Earth Science Course Research Articles

An Earth Science Scrapbook Project as an Alternative Assessment Tool

A scrapbook, in which students assemble news articles, advertising images, postcards, and other flat items has been developed as an assessment tool for an introductory level Earth Science course for pre-service teachers. The students are asked to locate items that relate in some way to Earth Science and to write a relevant caption for each one that demonstrates something the student has learned in the course. The scrapbook can be used to evaluate the breadth and depth of the students' comprehension of Earth Science concepts. The assignment encourages students to relate course content to the world outside the classroom, and to become aware of the relevance of Earth Science to their daily lives.

The nature of, and approaches to, teaching forensic geoscience on forensic science and earth science courses

Abstract Whereas geoscience depends in part on the classical nomological method of the environmental sciences, it is also distinguished by a discrete set of logical procedures that lend themselves to forensic analysis. It has been argued that, as geology is a derivative science, it only partially lives up to the classical model of scientific reasoning. It does, however, provide a model of scientific reasoning based on interpretive techniques and its historical nature. Reasoning in geoscience offers a method that is applicable to the uncertainties and complexities of real-life situations because we are seldom in possession of all the data that we would like in order to make an unbiased or objective decision. The ‘geological’ method, in which we fill the gaps in our knowledge with interpretation and reasonable assumptions, is exemplified by the pragmatism of geological and geomorphological analysis and is herein considered analogous to that undertaken by forensic practitioners. A problem-based learning situation based on a past geological/forensic case study is included to illustrate the approach advocated.

The Evolution of an Undergraduate Service Course - How to Cope with Success of an Age of Dinosaurs Class

Facing declining enrollment of geology majors and the unappetizing possibility of becoming a low-enrollment program, many geology departments have reinvented themselves as purveyors of service courses, some as major purveyors. Service courses usually focus on the environment, earthquakes and volcanoes, dinosaurs, the oceans, and so forth. Assuming eventual success with a service course, the next step in the evolution of undergraduate science teaching is not necessarily clear. How does one deal with a course that becomes rather more than mildly successful? Age of Dinosaurs at the University of Texas at Dallas is presently capped at 200 students per semester. A compressed summer version is sometimes offered. These numbers are large for an earth science course that also includes a lab and a major field trip. Classrooms overflow, labs are overwhelmed, field trips unfold like invading armies, and testing methods are inadequate. Alarmingly, cheating can become all but impossible to manage in packed classrooms. Add a burgeoning push for asynchronous instruction and the accustomed course mechanisms are rendered ineffective. What to do? Modify (or abolish) lectures. Change testing styles. Adopt new lab and field trip strategies. By all means, look to web-based course management software for solutions.

Teaching earth sciences: Should we implement teacher-directed or student-controlled CAI in the secondary classroom?

While previous studies and meta analyses have primarily focused on the comparative efficacy of computer assisted instruction (CAI) versus traditional instruction, there have been relatively fewer examples of research exploring how various teaching formats of CAI influence student science learning outcomes in the secondary classroom. In this paper this issue is addressed by comparing teacher-directed CAI (TDCAI) and student-controlled CAI (SCCAI) in a compulsory earth science course in a secondary school in Taiwan. Data collection instruments included the Earth Science Achievement Test and the Attitudes Toward Earth Science Inventory. A multivariate analysis of covariance suggested that TDCAI students had significantly higher score gains than SCCAI students on the set of achievement and attitude measures. It is therefore suggested that TDCAI-based instruction is an alternative in teaching basic science concepts in the secondary classroom.

Teaching Pollutant Fate and Transport Concepts to Undergraduate Non-Science Majors, Environmental Scientists, and Hydrologists Using Enviroland

Our team has developed a user-friendly software package, EnviroLand©, for teaching hydrological fate and transport concepts to undergraduate students. We have successfully used this program in introductory Earth science courses, environmental chemistry, geochemistry, and geohydrology. EnviroLand contains basic transport models for river, lake, and groundwater systems and can be used to simulate the transport of pollutants under a variety of conditions. A free copy of EnviroLand can be downloaded from http://www.edusolns.com/.

Pre-/Post-Knowledge Assessment of an Earth Science Course for Elementary/Middle School Education Majors

Many K-12 educators never experience active learning processes in their science courses that are part of their formal teacher preparation program because of the prevalence of the didactic teaching approach (lecture-read-answer) used in undergraduate science classrooms. From an educational perspective there are substantial benefits to experiencing the process of science through active learning strategies. A 16-week, one semester course entitled, “Earth Systems Science for Educators” has been designed at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to use an active learning approach to improve student knowledge of basic Earth science concepts. To evaluate the extent to which their knowledge has improved, we developed a fairly simple assessment instrument, which consists of 38 statements in which the student responds true-false-“I do not know.” Based on pre- and post-course assessments of 108 elementary and middle-level education majors who took the class in 5 different semesters from 1998 to 2000, there was an average increase in their content knowledge of 30 percent.

Teaching Race, Class, and Cultural Issues in Earth Sciences to Enhance Multicultural Education Initiatives

The perspectives of people of color continue to be largely underrepresented in earth science texts and curricula. In recent years, as part of an effort to make geoscience and other science disciplines more inclusive of diverse experiences, Vanderbilt University and the American Geological Institute launched multicultural education initiatives. The author's implementation of these initiatives in introductory earth and environmental science courses at Vanderbilt and Oberlin College indicates that with proper preparation and pre-assessment of student expectations, geoscience courses can be effectively taught with supplementary material reflecting minority group frames of reference. Challenges to be faced include balancing social and physical science content in geoscience courses and dealing with sensitive issues involving race and class. Experience indicates that inclusion of environmental justice oriented content may not effectively attract and retain students of color from non-science disciplines. Multicultural course content should be used as a means to recognize the significance of minority involvement within the discipline.

Comparing the Impacts of a Problem-Based Computer-Assisted Instruction and the Direct-Interactive Teaching Method on Student Science Achievement

This study explored the effects of a Problem-Based Computer-Assisted Instruction (PBCAI) on students' earth science achievement in Taiwan. One hundred and fifty-nine 10th grade students enrolled in four sections of a mandatory earth science course participated in this pretest–posttest control-group experiment. During a 2-week period, the experimental group students (n = 84) received the PBCAI while the comparison group students (n = 75) received a Direct-Interactive Teaching Method (DITM) accompanying with regular computer-internet usage. An analysis of covariance on the Earth Science Achievement Test posttest scores with students' IQ and pretest scores as the covariates suggested that (a) the PBCAI was more effective in promoting students' achievement than was the DITM (F = 4.91, p .017) test items.

Integration of Field Observations with Laboratory Modeling for Understanding Hydrologic Processes in an Undergraduate Earth-Science Course

Understanding how water is transported and stored in the subsurface is a difficult concept for introductory earth-science students. We have developed a hydrology minicourse that integrates field and laboratory experiences to help undergraduate students gain a better understanding of ground-water flow in aquifers. The centerpiece of the minicourse is an investigative field trip that permits analysis of a local aquifer that provides drinking water for the university community. Students collect qualitative and quantitative field data on grain size, thickness, and geometry of different stratigraphic horizons within the aquifer and then construct a small-scale laboratory model of the aquifer using boundary conditions determined from the field investigation. The aquifer model allows students to test hypotheses of ground-water flow by conducting a series of modeling experiments. The experiments test questions such as: “What is the influence of porosity and permeability on ground-water flow?” and “What is the effect of regional dip on ground-water flow?” Analysis of pre- and post-minicourse examinations demonstrates that students are able to better communicate fundamental hydrologic concepts after completing the minicourse.

A Data-Intensive Approach to Studying Climate and Climate Change in Africa

A data-intensive research project on the climate history of Africa has been made part of an introductory college-level earth-science course. The project introduces students to the challenge of working with real data as student teams analyze and interpret extended records of monthly rainfall and average temperature for stations across Africa with the goal of defining regional climate patterns and assessing evidence regarding climate change. The exercise emphasizes quantitative skills in data manipulation and statistical analysis within a framework of critical thinking, decision making, oral and written communication, and collaborative participation. The social context of the project is apparent immediately to the students, but the scientific context requires additional input from the instructor. The project has been carried out in classes with up to 100 non-science students and is a successful vehicle for engaging African-American students in the geosciences. It can also readily be adapted for use in high-school earth-science classes.

Making Art and Doing Science in an Undergraduate Earth-Science Course

Artists must function professionally in two worlds: an inner world of ideas and vision and a very practical world of materials and technique. Earth scientists may recognize this dual existence, as they deal with the materiality of the earth's surface now and the visions of the hidden subsurface and processes operating over geological time. The two fields thus have much to offer one another at the pedagogical level.Earth-science courses at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago invite students to use their own expertise in art as a tool to investigate and analyze geological problems. Students may propose their own projects in lieu of exams in some courses, while in others, certain assignments have an art component in the research or presentation of a topic. Experience shows that students who use their art in a course are more likely to investigate topics in depth and pursue them outside of course work. Although earth-science content finds its way into student art quite naturally, recent attempts to bring it into studio art courses in the form of a team-taught studio research seminar have produced mixed results.

A Laboratory Exercise on Determining Dinosaur Speeds Using Dimensional Analysis

Measurements from a dinosaur trackway are used to estimate how fast the dinosaur track makers were moving. The exercise, which is appropriate for any introductory earth-science course at the secondary-school or college level, introduces students to dimensional analysis by having them construct an empirical graph of dimensionless stride length versus dimensionless velocity. The students then estimate the dimensionless stride length from the trackway data and use the dimensionless graph to determine the speeds of the dinosaurs. Experience with the exercise indicates that even students with little quantitative background are motivated by the challenge of determining whether they could outrun the dinosaurs and often begin to appreciate the power of dimensional analysis, a concept not usually presented in introductory courses.

Earth System Science and the Internet

In 1991, NASA and the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) initiated a program to introduce college undergraduates to the interdisciplinary challenges of an emerging Earth system science approach to understanding our planet. Earth system science views the Earth as a synergistic physical system of interrelated phenomena, processes and cycles which remain largely unexplored in traditional disciplinary Earth science course offerings. The ongoing Cooperative University-based Program for Earth System Science Education (ESSE) challenges colleges and universities to develop and offer classroom courses which examine the Earth as a system and to share their progress, course materials and learning modules. Concurrent with the development of the ESSE community and its shared learning resources has been the exponential growth of the Internet and its suite of communication tools, which are a central resource for the ESSE Program. The Internet has enabled the rapid deployment of information and resources through shared repositories of learning materials and general Earth system science knowledge, all of which serve to create and maintain an active informed education community. ESSE participants are organizing to develop a suite of web-based Earth system science learning modules and sharing course materials and learning resources via the ESSE web site. The modular approach more easily assimilates peer-reviewed learning resources into a wide range of classroom environments. A web-based peer-reviewed Journal of Earth System Science Education is proposed to provide educators with quality classroom materials addressing the Earth as a system and to reward ESS resource developers with citable references. More sophisticated web search and retrieval functions, as well as advanced communication tools will be needed to maintain automated databases of networked resources and an informed user community as Earth system science and the Internet enter the new millennium.

Understanding and Portraying the Global Atmospheric Circulation

Atmospheric circulation and resultant surface pressure patterns are important discussion topics in many introductory geography, meteorology, and earth science courses. In the past, summary materials developed to aid in teaching these concepts have used a north-south oriented meridional cross-section of the troposphere (e.g., the three-cell model). We suggest that while the Hadley Cell model works well for the tropics, an alternative depiction incorporating two map views should be used to present a more meaningful view of the mean extratrop-ical circulation. The combination of a tropical cross-section map and an extra-tropical map will assist students in learning about first-order motions associated with the Earth's atmospheric circulation.

From Celsius to Chaos to Cyclones: Using Temperature-Conversion Equations to Introduce Advanced Mathematical Concepts in Earth Science Courses

The Fahrenheit-to-Celsius temperature-conversion equation is a basic component of many introductory earth science courses. Despite its simplicity, it presents a challenge to students and instructors alike because residents of the United States are unfamiliar with the Celsius scale. By solving for the point at which these two temperature scales are equal, it is possible to use the equations for temperature conversion as a springboard to more advanced topics. It is demonstrated that temperature-conversion equations and chaotic equations can be solved using identical numerical and graphical techniques. As a result, the fundamental concepts of chaos theory and numerical methods can be introduced to students in the context of the simplest equations in the earth sciences. These solution methods are applied to the quantitative theory of the extratropical cyclone as an example of the utility and broad scope of this educational approach.

Environmental Education Course Development for Preservice Secondary School Science Teachers in the Republic of Korea

In Summer 1996, an opinionnaire survey was used to evaluate the opinions of Korean professors, in earth science education and geology departments, about the science concepts related to environmental issues that might be important for secondary preservice earth science teachers in the Republic of Korea. The opinionnaire contained 63 items within the 14 major topics being considered. It used a 4-choice, Likert-type scale and was completed by 47 professors (response rate = 51%). There was a good coincidence in opinions on major topics to be included. Respondents favored an environmental earth science course that emphasized the “human impact on the environment” rather than “natural environmental hazards.” Also, they favored study of natural hazards that commonly occur in Korea within a context of worldwide natural hazards.

The Effects on Students' Cognitive Achievement When Using the Cooperative Learning Method in Earth Science Classrooms

This study investigated the effects of cooperative learning instruction versus traditional teaching methods on students' earth science achievement in secondary schools. A total of 770 ninth‐grade students enrolled in 20 sections of a required earth science course participated in this nonequivalent control group quasi‐experiment. The control groups (n= 10) received a traditional approach, while the experimental groups (n= 10) used cooperative strategies. Study results include (a) no significant differences were found between the experimental groups and the control groups when overall achievement (F= 0.13, p > .05), knowledge‐level (F= 0.12, p > .05), and comprehension‐level (F= 0.34, p > .05) test items were considered; and (b) students who worked cooperatively performed significantly better than students who worked alone on the application‐level test items (F= 4.63, p < .05). These findings suggest that cooperative‐learning strategies favor students' earth science performance at higher but not lower levels of cognitive domains in the secondary schools.

Preconceptions abound among students in an introductory earth science course

Although the Third International Mathematics and Science Study found that most 8th‐grade students like science and feel that they are doing well in it [Geary, 1997], fewer than one‐quarter of U.S. adults can define the term DNA and only one in 11 knows what a molecule is [Augustine, 1998]. Hence the motivated, bright young people described by the study somehow become scientific illiterates despite the best efforts of elementary, secondary, and college‐level instructors.This phenomenon has prompted various investigations into reasons why students have difficulty learning science. One possibility is illustrated by the famed video [Shapiro etal, 1988] showing that most of the graduating Harvard seniors surveyed confidently attributed the cause of the seasons to changes in the distance between the Earth and Sun rather than to the Earth's tilt. They had a clear conception of the answer, but it was wrong.

Transfer of Learning from a Computer Simulation as Compared to a Laboratory Activity

The use of computer simulations is discussed, especially in relation to science education. Issues of fidelity and transfer are briefly presented when a computer simulation is used instead of a laboratory activity. A computer program written by the author is described that simulates a typical mineral identification activity that would be performed in a high school earth science course. Student performance on the mineral identification portion of the New York State Regents Earth Science Exam was used to compare students who had been taught using the simulation and students who had used the laboratory based mineral activity. No difference was found in student performance between the two groups.

Insights on WWW-based geoscience teaching: Climbing the first year learning cliff

In early 1995, The University of British Columbia Department of Geological Sciences (now Earth and Ocean Sciences) initiated a project that explored the effectiveness of the World Wide Web as a teaching and learning medium. Four decisions made at the onset of the project have guided the department's educational technology plan: (1) over 90% of funding recieved from educational technology grants was committed towards personnel; (2) materials developed are modular in design; (3) a data-base approach was taken to resource development; and (4) a strong commitment to student involvement in courseware development. The project comprised development of a web site for an existing core course: Geology 202, Introduction to Petrology. The web site a a Url http://www.science.ubc.ca/ is a gateway to course information, content, resources, exercises, and several searchable data-bases (images, petrologic definitions, and minerals in thin section). Material was developed on either an IBM or UNIX machine, ported to a UNIX platform, and is accessed using the Netscape browser. The resources consist primarily of HTML files or CGI scripts with associated text, images, sound, digital movies, and animations. Students access the web site from the departmental student computer facility, from home or a computer station in the petrology laboratory. Results of a survey of the Geol 202 students indicate that they found the majority of the resources useful, and the site is being expanded. The Geology 202 project had a “trickle-up” effect throughout the department: prior to this project, there was minimal use of Internet resources in lower-level geology courses. By the end of the 1996–1997 academic year, we anticipate that at least 17 Earth and Ocean Science courses will have a WWW site for one or all of the following uses: (1) presenting basic information; (2) accessing lecture images; (3) providing a jumping-off point for exploring related WWW sites; (4) conducting on-line exercises; and/or (5) providing a communications forum for students and faculty via a Hypernews group.