Increased Student Learning and Attendance in Resources Geology through the Combination of Sentence-Headline Slides and Active Learning Measures

Abstract

This study assessed how combining active learning measures with teaching slides that relied on sentence headlines affected test scores and attendance in a large resources geology course. For all six sections of the course, the following remained the same: instructor, classroom, semester time slot, and number of teaching slides. For two sections, though, we transformed the existing teaching slides that followed the traditional design of a phrase headline supported by a bulleted list (and often an image) to a sentence-headline design supported by visual evidence. In this new design, the sentence headline stated the main assertion of the slide. To increase active participation, we posted these sentence-headline slides as fill-in-the-blank notes, as opposed to complete slides as posted for the other sections. To increase attendance in these two sections, we administered a graded activity in each class period. These two sections had statistically significant increases (p < 0.001) in both class attendance and test scores on identical questions.