In Distinguished Professor Brandon Gaut’s BIO SCI 8 course, “Evolution in the Modern World,” students are learning that biology is not confined to textbooks, lecture halls or laboratories. It is unfolding all around them — in the trees of Aldrich Park, the trails of Bommer Canyon, the tidepools of Crystal Cove and even the creative ways students interpret the natural world.
The course, a general education class designed for non-STEM students, introduces students to evolution as a living, ongoing process that shapes the world they experience every day. Gaut, a professor in the Dunlop School, developed the course about five years ago with a clear goal: to help students from all majors better understand one of biology’s most important ideas and why it matters far beyond the classroom.
“I think it is important that even non-STEM students understand that evolution is happening around us all the time,” Gaut said. “And I like to think it makes for better informed citizens; an informed view of many current affairs, from climate change to antibiotic resistance, requires a basic understanding of how evolution works.”
This year, the course grew to 130 students. As the class has expanded, Gaut has continued looking for ways to make a large lecture course feel more personal, interactive and connected to students’ lives. After participating in the Active Learning Institute through UC Irvine’s Division of Teaching Excellence and Innovation, he began experimenting with new approaches to student engagement, including ways to encourage interaction, reflection and active participation.
One idea from the institute especially stood out: create an assignment during the busiest part of the quarter that encourages students to take a mental health break. Gaut saw an opportunity to connect that idea with the central theme of the course.
“As I thought about this idea, I realized that spending time outdoors is the greatest mental health break possible, and also that doing so dovetailed nicely with the theme of the course — i.e., that evolution is happening all around all the time,” Gaut said.
The result was a homework assignment with two options. Students could “go out and explore,” visiting an outdoor space and reflecting on what they observed through the lens of evolution. Or they could “be creative,” producing a poem, drawing, musical recording, website or another creative work inspired by something they learned in class.
The assignment was designed to be flexible and accessible. While the outdoor option encouraged students to experience nature firsthand, Gaut recognized that not every student would find outdoor exploration easy or available to them. The creative option gave students another way to engage deeply with the course material and express what they were learning in a form that felt meaningful to them.
The response exceeded expectations.
Students visited the UCI Ecological Preserve, Bommer Canyon, Santiago Oaks Regional Park, Chino Hills, Crystal Cove, Newport Beach, San Diego beaches, Joshua Tree and Big Sur. Some observed birds, whales, squirrels, lizards, snakes and many kinds of plants. Others reflected on landscapes, ecosystems and the ways living things adapt to changing environments.
For Gaut, the assignment showed how powerful it can be when students are invited to connect course concepts with their own experiences. “The results were stunning,” Gaut said. “In terms of going outdoors, bunches of students went to Crystal Cove, Bommer Canyon and the UCI Ecological Preserve. One did the ‘Bridge to Nowhere’ hike and others camped in Big Sur, Joshua Tree, San Bernardino mountains, etc. One student noted that she had never hiked before!”
For student Aaliyah Leyton, who went hiking for the first time through the assignment, the experience became both a welcome break and a new way to engage with the world around her.
“Since it was my first time hiking, I was honestly a little nervous because I did not know what to expect,” Leyton said. “However, I ended up enjoying it much more than I anticipated. It was genuinely so much fun, and without even realizing it, it made me forget about everything else for a couple of hours, which, as a university student, was something I really needed.”
Because the hike was also connected to the assignment, Leyton said she found herself paying closer attention to her surroundings and noticing “how everything interacts, coexists, and survives.” The experience, she added, showed her that learning can happen in unexpected places.
“It reminded me that learning does not always have to happen in a classroom and that sometimes stepping outside of your comfort zone can be one of the most memorable parts of a course,” Leyton said. “I also left with a greater appreciation for nature and for slowing down enough to really notice the world around me.”
Many students also turned the assignment into a shared experience. Some hiked with family members, while others explored with classmates, building connections outside the classroom while seeing Southern California’s natural spaces in a new way. Even students who stayed close to campus found opportunities for discovery, with some exploring Aldrich Park for the first time.
The creative submissions were equally wide-ranging. Students submitted artwork, poems, musical pieces and even an interactive website. Gaut estimated that about 20 students submitted artistic pieces, with a similar number writing poems. Together, the projects showed that students were not simply completing an assignment; they were interpreting what they had learned and finding their own ways to make it memorable.
For a general education course, that kind of engagement is especially meaningful. BIO SCI 8 reaches students who may not go on to major in biology, but who will carry what they learn into other fields, careers and communities. By helping students understand evolution as something visible in everyday life, Gaut’s course supports a broader goal of science education: preparing students to think critically about the world around them.
The assignment also reflects the Dunlop School’s commitment to teaching biology as a field deeply connected to human lives, communities and the environment. Whether students were observing wildlife, writing poetry, creating art or exploring a trail, beach, canyon or park, they were engaging with science as a way to better understand Mind, Body and World.
Their projects offer a hopeful reminder that when science education invites curiosity, creativity and personal connection, students can find meaning far beyond the requirements of a course. They can see biology in a canyon, a poem, a bird, a beach, a family hike or a new experience outdoors.
And in doing so, they show what engaged learning can look like at its best: students discovering that science is not only something to study, but something to experience.