In the fall of 2017 and 2018, we taught the Southern Utah University ecology lab at the site of the Brian Head Fire, a wildfire that impacted ~72,000 acres of mixed conifer-aspen forest in the summer of 2017. Unlike traditional lab courses with stand-alone weekly labs, we used the course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) model, a pedagogical approach designed to provide an authentic research experience to students. In this model, students complete collaborative research projects on a relevant topic over the course of 14 weeks. While completing projects, they learn content, research design, and methodological skills important for an ecologist. Specifically, student research projects investigated the effects of burn severity on arthropods, plants, and soil. Our primary research questions were: 1) Does this approach affect ecological values? and 2) What changes in student’s perceptions and knowledge of wildfires occur due to their participation in this course? To assess these questions, we conducted quantitative and qualitative surveys of values and knowledge before and after the course. Specifically, we administered the NEP scale survey to assess ecological attitudes and an open-ended survey to assess wildfire perceptions and knowledge.
Results/Conclusions
Overall, the course had no effect on students’ NEP scores, reflecting that ecological values did not change (n = 92, p = 0.781). However, we did discover differences in perceptions and knowledge. We divided student open-ended survey responses into themes corresponding to how they perceived the overall effects of wildfire, as well as the effects of human management decisions on wildfire outcomes. Prior to the course student responses tended to emphasize the negative effects of wildfires (57% of students), while post-course surveys revealed a greater emphasis on ecological regeneration or renewal (62%). Students also frequently commented on the roles and responsibilities of individuals versus government agencies in managing wildfire. At the start of the course students thought that individual decisions have a greater impact on wildfire outcomes than government (81% and 35% of students respectively), while post-course surveys revealed a shift in student attitudes, with 57% reporting that government agency actions had a greater impact than individual actions (54%). These results reflect a more subtle understanding of the effects of wildfire, as well as issues around wildfire management in western North America.