UCIrvinEThe Henry Samueli School of Engineering

Promoting Creativity: The

Terrascope Program

Rafael L. Bras (UCI), Ari W.

Epstein(MIT)

UCIrvinEThe Henry Samueli School of Engineering

What is Terrascope?

• Year-long program focus on environmental and earth sciences issues

• Open to all freshmen; non disciplinary

• Project-based; problem driven program

• Focus on solving complex, real, problems

• Began in 2002

UCIrvinEThe Henry Samueli School of Engineering

Elements of Terrascope Program

• Required course: Solving Complex Problems

• Required course: Communicating Complex Environmental Issues: Designing and Building Interactive Museum Exhibits

• Elective: Terrascope Radio

• Elective: Field Trip

• Common annual theme/problem: real, global, complex, multidisciplinary, technical and non-technical, no single solution

• Common facilities

• Continuous engagement throughout career

UCIrvinEThe Henry Samueli School of Engineering

Annual Themes• Develop strategies to ensure preservation and

responsible use of the Amazon forest

• Design environmentally friendly way to extract

hydrocarbons from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

• Develop a new preservation strategy for the Galapagos

Islands and marine reserve

• Develop tsunami prediction and preparedness plan for

the Pacific Basin

• Develop a plan for the future of New Orleans

• Develop a plan for making global fishing practices

sustainable

UCIrvinEThe Henry Samueli School of Engineering

Goals of Terrascope

• Develop problem solving skills

• Promote creativity, self confidence

• Team building, organization and management

• Communication skills

• Research skills

• Design skills

• Hands-on experiences/skills

• Create community

UCIrvinEThe Henry Samueli School of Engineering

Elements of Terrascope

Classes• Empowerment: self-definition of

approaches and self organization

• Work in cross-disciplinary teams

• Ample staff support and resources

• Final products: high profile public

presentations of findings, judged by

experts

UCIrvinEThe Henry Samueli School of Engineering

Key Components

Project-Based ClassesField Trip

Community

UCIrvinEThe Henry Samueli School of Engineering

Spring Term: Building Interactive

Exhibits

• Builds on subject knowledge developed in Fall

• Exercises students’ new team-building skills

• Engages students in design/engineering process

• Final product used by hundreds of visitors over

several weeks without students’ assistance

• Exhibits evaluated by high-school students and

panel of museum specialists

UCIrvinEThe Henry Samueli School of Engineering

Design Process

Brainstorming Initial Design Proposal

Prototype Final Design Proposal

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Exhibit Construction

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Exhibits Open

UCIrvinEThe Henry Samueli School of Engineering

Achievement of Terrascope Goals

Goals of Terrascope % agree/strongly agree

Improved Problem Solving Skills 80

Encouraged Creativity 77

Developed Team Working Skills 84

Improved Research Skills (fall) 35 to 73

Gained Appreciation of Design

Process

96

Learned from Hands-on Exp. 92

Improved Communications Oral: 43,59,49

Written: 16,51,30

UCIrvinEThe Henry Samueli School of Engineering

Team-Based Learning Gains(4-point scale)

First Month Last Month% Available

Gain

Efficiency of

Meetings2.37 3.20 51%

Ability to Reach

Consensus2.44 3.13 44%

Overall Team

Performance2.71 3.28 44%

Equal Sharing of

Workload2.66 2.44 -15%

UCIrvinEThe Henry Samueli School of Engineering

Overall Assessment• 90% satisfied or very satisfied

• 92% would definitely recommend the class

• “ Terrascope has been one of the best things this year….I would recommend anyone motivated for more original work and (interested) in the environment to join.”

• “It is fun. It is a nice break … you’ll learn a lot”

• “It is literally a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity”

• But ….“It was an amazing experience, but it took a lot of time away from my other classes that I have more intellectual interest in.”

UCIrvinEThe Henry Samueli School of Engineering

Why it Works

Major, highly public

presentation at end

Students push selves and teams to produce

far beyond their own expectations

Students control and drive

the learning process

UCIrvinEThe Henry Samueli School of Engineering

Acknowledgments

• Prof. Kip Hodges, Prof. Sam Bowring

• Stephen Rudolph

• Debra Aczel and Ruth Weinrib

• Financial Support:

Henry Luce Foundation (field trip)

Alex and Brit D’Arbeloff Fund for Excellence

in Education

Offices of the MIT Chancellor and Provost

Massiah Foundation