The 15 UC Davis students toe the banks of Putah Creek, west of campus, eager to cast their lines. A tadpole surfaces and darts back to the muddy bottom. A crawfish seeking prey pokes through the thick algae. Dragonflies and butterflies glide across the creek.

An errant soccer ball, now a Putah Creek trophy, bobs like a gigantic cork. Off in the distance, a boastful rooster crows.

It's the beginning of the fall quarter on the UCD campus. But these students are not skipping class.

They're taking it.

Forensic entomologist Robert Kimsey, an adjunct professor in the UCD Department of Entomology, annually teaches AB15-A, a two-unit animal biology course that "introduces students to the scientific method as a continuous process."

For one-day of the quarter, Kimsey takes his students - in groups of and teams of two - fishing.

Equipped with permits from the Department of Fish and Game, he demonstrates "the methods and practice of sampling fishes using common techniques from fisheries biology," include seines, fish traps or cages, cast nets, and rods and reels.

"Bob is one of our most outstanding instructors in the Department of Entomology," said Michael Parrella, professor and chair of the UCD Department of Entomology. "He is truly dedicated to the students and strives to get them to 'think' in this and other outdoor classrooms rather than simply memorize and regurgitate facts."

Although most students are acquainted with the scientific method, few at the undergraduate

level "have ever actually carried a scientific inquiry from conception to completion," said Kimsey, who is known for his teaching excellence and commitment to students (he was named the 2006 Outstanding Educator in the College of Biological Sciences).