A major university has developed a new introductory course that focuses on specific geosciences about which students can collect data in the local area. The course has three units: (1) hydrology, (2) atmospheric science, and (3) soil science. Every week, over the course of a full academic year, the instructors assign teams of students taking the course to go in the field and take regularly scheduled measurements of field phenomena related to the unit they are taking at the time. For example, in the hydrology unit the students are assigned to take measures of groundwater quality, flow, and distribution. The student teams use various scientific tests and instruments to take their measurements, which they then enter into databases. On the university's computer network, the students are responsible for conducting a set of data analyses subsequent to each field visit. The purpose of the project is to provide students with more extensive practice working in research teams, following the scientific method, calibrating instruments, following data gathering procedures, and analyzing data. The goals of the project are to have the students increase their proficiency in the aforementioned procedures and tasks as well as to learn the specific content in the three topic areas.

An evaluator has been hired to determine if the two project goals are being met. To gauge achievement across the entire population of participating students, she and her staff will administer a pre-course and post-course learning assessment to all of the students participating in the project. The instructors will use the post-course scores as part of the students' final grades for the course. The evaluators will also conduct a set of observations and interviews of a random sample of participating student teams out in the field.