Research-Based Learning Abroad Course Immerses Students in the Galápagos Islands
Studying the fundamentals of science in a classroom will undoubtedly educate a student on how to conduct research, but nothing compares to the feeling of swimming through blue waters to collect samples or hiking through rain and lush landscapes to gather data. Or meeting with locals to hear their perspectives on the changing environment.
Twenty-six students and four faculty members made the trip this year to San Cristóbal Island, the easternmost island in the archipelago, through the University of Houston’s GalápaGo! Research-Based Learning Abroad course. The students collaborate on research at the Galapagos Science Center, a research hub for international scientists run by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Universidad San Francisco de Quito.
“The program is about enabling professional and personal growth through an experience abroad,” said Tony Frankino, associate professor and associate chair of undergraduate affairs in the Department of Biology and Biochemistry in the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. He helped create the course in 2015.
“The class is also about the experiences we create for our students in preparation for the trip and in reflection about their experiences afterwards,” he added.