Bridget Garnier

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Undergraduate introductory course in geoscience

Students should be introduced to transgression, regression, and near-shore depositional environments.

We have used this activity as a homework assignment after the topic is introduced in lecture and reading, but it could also be used in class, in lab, or as group work.

Transgression/regression

Understanding dynamic processes -- inferring a sequence of events from the sedimentary record

This worksheet focuses on transgression and regression sequences in stratigraphy and has students build each sequence. Students are shown 4 depositional environments in a near-shore system: coarse sand on the beach, fine-grained sand in shallow water, mud, and limestone in deeper water. Students are given a box with each rock type and asked to build a stratigraphic column for a transgression and a regression. Students simply drag and drop each box onto a blank stratigraphic column to build the proper sequence. For example, if the sequence starts in the limestone depositional environment and they are building a regression, they need to think which direction the shoreline moves and what lithology would be deposited on top of the limestone, and so on. After building each sequence, students answer 3 multiple-choice questions.

This worksheet uses the sketch-understanding program with built-in tutor: CogSketch . Therefore, students, instructors, and/or institution computer labs need to download the program from here: http://www.qrg.northwestern.edu/software/cogsketch/. At any point during the worksheet, students can click the FEEDBACK button and their sketch is compared to the solution image. The built-in tutor identifies any discrepancies and reports pre-written feedback to help the student correct their sketch until they are done with the activity. Once worksheets are emailed to the instructor, worksheets can be batch graded and easily evaluated. This program allows instructors to assign sketching activities that require very little time commitment. Instead, the built-in tutor provides feedback whenever the student requests, without the presence of the instructor. More information on using the program and the activity is in the Instructor's Notes.

We have developed approximately two dozen introductory geoscience worksheets using this program. Each worksheet has a background image and instructions for a sketching task. You can find additional worksheets by searching for "CogSketch" using the search box at the top of this page. We expect to have uploaded all of them by the end of the summer of 2016.

CogSketch has a gradebook feature that allows instructors to batch grade worksheets using the defined rubric in the worksheet. Once graded, instructors can also open all the sketches and evaluate student work. Instructions are given in the Instructor's Notes.

Download CogSketch: http://www.qrg.northwestern.edu/software/cogsketch/