Introductory Geoscience Courses Research Articles

Self-Contained Problem Sets as a Means of Incorporating Quantitative-Skill Development in Existing Introductory Geoscience Courses

We have modified our introductory geoscience course by adding self-contained problem sets dealing with isostatic rebound, flood recurrence intervals, and geochronology. Students had access to faculty and undergraduate-student TAs, but no class or lab time was devoted to the problems or their solutions. The students produced formal reports, with their responses supported by tables and graphs. We found that the students were generally undaunted by the problem sets, even when they introduced advanced mathematical concepts and required substantial data manipulation. Subsequent exam questions suggested they developed an understanding of the concepts covered by the problem sets.

Switching from a Traditional to a Computer-Based Format for Introductory Geoscience Lectures

A common technique used in introductory geoscience courses is to display one's lecture notes with an overhead projector, interspersed with color transparencies of textbook figures. The problem with this format is that publishers provide transparencies for only a fraction of the textbook figures. Furthermore, each time lecture notes are updated, a new set of transparencies must be made of the lecture outline. By switching to a computer-based format, instructors can insert any textbook figure into the outline, and these materials can easily be updated. The equipment needed for this method is a computer, a scanner, and a liquid-crystal display (LCD) projector.Depending upon their style, instructors can choose either presentation or word-processing software to embed scanned textbook figures within the lecture outline. Because many instructors are familiar with word-processing software, the selection of such software simplifies the process of switching to a computer-based format. Although the scanning of figures is relatively simple, one should experiment to determine the optimum file format and scanning resolution for a particular system. Student feedback indicates that they find it helpful to have a greater number of visual examples interspersed within the lecture outline. For an instructor, the computer-based lecture makes it easy to update and reorganize one's lecture material.