The student found the geology field assignment interesting because hands-on learning outside is the best way to understand the subject. They learned about how the Earth has changed over time in both their geology and geography classes. They also took a biology class that helped them understand how animals have adapted to environmental changes. The student is fascinated by how volcanoes formed the planet and pictures of animals like woolly mammoths and polar bears that struggled to adapt to climate change. They wished they could visit the Grand Canyon to see evidence of the Earth's changes firsthand but learned a lot from documentary videos about geology and wildlife. The student feels they gained knowledge that will stay with them and thanked their teacher for an educational semester.

1. Brandon Douma<br />May 22, 2011<br />Geology-3-C01<br />Field Assignment<br />The idea of this field assignment is very cool because for a class like this the best way to learn it is to be outside. This semester I was also taking a Geography class and my teacher always said he would much rather teach the class outside so we can see exactly what he’s talking about; most of the time he did take us outside to study. I’ve learned a lot of things in one of these classes that has helped me in the other one. One main thing in both classes is that Earth has changed a lot to get the way it is today. It seemed like Geology is more teaching us about what happened to our planet and my Geography class was more about how it happened. So it was really helpful to get more than one view on the subject. Also this semester I took a Biology class which helped me understand how animals have changed overtime do to adapting to their environment. There are many animals that used to be around but aren’t today because they couldn’t adapt to the changing of their environment; this is also true for plants. There are many things on our planet that are truly amazing but go unnoticed; whether it’s because we have no idea what it is or we just really don’t think about it. But, when you take the time to check it out it really makes you respect the world you live in.<br />One major thing about the Earth that interests me is studying how it was formed. The picture above is from a film that I watched about volcanoes and how they formed our planet. They say this is how our planet formed and it makes sense to me because we have islands today like Hawaii that are formed by volcanoes. I’m sure there are more but this is the first one that came to my head. Seems weird that the land we walk on today used to look like this, but we have to start somewhere right? <br /> <br />This picture of a wooly mammoth is a perfect example of how some animals could not survive the changing climates of our planet. The wooly mammoth lived until the end of the Pleistocene which was about 10,000 years ago. The changing of climate froze the wooly mammoth and they discovered one frozen with food still in its mouth, which means it froze instantly. Animals have to adapt quickly when the climate changes that drastically.<br />This picture gives a good example of how dolphins have adapted to their environment. This is an image from a video I watched called Planet Earth and what the dolphin is doing is swimming up to the beach very fast and hydroplaning. He’s doing this because the type of fish they eat have started swimming up closer to the beaches because they know that it is hard for the dolphins to hunt up there, so the dolphins started doing this new method of hunting and from the video it looked like it works pretty well for them.<br />This is the Grand Canyon and this is one thing that I think is really cool. I appreciate it so much more now because I understand what I am seeing and I know how it was formed and what’s still going on. This is a perfect example of how the world is changing because we can see from this picture how it has changed. Something cool about the Grand Canyon is that it was entirely carved by water and it is still getting deeper today. I haven’t had the chance to go there but I really want to knowing what I know now.<br /> <br />This picture is an example of how animals are adapting to the world changing around them. From the Planet Earth video that I watched this was another ting they talked about. It shows a polar bear trying to hunt a walrus, which is weird because polar bears used to not eat walruses. They have started to because the Earth is in its warming period right now which is bad for polar bears because it’s melting the ice that they hunt on. Since the ice is melting faster they can’t hunt the seals so they have tried hunting walruses, but walruses have very thick skin which is hard for polar bears to penetrate. As a result polar bears are going extinct. This is a good example of survival of the fittest because the polar bear is trying to kill something it normally wouldn’t kill. <br />I love learning about stuff like this because it’s something that I can see with my own eyes and there is proof for it. I know how the landforms around me got to be how they are. I know the point of this field assignment was to go out into the field and see things first hand, but that was just impossible for me to do at this time. So the next best thing was for me to watch the planet earth videos, and I’m glad I did because I really enjoyed them and they have the best filming I have ever seen on topics like this. They film mountains, oceans, caves, a ton of animals, glacial continents, and way more than that too. I really wish I would have taken Geology 1 before this but there was a mix-up of classes. I was nervous I would not understand the material, but I tried the best I could and I don’t regret continuing in the course. It’s been a good semester and I think I have picked up a lot of information that I will use for the rest of my life, I know this sounds corny but it’s how I feel. Thank you Mr. Lawler for a good semester, and I wouldn’t mind taking another class from you in the future. <br />