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Off-Campus
Programs
 Wheaton
College encourages enrollment of off campus courses that introduce
students to real world situations where they can learn the
principles and practices of their academic disciplines. Students
have many opportunities to participate in internships and
many of the classes take field trips to locations where students
interact with environments and phenomena studied in class
readings and discussions. Several biology classes for majors
and general education students can be taken at the Wheaton
College Science Station and the Marine Biology class travels
to a site in Belize. General education classes are also available
at HoneyRock, the "Northwoods Campus" of Wheaton College.
Programs Wheaton
College Science Station
The Wheaton College
Science Station is located in the Black Hills of South
Dakota and Wyoming. Students can take intensive courses in
ecology, plant biology and zoology, where students study ecological
systems and the organisms that have domains in them. The diversity
of habitats is great, ranging from mixed grass prairies to
oak woodlands, pine forests and spruce forests. Taking one
course at a time, students are truly immersed in learning
about plants, animals, geology, and ecology in the outdoors.
A need-based scholarship is available. HoneyRock
During the summer biology faculty teach general education
courses at HoneyRock, the College facility in Wisconsin.
Students have opportunity to take courses in ecology/environmental
science in a less formal outdoor environment that helps them
more easily experience and understand the concepts and principles
involved in these aspect of biology. Marine
Biology (Belize)
 Marine biology is a 4-credit course consisting of lectures
and activities on the Wheaton College campus that prepare
students for the field portion in the Caribbean. The field
portion is conducted on the island of South Water Caye, off
the coast of Belize. While on campus, students are introduced
to the terminology, and geological, physical and biological
concepts of marine biology. They also learn snorkeling skills
for the class time in Belize. Students then apply the geological,
physical and biological concepts that they learned prior to
the trip to the marine environment on South Water Caye. It
is an exciting course where all involved come to appreciate
an amazing and wonderful part of God’s Creation. Back
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Course
Field Trips
Several
of the biology classes involve field trips to locations in
and around Chicago. They are designed to enable the students
to experience, on a first-hand basis, what they are learning
in class. The introductory classes visit the Morton Arboretum
and the Brookfield Zoo. The Ecology class travels to the Indiana
dunes and several nearby forest preserves. Other classes also
visit several other sites including the Field Museum, Shedd
Aquarium, Garfield Park Conservatory and Dekalb Genetics,
a seed production facility. Both introductory
biology courses (BIOL 241 College Biology I and BIOL
201 Principles of Biology) go on field trips to the
Morton Arboretum and the Brookfield Zoo. At the arboretum,
students are introduced to general ecological principles in
oak and maple forests and a restored tall-grass prairie. At
the zoo, students attend a talk by the zoo staff about animal
training and learn about animal behavior and designing zoo
exhibits.
BIOL 252
Introduction to Biological Research - Model Research Systems
: Students travel to the University of Chicago's John
Crearar Library - Students in the Sophomore-level course
called go as a class to the Crearar library in down-town Chicago
in order to do library research for a literature review paper. They
are accompanied by a staff member from the Wheaton College
library who has expertise in the biological sciences.
BIOL 341
Plant Physiology : A field trip is taken to DeKalb
Genetics Corporation to learn about selecting and producing
seed of crop plants, especially corn, for agriculture. An
examination of genetically modified crop plants is included. BIOL 344
Economic Botany : A field trip is taken to the Field
Museum of Natural History and the Garfield Park Conservatory
in order to see and learn about plants used for a variety
of purposes.
BIOL 351
Ecology : Students participate in numerous (near-weekly)
field trips during this course. Time is spent investigating
the relationship between organisms and the environment. An
overnight (camping) field trip to Indiana Dunes is a highlight
of the course!
BIOL 374
Bioinformatics : class visited the Bioinformatics Laboratory
at the Field Museum. In addition to having a behind-the-scenes
view of the facility including extensive collections not available
to the general public they had opportunity to talk with several
of the scientists about the work they are doing there.
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Marine
Biology: Belize
Twenty
students along with Drs. Nadine Folino-Rorem, Ray Lewis and
Steve Moshier from Wheaton College travel every other year
to the islands of South Water Caye off the coast of Belize
in Central America. The trip during the March spring break
is the laboratory portion of a 4-credit course offered within
the Biology and Environmental Studies majors. The lecture
portion of the course is conducted on the Wheaton College
campus where students are prepared for the field portion where
they learn firsthand about marine biology and coral reef ecology.
Lectures, snorkel-training sessions in the pool and a trip
to Shedd Aquarium allow students to 'hit the water swimming.'
We arrive in Belize City and spend our first night at Pelican
Beach Resort in Dangriga, Belize. The bus ride from the airport
to Dangriga is full of interesting sites and cultural experiences.
We travel through fruit orchards and see nationals living
at various income levels. Seeing how people live in a developing
country is a growing experience for many of the students.
In addition to observing how the lifestyle is different than
in the United States, our group is challenged to address issues
of stewardship. Many resources we take for granted on campus
are not as readily available, like fresh water for drinking
and bathing. Conserving fresh water is critical especially
on South Water Caye where we depend on rainwater.
After one evening in Dangriga we travel via boat to South
Water Caye located miles off the coast of Belize. The first
2-3 days consists of putting real live critters with the names
and concepts presented back on the Wheaton College campus.
Various habitats are visited such as well-known and studied
mangroves by researchers at the Smithsonian Carrie Bow Laboratory
right next door. After an in-ocean lab practical, we then
begin working in groups on class projects. The research projects
are discussed and designed before being conducted in the field.
Time is taken to think and critique the proposed group projects.
Students then have 2-3 days to collect data. Projects vary
from fish behavioral studies to hermit crab mobility and density
distributions on the island.
Once students return to the campus, the data are analyzed
and posters are created and then presented at ACCA, the Associated
Colleges of the Chicago Area, a regional student conference.
This provides an opportunity of students to participate in
yet another portion of the process conducting collaborative
research. Back
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