T9 Bringing Outside In: Incorporating Field Experiences and Project-Based Learning into the Geoscience Classroom

Sunday, 25 September 2016
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Mile High Ballroom 4D

TRANSFORMING A TRADITIONAL GEOMORPHOLOGY COURSE TO AN ACTIVE LEARNING EXPERIENCE FOR UPPER LEVEL GEOSCIENCE STUDENTS

Paper number: T9-4
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 8:45 AM – 9:00 AM

Authors

Abstract

After teaching Geomorphology in the traditional lecture/laboratory format at multiple universities, I was frustrated by the students’ lack of knowledge synthesis. While most could summarize a key concept or identify a landform, they often failed to link the laboratory assignments to the lecture material or other course work. In the Department of Geosciences at Auburn University this course is taught with undergraduate and graduate students together and it is the only course with a laboratory that attracts students from both the Geology and Geography degree programs. This diversity of student experience adds a greater degree of complexity to planning the course curriculum. In order to improve student learning as well as teach them about the process of science, I redesigned the course into a project-based format integrating the lecture and laboratory components for Spring 2016. During the semester we covered four units – Weathering, Rivers, Tectonics, and Glaciers, which included assigned readings, class discussions, peer teaching, and an experiment or project. Students were placed in groups that reflected the range of knowledge and experience levels in the class. The primary assessments of student learning included in-class participation grades, project reports, and a final project presentation. Graduate level students were also expected to give “micro-teaching” lectures on a topic relevant to the class such as karst landforms or age dating the landscape. The challenges to teaching this course ranged from the logistics of working within the university class schedule (i.e. 50 or 75 minute classes) and finding an appropriate classroom to figuring out appropriate learning assessment mechanisms for the students. I will share examples of what worked and what didn’t during the first iteration of the redesign as well as how I see the course evolving over the next few years.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 48, No. 7

doi: 10.1130/abs/2016AM-287896

© Copyright 2016 The Geological Society of America (GSA), all rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted to the author(s) of this abstract to reproduce and distribute it freely, for noncommercial purposes. Permission is hereby granted to any individual scientist to download a single copy of this electronic file and reproduce up to 20 paper copies for noncommercial purposes advancing science and education, including classroom use, providing all reproductions include the complete content shown here, including the author information. All other forms of reproduction and/or transmittal are prohibited without written permission from GSA Copyright Permissions.