen, too … hopefully some of them got to make friends on this trip.”
Bennie especially enjoyed getting social time. “It was actually more fun than I expected it to be because I was expecting it to be so many labs,” she said, “but I was able to really connect with people. … I still have friends from that trip.”
The weekend ended with a mini church service in an amphitheater on the beach. The service included students leading the group in two worship songs about how creation praises God: “All Creatures of Our God and King” and “How Great Thou Art.” Then Nosal delivered a short message about creation care before students participated in a 30-minute reflection activity.
“The way that Dr. Nosal and [Dr. Cho] kind of interweaved moments of rest and community, and just being in nature was really helpful,” Hung says. “They could have [said], ‘Oh, these are our assignments, and this is what we’re scheduled to do.’ But rather, it was more like, ‘Here’s an opportunity to reflect on nature and your part in it.’ And it was really beautiful.”
Nosal said the biggest challenge was the logistics, including the planning and packing. The remote summer camp facility didn’t have microscopes, of course, or incubators for bacteria tests. “We had to bring everything,” Nosal said. “I feel like we spent a solid week just brainstorming all the things we needed to bring.” The camp was a bit rustic, so they needed to bring power sources for 12 microscopes and plan ahead for not having internet, cell phone service or printers.
The remote location was perhaps one of the biggest challenges for students as well. “Some students had some stress because they had exams and other assignments coming up early that week, and they were completely busy over the weekend without cell phone or internet,” Nosal said. “Some students could not enjoy the experience as much as they probably could have had they not had these exams and things coming up.”
Hung felt the same stress as other students, but she still found ways to enjoy the experience. “The week before and the week leading up was really stressful — I had a lot of things going on, and I was like, ‘I’m excited for this, but I’m kind of stressed,’” Hung said. “But it really surprised me how life-giving it was. It did not feel like a school-mandated field trip but felt like actual self-care and rest, so that was just so lovely.”
The remoteness of the island and lack of cell service ended up being an unexpected perk of the trip. “Some of [the students] said that was the best sleep they’ve ever gotten while at college, and they think in part because they weren’t going to bed with the phone being the last thing that they’re seeing,” Nosal said.
Since returning, Nosal has received tons of positive feedback from students, so much so that he’s planning to repeat the trip next year (this time, at least, he’ll be able to reference his packing list and meticulous notes). He sees the value this type of learning provides for students: “It’s one thing to teach students about the factors that affect water quality and the environmental factors that affect what kinds of organisms live there,” Nosal said. “It’s a whole other thing to be immersed in the environment and actually see it for themselves, to take part in collecting the data and analyzing it. I mean, really, it gives the students an opportunity to be scientists, to learn science by doing science. So that kind of active learning immersion — I think it’s very, very valuable.”
“This is so cool to get this opportunity and that one of our professors at Point Loma is actively researching this stuff. It just makes you feel like they’re definitely connected in the science world, and they want you to learn too.”
Students Hung and Bennie both appreciate the approach the biology professors have taken to help science come to life for them with this immersive experience. “I realized how interdisciplinary the science department is,” Hung said. “Being hands-on, you get to hear from people, staff members who live on Catalina Island all year-round at the camp and how they interact with we’re actually learning, and the ways that it affects their daily lives. And so it’s not just science, but it’s like humanities and art and communication and theology.”
Bennie also appreciates learning from professors with both expertise and active research. “[Dr. Nosal] would always drop facts about sharks because he studied sharks in La Jolla … or just giving us all this knowledge,” she said. “So just feeling like, ‘Whoa, this is so cool to get this opportunity and that one of our professors at Point Loma is actively researching this stuff.’ It just makes you feel like they’re definitely connected in the science world, and they want you to learn too.”
