Bridgewater State University offers four degrees in the geological sciences — including an earth science bachelor’s degree — each of which will get you out of the classroom and into the field. Conduct research with a faculty mentor, tackle real-world problems like hazard analysis and health and safety, and learn how to educate the public and policymakers on issues of vital importance to humanity’s future.
Undergraduate Programs
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Program details from 2024-2025 Undergraduate/Graduate Catalog
Learning Outcomes
Department Mission Statement
To provide students with the knowledge and skills necessary to perform theoretical and applied investigations of the Earth, and to graduate students that will enter the scientific community as competent professionals.
Goals are statements of broad, long range intended outcomes of the program and the curriculum. Goals describe the knowledge, skills, and values expected of graduates. Goals flow from the mission statement and provide a framework for the objectives.
Objectives are brief statements of learning outcomes that are based on program goals. Objectives specify observable and measurable behaviors.
Program Goals and Objectives
Goal 1 - Understand geologic data interpretation: methods and paradigms
- Objective 1.1 Use the scientific method (process of evaluating testable ideas with data) and multiple working hypotheses in geological investigations
- Objective 1.2 Effectively communicate the results of geological investigations via complete, concise, and coherent written and oral reports
Goal 2 - Understand the nature and collection of evidence in the Geological Sciences.
- Objective 2.1 Collect, compile and interpret geologic, geochemical and geophysical data (repeatable observations) gathered during geologic investigations
- Objective 2.2 Appreciate the highly variable temporal and spatial scales at which geologists work to perform geological studies
Goal 3 - Understand Earth materials and composition in all parts of the geosphere
- Objective 3.1 Identify and understand the relationships between the basic chemical building blocks of minerals and rocks
- Objective 3.2 Integrate geochemical data to understand modern and ancient Earth processes using compositional evidence
Goal 4 - Understand field-based geological and geophysical investigations, emphasizing earth structure and dynamics
- Objective 4.1 Integrate diverse geological data to reconstruct Earth’s structure and investigate Earth’s dynamic nature
- Objective 4.2 Apply appropriate geophysical principles to quantify and predict the actions of Earth processes and resulting geologic structures
Goal 5 - Understand the Earth and its history as a complex and ever-changing system composed of the geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere and biosphere
- Objective 5.1 Integrate stratigraphic-sedimentologic data and principles to reconstruct ancient depositional environments and conditions
- Objective 5.2 Apply paleontological principles and geochemical data to make geologic interpretations of ancient Earth