The Department of Natural Resources Science proposes a new paradigm for undergraduate education that encompasses four main components:

• traditional classroom teaching
• experiential learning opportunities
• reflection on one’s own educational experience, and
• the synthesis of knowledge to solve real-world problems

Traditional classroom teaching will continue in subject areas where it works best. Most faculty believe that for any area of academic focus, a core body of knowledge must be learned by students, and often that core is best delivered through traditional lectures and labs.

The new curriculum, however, will emphasize experiential learning, and will include both extramural opportunities (internships outside of the University) and intramural opportunities (research apprenticeships and teaching practicums within the University). Internships with governmental and nongovernmental agencies and private industry give students an accurate window on what professions in Natural Resources are really like, and provide valuable contacts with potential employers. Intramural experiential learning will include opportunities for undergraduate students to interact with researchers and educators within the University. Students will work alongside professional researchers and educators in our department and function within the context of a "vertically oriented team." Such teams will be composed of senior scientists, research associates, graduate students, senior-level undergraduates, and lower-level undergraduates. Undergraduates will contribute to the team’s efforts and learn from more senior workers on the team. Through the establishment of a new set of experiential learning courses, an appropriate amount of credit will be given to all undergraduates participating on a team. Students will be allowed to take up to 24 credits of experiential learning courses, as well as taking courses that have "hands-on labs."

Reflection is an entirely new part of our curriculum. Students will benefit from setting their own educational and professional goals and from reflecting on how they are proceeding toward those goals. Students will work with a coordinator and an academic advisor to set their objectives and goals, and then to periodically reexamine these and make mid-course corrections as they proceed through college. Each student will produce his or her own "Professional Development Portfolio (PDP)." Included in PDPs will be a statement of goals, an Experiential Learning Curriculum Plan that the student has formulated, and examples of her or his academic work.

Synthesis of knowledge is the fourth component of the new curriculum. A designated set of courses with "hands-on labs," along with new capstone courses, will provide a nexus of knowledge for students. Students will be required in these courses to bring together knowledge from a variety of subject areas to address real-world problems and issues.

Adoption of this new curriculum will result in a reduction in the amount of "seat time" that students would otherwise spend. More importantly, this new paradigm will change our program from one that is teaching oriented to one that is learning oriented.