'Experiential learning is crucial': UTM students get hands-on learning in science of snow

If you want to really understand snow, you have to go where the drifts are deep and the cold wind blows.

Students in a third-year geography course on Canada’s frozen environments at the University of Toronto Mississauga did just that in February, travelling to Lakefield, Ont., to analyze a winter landscape firsthand.

The three-day trip gave them a chance to collect and assess snow samples across different types of terrain, and compare their findings with data from the nearest government weather station.

“Snow is very difficult to measure accurately – the most difficult of all the weather variables,” says Laura Brown, an associate professor and chair of UTM’s department of geography, geomatics and environment. 

“It can blow over the gauges, stick to them, or be so light it doesn't register. And it can vary enormously over a small area.”

Brown leads the annual excursion so students can learn how to gather data in frozen environments. 

Some analyzed snow samples for depth, density and temperature; others recorded humidity, wind and reflectance. Using a crystal comparison card, they classified snow grains and calculated the angles of backcountry slopes.

Students Yichen Jiang and Xinqiao Li and lab technician Alexander Axiotis collect snow samples for analysis. (Photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

Student Xingrong Peng examines snow on a crystal comparison card. (Photo by Nick Iwanyshyn) 

Two teams ventured onto nearby Clear Lake to take ice samples. 

Wearing bright orange floatation suits to guard against hypothermia, they drilled through the frozen surface with an auger, then used rulers and tape measures to determine the ice's thickness.

“That’s not something most urban-based folks get to do,” Brown says. “Seeing the lake ice up close – the bubbles and layers – gets students engaged.”

Students collect snow samples on the surface of a frozen lake. (Photo by Nick Iwanyshyn) 

Student Gillian Jahnke holds a section of ice pulled from frozen Clear Lake. (Photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

Beyond mastering the tools of the trade, students also confront practical challenges, such as trudging through waist-deep snow.

“It’s challenging to run off-campus field trips, especially in the winter,” says Brown. “But experiential learning is crucial in our field. It helps students develop skills and build their resumes."

Participants have called the trip a highlight of the course, says Brown, who notes it’s also just nice to get out of the classroom. 

“Even though they are working on an assignment and collecting data, we try to make it fun,” she says. 

“I joke with the class that if they remember nothing else from the course in 20 years, they will remember going on a field trip in the winter and eating s'mores at a campfire in the snow.

A student uses a handheld digital anemometer to measure wind speed and temperature during the field trip. (Photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

Student Dean Khan collects snow samples from the surface of a frozen lake. (Photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

Laura Brown, the course professor, instructs students while drilling through the ice on Clear Lake. (Photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)