Geology Courses Research Articles

The Impact of Curriculum and Instructional Choices on Undergraduate Students in Introductory Geology

This research investigated the impact of an introductory geology class on undergraduate students' attitudes toward and conceptual understanding of geology. The purpose was to identify students' geologic blindness, a construct of disinterest, disdain, and unawareness of geology, geologic processes, and their relationship to humans, by assessing students’ views on curricular and pedagogical choices. A convergent parallel mixed-methods research design was conducted. The participants consisted of 289 students enrolled over two semesters in an introductory geology class for non-majors. Specific to content and instruction, students found the format of rock and mineral labs and exams difficult and in need of change. They expressed positive attitudes about the hands-on, collaborative nature of these labs, and observation skills to perform them. Curriculum topics judged more interesting were deemed less difficult to understand, and vice versa, and that there was general understanding of geology’s broader themes of tectonics and time. Open-ended responses from participants, and interviews with key informants provided further evidence for these results. Students indicated that explicit instruction on the topic relevance, cross-topic connections, and on-going assessment and the use of a variety of visualizations and collaborative work would help to improve understanding and attitudes. The results provide insight into ways to improve introductory geology courses by addressing geologic blindness.

Writing skills development in an engineering geology course through practice and feedback on report submissions using a rubric

Technical writing skills are widely considered to be critical for geologists and engineers. Iterative practice with technical writing throughout the undergraduate curriculum represents a common mode by which students develop their skills. The purpose of this study is to examine the efficacy of an iterative practice and feedback model in the context of a senior-level engineering geology class. Particular focus is paid to student performance improvement over the course of the semester and the factors that predict the efficacy of peer reviews in helping students to improve their reports. After validation of a report assessment rubric with students and TAs, students completed seven consulting-style technical reports covering seven different topics related to engineering geology. Quantitative data from rubric-based self- and peer assessments of draft reports and TA assessments of final reports were analyzed using regression to identify trends in technical writing performance. The increase in student writing performance beyond the first four reports was found to be limited. Students saw the greatest improvement in four specific rubric categories: transparency, completeness, style, and graphics. Although reviewer GPA was not found to be predictive of peer-review quality, reviewer performance on the assigned writing tasks was. Overall, this study finds that the iterative practice and feedback model is effective in promoting students’ technical writing skills, and that the quality of peer reviews provided on report drafts influences student skill development.

Ensino, pesquisa e extensão a serviço da geoconservação

É apresentada a aplicação de atividades, segundo o novo currículo do Curso de Geologia da UFRJ, para atender ao Plano Nacional de Educação que estabelece ser necessário assegurar, no mínimo, 10% dos créditos curriculares em ações de extensão. Os alunos, durante quatro semestres, foram orientados a realizar pesquisas e atividades que resultaram em: (a) impressão de duas cartilha para Educação Ambiental; (b) execução de quatro painéis interpretativos para projetos de turismo étnico-cultural e ecoturismo; (c) criação de roteiro de Geoturismo Urbano sobre as rochas das fachadas de prédios no Rio de Janeiro; e (d) elaboração de painéis interpretativos para a Trilha da Ciência do NUPEM/UFRJ. Esses são os primeiros resultados de uma proposta em construção. Buscou-se atender aos âmbitos do ensino, pesquisa e extensão, levando em conta os interesses dos grupos da universidade e da sociedade, gerando produtos para promoção do desenvolvimento, da divulgação da Geologia e da Geoconservação.

Uso de recursos digitales para el Aprendizaje Integrado de Contenidos y Lenguas Extranjeras: propuesta para el enriquecimiento de un curso de Biología y Geología mediante tecnologías educativas

Nowadays a wide range of digital tools are used to support the teaching and learning of languages. Their potential positive effects in the learning process can be particularly useful to address the challenges that may arise in approaches such as Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), where students are expected not only to gain mastery in the content of the subject, but also the foreign language that is used as a vehicle of communication. This paper aims to offer a proposal for the ICT-enrichment of CLIL subjects which has beenimplemented in a course of Biology and Geology in English taught in a Spanish Secondary School. A semi-structured interview with the teacher was used to analyse the needs faced in that particular educational setting. The results obtained, together with current literature on CLIL, were subsequently considered as the starting point for the judicious selection of digital platforms and tools to create and curate the supplementary resources from a principle-based approach. This process of ICT-enrichment is presented as a practice that could be applied in different CLIL courses to adapt them to the specific needs of each context.

Social presence enhances student performance in an online geology course but depends on instructor facilitation

Online courses can feel isolating and sometimes lack human connections that can motivate students. We developed a fully online geoscience course to build a ‘Community of Inquiry’ with attention to cognitive, social, and teaching presences. We ran the course using nearly identical materials for 8 semesters (recorded video lectures, labs, assignments, and assessments). Slight variations in instructor behavior caused profound impacts on student performance, creating a natural experiment to isolate factors that influence student performance. During semesters that instructors sent fewer course announcements and provided less feedback to students, about 50% more students earned D’s and F’s than semesters with frequent interactions. These performance drops correlated with drops in key indicators of social presence such as the number of students who thought the instructor knew their name. We developed an instrument to quantify student perceptions about the strength of student-student and instructor-student connections. An exploratory principal component analysis revealed two underlying constructs that we interpret as social presence and cognitive presence. We found that students with the highest reported social and cognitive presences had overall course grades an average of 12 points higher (out of 100) than those with the lowest presences, when all other factors were equal. Social and cognitive presence had relatively equal effects, but each explained more than 3 times the variance in student performance than the amount of time students reported spending on the course. When instructors build a supportive community with online students and facilitate their interaction around course ideas, student performance benefits.

Effects of classroom “flipping” on content mastery and student confidence in an introductory physical geology course

Incorporating active learning strategies into introductory STEM courses has been shown to improve student outcomes, however, these activities take class time to execute. The question of how to implement these effective strategies without sacrificing a significant volume of content coverage has led to the development of a “flipped” model of instruction. This flipped model requires students to take responsibility for learning some basic concepts prior to attending class so the instructor can use newly freed class time to incorporate active learning activities. This study investigated the impact of implementing a partially flipped class format on student exam performance and confidence across four semesters of a large-enrollment physical geology course. Basic geology content was presented as pre-class homework assignments using short instructional videos (Geoscience Videos) that were created following empirically-derived methods of effective multimedia design. The videos facilitated an increase in the proportion of content that could be communicated outside of class and allowed for an augmentation of in-class activities on more complex geology concepts. We compared student performance and confidence across semesters and found; (a) students were able to learn the basic content as effectively as they had when it was presented in class; (b) students improved their performance on some content during summative exams; and, (c) student confidence significantly varied on some topics as a result of the course alterations. As a result, we posit that the flipped model can provide valuable opportunities to increase student learning as long as students are supported via out-of-class homework and feedback on their level of understanding regarding topics they are learning prior to attending course meetings.

Virtual field experiences in introductory geology: Addressing a capacity problem, but finding a pedagogical one

Recent literature has demonstrated the importance of fieldwork in geology. However, as resources become scarce, field experiences are often targeted for cuts. This was the case at the University of Calgary when massive enrollments placed a tremendous burden on resources. In courses throughout, field trips and other excursions were eliminated, making it so students do not have any field experiences until their third year. In response, we have developed three virtual field experiences (VFEs) of geologically relevant locations near Calgary. A burgeoning technology, VFEs offer advantages of convenience and versatility when compared to actual field trips. Our VFEs comprise drone-captured images used to form high-resolution 2-D photomosaics and 3-D computer models. We piloted one VFE in an introductory geology course. We wanted to understand how students engaged with the models so that we could make the VFE as effective as possible. Observing student engagement over two iterations allowed us to make changes to the activity. We found that students had difficulties with the VFE’s open endedness. They also demonstrated difficulty with the relationship between observations and inferences. This is indicative of a broader issue with how geology (or science in general) is taught. Traditional instruction in geology places great emphasis on the “what” of geology as opposed to the “how.” We contend that teaching geology with more emphasis on how geology works will help students develop a better understanding of the relationship between inference and observation, enhancing their fieldwork and their understanding of science.

Do geology field courses improve penetrative thinking?

Geoscientists use spatial thinking skills in many common tasks, such as adding a third dimension to two-dimensional maps by drawing cross-sections or envisioning rock fabrics from a single hand sample or exposure. Field courses allow students to practice and develop those skills in authentic settings. This study examines the development of spatial perception and geoscience-specific penetrative thinking skills, as measured by paired pre- and posttests using the water-level test and the Geologic Block Cross-Sectioning Test, in a sophomore field mapping course. Students began the course with strong spatial perception skills, but developed their penetrative thinking skills significantly (p < 0.0001) between the beginning and end of the course. Furthermore, the gender gap in penetrative thinking skills that existed at the beginning of the course was eliminated by the time the course ended. This work can be used as a baseline for comparison with results of nonfield-based exercises that are designed to develop geologic penetrative thinking skills in other ways.

Lessons learned from integrating concept mapping and gaming approaches into learning scenarios using mobile devices: analysis of an activity for a geology course

In this study, an integrated concept mapping and gaming-based learning approach was proposed to support mobile learning activities. To investigate the effects of the interaction between concept mapping and gaming on the participants' mobile learning outcomes, a quasi-experimental design was adopted and conducted for a learning activity of the elementary school course unit 'knowing the representative rocks in different geographical locations in Taiwan'. The participants were divided into three experimental groups and one control group. The experimental groups used the integrated concept mapping and gaming-based mobile learning approach, the gaming-based mobile learning approach and the integrated concept mapping and guidance-based mobile learning approach, respectively. On the other hand, the control group used the conventional guidance-based mobile learning approach. The experimental results showed that no interaction was observed between the gaming approach and the concept mapping approach. Furthermore, it was found that the concept mapping approach was not beneficial for students' learning achievement, while the gaming approach significantly improved their learning motivation, learning satisfaction and flow experience. Finally, discussion is provided to explain the findings, in particular, to infer why concept mapping did not achieve the expected positive impacts, as a reference for future studies.

Boulder

Boulder Paul Smith (bio) Click for larger view View full resolution Photo by David Saddler One day it wasn’t there.The next day it was. One day wewere busy working the whole lengthof our section of road, south of 63rd Street, northof 63rd Street past Jackson and Maple and the slowclimb up to Hitchcock. To the south, Brown &Lambrecht was doing the same as us, but just over thehill past where our jobs met. We heard them butcouldn’t see them. We knew they were there.But the next day we came to work andthere it was, on that slight risebetween us and them we calleda hill—a boulder the sizeof a house. [End Page 81] We were all hustling, so no one really had time to go look at it. I did layout with a hand level. Lopat did sewers. Junior Palumbo did everything else, mostly pushing Lopat and Ryan to finish their work so he could take over with the paving spread. We supposed that Brown & Lambrecht was in the same spot we were—watching October slip away and with it the good roadbuilding weather, eager to pave, sign and stripe, backfill the roadside, and finish. But Junior Palumbo’s eyes fixed on that big blur due south of us, and his voice came over the radio, “Thirty-one, what are you doing?” I responded that I was laying out noise wall. “What’s that thing?” he said. There was no need to describe it. I knew what he meant. We all knew. He meant the boulder. We could all see it from far off. “A rock,” I replied. “Where are you? Come here.” I found him by Voukon’s old driveway, where 63rd and Hobson used to cross each other, where the 63rd Street bridge stood now, and the triple box culvert where Prentiss Creek flowed after O’Malley and I put it though the box last November on one of those early mornings when you see your breath in your truck’s headlights trying to get the equipment started. Junior Palumbo drove a Crown Vic dirtier than a manhole. Paving hadn’t even started, and it was already full of mud from him walking the grade whatever the weather was, checking string lines where they could be put up, slogging through the mess at the batch plant Johnny I had helped him put up just north of Maple on a vacant piece of land the Toll-way said we could use because they owned it and nobody else wanted it. “Let’s go for a ride,” he told me. The subgrade here was firm and smooth between the pair of string lines set up for the trimmer and paving rig on the northbound lanes. Junior drove fast, not just to get there quickly but probably to satisfy himself that the trimmer had done a good job getting the clay ready for base course and eventually the concrete pavement. We got out of Junior’s car to study the boulder, looking south past where it sat to see if the other contractor, Brown & Lambrecht, had anything going on nearby. The new subgrade for I-355 was in a trough between rows of houses sitting up high where their backyards could watch the progress of the new roadway. Right now, the only thing they could see was us. The roadway was rough graded, sewers and utilities installed, waiting for the contractor’s fine-grade crew to come get it ready. [End Page 82] Just us and a big rock. Junior went up to it and put his hands on it. He was small compared to it. It was probably the result of some glacier coming through during the Ice Age we’d read about in our geology courses. I had seen gravel deposits and cobbles before, but nothing this big. Glacial till was sometimes left behind when the glacier finally melted. This rock was biblical in dimensions, primordial and dense, not something I would have suspected nature had deposited there. A bigger force than that had caused this thing to appear on our subgrade. “It’s...

Lessons learned from integrating concept mapping and gaming approaches into learning scenarios using mobile devices: analysis of an activity for a geology course

In this study, an integrated concept mapping and gaming-based learning approach was proposed to support mobile learning activities. To investigate the effects of the interaction between concept mapping and gaming on the participants' mobile learning outcomes, a quasi-experimental design was adopted and conducted for a learning activity of the elementary school course unit 'knowing the representative rocks in different geographical locations in Taiwan'. The participants were divided into three experimental groups and one control group. The experimental groups used the integrated concept mapping and gaming-based mobile learning approach, the gaming-based mobile learning approach and the integrated concept mapping and guidance-based mobile learning approach, respectively. On the other hand, the control group used the conventional guidance-based mobile learning approach. The experimental results showed that no interaction was observed between the gaming approach and the concept mapping approach. Furthermore, it was found that the concept mapping approach was not beneficial for students' learning achievement, while the gaming approach significantly improved their learning motivation, learning satisfaction and flow experience. Finally, discussion is provided to explain the findings, in particular, to infer why concept mapping did not achieve the expected positive impacts, as a reference for future studies.

Improving spatial thinking skills among undergraduate geology students through short online training exercises

ABSTRACTSpatial reasoning is a critical skill in the Geosciences. Using a randomized control study with 592 undergraduate students enrolled in introductory and advanced Geology courses, our data indicates that regular, short interventions throughout an academic semester improve students’ spatial thinking skills significantly with a moderate to large effect size when compared to an instruction-as-usual control group. We found evidence for additional gains in students who participated also in hands-on training interventions. We found even larger training effects on students who achieved correct scores of >50% on the practice modules, with gains of almost three-quarter of a standard deviation relative to their baseline scores. Male and female students display significant differences in spatial skills, with males outperforming females. Training resulted in similar magnitudes of improvement in both genders, so we see no evidence that the interventions closed the gender gap. Using the initial performance as a baseline, poor performers’ spatial skills appear to improve through practice at the same rate as their peers. We argue that 15.4% of students improve their spatial skills through participation in the training towards a threshold that appears to be critical for participation in STEM careers. On a reflection survey, half of the students reported that they felt their spatial thinking skills improved through their participation, and over a third found the training beneficial for their overall learning in Geology or other classes. We hypothesise that formal training opportunities for spatial reasoning could increase the potential pool of students who successfully enter and succeed in Geoscience careers.

Dissecting chicken wings in an introductory geology course to help students discover evidence—hiding in plain sight—of dinosaur–bird evolution

In an introductory geology course on vertebrate fossils, a new object-based classroom exercise was designed to enhance students’ appreciation for evidence of evolution as a “tinkering” process, specifically in modern organisms with which everyone is familiar. During the dissection of a popular college late-night snack (barbeque-style chicken wings), students separated soft from hard skeletal tissue, undertook comparative anatomy of bird and human forelimbs, and discovered what is hidden in plain sight: the alula, a remnant claw that links birds to their evolutionary predecessors—the dinosaurs. A follow-up, anonymous questionnaire revealed that most students at the start of the dissection were not familiar with vertebrate anatomy or the skeletal structure of a bird wing. Upon completion of the dissection, most felt the exercise had helped improve their understanding of dinosaur–bird evolution, form and function, exaptations as tangible evidence of descent with modification, and analogous vs. homologous evolutionary features. The relatively small number of self-reported student learning outcomes precludes knowing how well the exercise can be adapted to large-enrollment courses. In such courses, however, the extra time involved in implementing the dissection exercise may pay off later during the term by serving as a foundation for discussions about other examples of evolution in the past and present.

Demonstrating the impact of classroom transformation on the inequality in DFW rates (“D” or “F” grade or withdraw) for first-time freshmen, females, and underrepresented minorities through a decadal study of introductory geology courses

Implementation of active-learning practices into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses has been shown to increase student learning and performance, improve retention of material, and reduce achievement gaps among different student populations when compared to lecture-based approaches. To this end, we transformed two large-enrollment introductory geoscience courses (160 to 270 and 60 to 190 students) at a large public university in the midwestern United States into active-learning classrooms, and systematically analyzed student achievement data over a 10-year period. One course is required for majors in geology as well as majors in petroleum and architectural engineering, and also serves as a natural science distribution requirement for bachelor degrees. The other course serves as a natural-science distribution requirement for bachelor degrees. In both courses, there were measurable but not statistically significant (<95% confidence) improvements in overall student performance in the transformed course when compared to all student performances in the untransformed course, as judged by overall decreases in percentage of students in the course earning D or F grade, or withdrawal (%DFW). In the majors course, however, there were measurable decreases in %DFW in female students (–9.5% decrease) and also students from underrepresented minority groups (–5.6% decrease). During the 10-year study, female students remained ∼30% of the class, whereas underrepresented minority student enrollment increased from 10.8% to 17.1%, consistent with institutional undergraduate enrollment trends. In the nonmajors course, %DFW for first-time freshman decreased by 7.6%. Our data support previous studies that demonstrate a narrowing in student performance gaps with active-learning practices for at-risk and underrepresented populations.

GEOLOGY COURSES IN GREEK HIGH SCHOOLS: AN OVERVIEW AND PROPOSALS FOR THE FUTURE

An overview of the earth science courses in the curriculum in the greek high schools from 1899 to 1999 is given in the paper. It was based on detailed searching within files related to educational issues included in the Official Journal of the Greek Government. Although all segments of society can benefit by an enhanced awareness of earth sciences, severe cutbacks in geology education took place last years. It is proposed that the school program should be designed to include a geology course for students of the 3rd class of Gymnasium or the 1s t class of the Lyceum, comprising a series of talks and demonstrations on diverse themes related to the evolution of the earth, management of water and mineral and energy resources, natural hazards, the responsible use of the geosphere, the earth processes affecting evolution of life, the origin of human race and the preservation of natural monuments.

An exploratory study examining undergraduate geology students’ conceptions related to geologic time and rates

ABSTRACTPast research has evaluated how preservice teachers, high school students, and introductory college students conceptualize geologic or deep time. The ability to think on geologic timescales is regarded as an important skill in the study of geology, yet little work has specifically addressed how student understanding of this concept evolves during the undergraduate experience and beyond. We describe an exploratory, preexperimental study conducted at a large research university investigating student knowledge of various Earth history and geologic time concepts among geology majors. A 21-question pre/posttest was constructed to assess concepts related to landscape identification, landscape formation rates, Earth history, the geologic timescale, and relative and absolute dating. Pre/posttesting was conducted across four semesters within a variety of courses including historical geology, structural geology, geomorphology, and a geology field camp course. Data were also collected from a group of nonmajors in an introductory physical geology course to obtain a novice score and from a group of faculty expert geoscientists at the Geological Society of America annual meeting to obtain an expert score on the instrument. Additionally, interviews were conducted with 11 senior geology majors to gain a deeper understanding of their conceptions related to a sample of the concepts assessed. Results show that students make the largest gains after taking physical and historical geology courses, but no significant changes were seen in upper-level geology courses. Many geology students lacked familiarity with the geologic timescale and had difficulty estimating formation rates of landscapes formed on intermediate timespans.

Click-On-Diagram Questions: a New Tool to Study Conceptions Using Classroom Response Systems

Geoscience instructors depend upon photos, diagrams, and other visualizations to depict geologic structures and processes that occur over a wide range of temporal and spatial scales. This proof-of-concept study tests click-on-diagram (COD) questions, administered using a classroom response system (CRS), as a research tool for identifying spatial misconceptions. First, we propose a categorization of spatial conceptions associated with geoscience concepts. Second, we implemented the COD questions in an undergraduate introductory geology course. Each question was implemented three times: pre-instruction, post-instruction, and at the end of the course to evaluate the stability of students’ conceptual understanding. We classified each instance as (1) a false belief that was easily remediated, (2) a flawed mental model that was not fully transformed, or (3) a robust misconception that persisted despite targeted instruction. Geographic Information System (GIS) software facilitated spatial analysis of students’ answers. The COD data confirmed known misconceptions about Earth’s structure, geologic time, and base level and revealed a novel robust misconception about hot spot formation. Questions with complex spatial attributes were less likely to change following instruction and more likely to be classified as a robust misconception. COD questions provided efficient access to students’ conceptual understanding. CRS-administered COD questions present an opportunity to gather spatial conceptions with large groups of students, immediately, building the knowledge base about students’ misconceptions and providing feedback to guide instruction.

Roteiros de campo em Terræ Didatica para formar geólogos e outros profissionais de Ciências da Terra

The December 2017 edition of Terræ Didatica includes two field trip guides that interest the subject of academic and professional training of geologists, geological engineers and other professionals in the broad area of Earth Sciences. One of them is briefly analyzed in this commentary, focusing the Serra do Espinhaço Meridional, in the Minas Gerais State (MG). The guide describes visiting points and rock expositions, which are specially important for understanding the stratigraphy and depositional systems of the Espinhaço Supergroup and Bambuí and Macaúbas Groups. Another guide of the same issue shows the relevance of an authentic didactic laboratory that includes open-air exhibitions and underground galleries for student training of courses in Mining or Geology: the Santa Luzia School Mine in the Paraíba State (PB).

보성 남측 해안 퇴적암 지역에서 야외지질학습장 개발 및 교수-학습 방안

보성 남측 해안 퇴적암 지역에서 야외지질학습장 개발 및 교수-학습 방안

Breaking out of the traditional lecture hall: Geocaching as a tool for experiential learning in large geology service courses

ABSTRACTIt is uncommon for large service courses in geology to provide engaging outdoor activities that effectively mimic the experiences of working geologists, despite the fact that field experiences are a well-established pathway for recruiting students to the geosciences. We address this problem by creating extra credit activities that are integrated and implemented within a geocaching framework to provide students with these outdoor, extracurricular learning experiences. Three extra credit implementation strategies were devised for each of three geology service courses. Students from two small and one large geology course independently completed geology lessons at each geocaching site via a Google Forms platform. Across 757 activities completed during the Fall 2016 semester, more than two-thirds of evaluations reported that the student enjoyed the activity and learned something, and almost half of evaluations indicated the student wanted to learn more about the topic. Participation rates were highest in students who were high achievers, women, and freshmen and sophomores, but did not vary much with respect to ethnicity, major, or traditional/contemporary student status. Designing a successful implementation strategy at other institutions is likely dependent on course goals and class size.