Applied learning is learning by doing.

This pedagogical approach allows students to directly engage in direct application of skills as they learn them. These learning opportunities empower and foster passion in students that may otherwise lay dormant in strictly theoretical setting.

Allowing students to work hands-on with the things they are learning about in a lecture class not only keep them engaged but prepare them for future opportunities at high levels of education, internships and jobs.

Applied learning and research are strategies for success. On a cognitive level they allow students to experience the intersectionality of different scientific disciplines. It prepares students to grapple with the interdisciplinary nature of twenty-first century problems.

This type of learning bridges the divide between theoretical concepts and the phenomena being studied. Students become creators of knowledge and not just consumers!

In the non-cognitive or affective domain of learning, these experiences can deepen a student's interest and excitement about learning and STEM disciplines. Students benefit from this approach because it allows them to transcend the acquisition of knowledge and skills for a grade, and turns the act of learning into something that allows them to answer a question that’s important to them.

Research as Applied Learning

Applied learning can take many forms. Standardized experiments can serve to illustrate theoretical concepts in action. Professional practice or community service can give students a taste of what careers are like in their chosen discipline.

Research is another applicated learning experience. Research is the gathering of information you need to answer a question and help you solve a problem. Allowing undergraduate students to participate in real research in their discipline allows them participate in science directly. These students are more likely to come up with their own questions about the phenomena of study.

According to Astin’s Student Involvement Theory the greater a student’s involvement the greater their level of personal development and student learning. This passionate involvement increases students’ cognitive and affective outcomes. Applied learning programs have a positive effect on undergraduate retention and graduation rates.

Source: Wolff, Tinney. UMBC. Applied Learning as Best Practice Model

This type of immersive problem-solving allows the learner to feel a part of the subject, rather than a witness to the science of others and encourages them to persist in their disciplines.

Participating in research also gives students an advantage in graduate school, internships and jobs as they have already gained important training and experience in the craft of research and the techniques and technologies of their discipline.

It’s important for high schools, colleges and universities to create these learning opportunities. Research comes at a price, and as we’ve discovered the tools available at the average community college may not be the quality used in the field. Older equipment that might suffice to perform the standard laboratory experiments choke when tasked with handling current techniques and samples.

Changes to policy and practices need to happen within our learning institutions to better equip departments to allow for applied research and it’s many benefits. Funding should be set aside to modernize labs and purchase new equipment in order to keep up with the pace of technologies in the real world.

Without proper resources these remarkable and powerful learning opportunities are in jeopardy.

Opportunity in Jeopardy

The Applied Research Technologies class at Cabrillo College in Santa Cruz, California is on the forefront of this struggle to keep up with the demands of modern genetic research. The research class has partnered with marine conservation program, One People One Reef, to collect and analyze genetic samples from some of the most biodiverse waters on the planet.

This summer a team of students journeyed to the remote outer islands of Yap state in Micronesia where they performed interdisciplinary field work learning about the challenges and rewards of performing research in the field.

Some of them returned to Cabrillo College this fall to begin analysis on the very samples they collected.

This is a remarkable opportunity to connect students with their disciplines. The students who were able to journey to Micronesia to help collect genetic samples come to the Applied Research Technologies class armed with deeper understanding of the environment and source of their genetic samples. They also interacted with local community members that call these islands home. Over the summer they built relationships and learned first-hand the challenges faced by the people who inhabit these vulnerable islands. Finally, these students bring with them their own questions to answer with their research.

However all their hard work so far is at risk. The equipment in the Cabrillo molecular biology lab is too old to handle their genetic samples. A new PCR machine must be acquired soon to allow the students to analyse their field data. Many are counting on the experience gained in this class to help propel them into internships and their graduate research pathways.

One PCR machine stands in the way of a successful semester of research or the potential end of the Applied Research Technologies class at Cabrillo.

One People One Reef and the students of the Applied Research Technologies course are taking matters into their own hands and trying to raise $4,000 by September 29th in order to purchase a PCR Machine for their genetic samples. They are determined not to let this opportunity pass them by, not just for their own futures but the future of all the other students who could benefit from the involvement offered by applied learning and research classes like theirs.

Please help them meet their goal by donating at: https://www.generosity.com/education-fundraising/molecular-biology-equipment-for-community-college/x/13052144

You can also find more information about their program at onepeopleonereef.org.

Applied learning is be the difference between a persistent student and one that gives up. The intimacy and involvement a research-based learning experience provides can foster interest and passion in discipline in a way that theoretical learning alone cannot. Help empower students to be creators of knowledge and engage in real-world science today!

If you'd like to help but can't donate, give this post an upvote, a resteem, or post about it our crowdfunding campaign on twitter and facebook! Though it's a little tricky to turn steemit rewards into real money in a timely manner, I'll just use my credit card to fund an equivalent amount when we purchase the unit!