Earth Science Laboratory Research Articles

Examining Course-Level Conceptual Connections Using a Card Sort Task: A Case Study in a First-Year, Interdisciplinary, Earth Science Laboratory Course

Universities are recognizing the need to prepare graduates to think conceptually and have the ability to take on complex, real-world problems. Strategies to assess conceptual knowledge are limited and often require more time and effort to complete than is accessible for most undergraduate courses. Card sorting is a very broad technique for understanding how people group concepts, but in higher education has typically been used to show a student’s development towards expert-like thinking in a discipline as a whole. However, it typically does not give much insight into how we should change our teaching. In this paper, using the novel setting of two terms of a first-year, earth and ocean science lab that uses problem-based learning (PBL), we show how one can generate a card sort that is built using course learning goals and then use the analysis to make actionable improvements to course instruction. Using a card sort designed so that the expert sort corresponds to learning goals supported by the lab activities, we found that in both offerings of the course students generally moved towards expert-like sorting with a reduction in novice-like sorting. A striking feature stood out in both terms of the course, with one question scoring significantly lower than any other expert pairings, despite a change in the wording of that question between terms. This suggests that our course materials do not promote this specific conceptual connection that we had expected and gives us a clear place to look for issues in our course material. In a broader context, our results suggest that tailoring card sort questions to material at a course level, rather than at the discipline level, can provide a manageable, routine assessment of conceptual knowledge in students, while also providing feedback on the quality of course materials.

Effect of Fermentation Time on the Physicochemical and Sensorial Properties of Gari from Sweet Potato (Ipomoae batatas)

Aims: This study aims to investigate the sensorial and physicochemical suitability of sweet potato to be processed into gari. Study Design: TiB1 potatoes variety were grated and the obtained paste was left to ferment for 0, 1, 2, 3 or 4 days. Different fermented pastes were roasted at 90oC with palm oil to obtain the various garis (G 0, G 1, G 2, G 3 and G 4). Place and Duration of Study: This study was carried out in the Life and Earth Science Laboratory, at the University of Maroua, Cameroon between the periods of January to April 2013. Methodology: The physicochemical characteristics, hydratation capacities and sensory properties of the different products were evaluated. The analysis were done by using a commercial cassava gari as reference.

Effect of Field Activities on Student Learning

To evaluate the effects of field activities on student learning, different approaches were used by the same instructor in teaching two sections of earth science laboratory. One section involved primarily classroom activities that utilized a laboratory manual. Field-oriented, on-site activities were employed in the second section. The content was virtually identical in the two sections. Comparison of the two classes at the conclusion of the term revealed almost identical levels of lower-order learning (simple remembering of information). However, with regard to the more advanced operations of comprehension, application, analysis, and synthesis, the field-oriented class demonstrated significantly higher levels, suggesting an enhanced ability to understand and use acquired information. Two factors are proposed to account for the enhanced higher-order learning exhibited by the field-oriented class. One is the very positive effect of field activities on the affective responses of students toward the learning s...

Enhancement of Student Values, Interests and Attitudes in Earth Science Through a Field-Oriented Approach

A low motivational climate is characteristic of many introductory, general-education science courses at the university level. It has been well established that student motivation in a learning experience is, in large part, determined by the affective responses of the students to that experience. To measure the effect of field activities on the affective responses of students in this study, very different approaches were used by the same instructor in teaching two sections of earth science laboratory. One section was conducted in the traditional manner. It involved primarily classroom activities utilizing a laboratory manual. A field-oriented, on-site approach was employed for the second section. The content was virtually identical in the two sections. Both classes were pretested for values (sense of importance), attitudes (sense of enjoyment), and interests as related to the thirty major topics or themes of the course. These tests indicated that there were no significant differences between the two classe...

Student Experiments in Growing Sodium Chloride Crystals from Solution

Experiments in crystal growth from solution illustrate many of the factors that control the physical properties of crystals. Students can grow crystals in the mineralogy or earth science laboratory with the aid of an easily constructed incubator. By means of the controlled introduction of impurities, crystals of sodium chloride can be grown that display: (1) primary growth inclusions, (2) modifications of crystal habit, (3) parallel growth, (4) lineage structure, (5) fluorescence and (6) growth twinning. Analogies can be made between the experimental conditions that result in the development of these properties in synthetic crystals, and the environments that give rise to similar properties in natural crystals.

The effectiveness of an individualized approach to a general education earth science laboratory

The effectiveness of an individualized approach to a general education earth science laboratory