Surficial Processes, GEY 203
at University of Maine at Farmington
Implementor(s): Julia Daly
Enrollment: 15-20
Anticipated Start Date: Fall 2011 (Semester)
Challenges to using math in upper-level geoscience
- higher expectations for quantitative ability (compared with students in a Gen Ed course)
- lack of comfort manipulating data
- first class relying strongly on integrating descriptive and quantitative data
- lack of facility with Excel
More about your geoscience course
- Sophomore level course for Geology, Environmental Science, and Environmental Planning and Policy majors.
- Significant field component and associated data manipulation/analysis.
- 3-hour lab, first ten are field-based
- No TA's or other instructors
Inclusion of quantitative content pre-TMYN
This course has a significant quantitative component; for some students, this has been an impediment to their success in the course. Three major content components of course: fluvial, coastal, and glacial. Each content area has a project with a significant quantitative piece. For example, our fluvial project includes measuring channel area and water velocities, calculating average velocity, then comparing their measured discharge with nearby USGS gauges. They also use their compare their own profile data (cross-sectional area) with groups upstream/downstream to better understand the differences between riffles and pools on a stream reach. The comparison facilitates their development of an intuitive sense of how a simple equation (discharge) will respond when one variable is changed.
Which Math You Need Modules will/do you use in your course?
- Graphing
- Topographic Profile
- Rates
- Rearranging Equations
Strategies for successfully implementing The Math You Need
- Limited implementation
- Modules and assessments will be completed prior to coverage in class, modules will be combined for implementation
- Pre- and post-test on skills
During the fall of 2011, TMYN will be implemented on a limited basis with this course. The assignment of modules will be frontloaded toward the beginning of the semester and immediately paired with original data collected during lab. By introducing the modules early in the course, I hope to encourage the students to develop mastery early on of fundamental principles. They will also become familiar with TMYN as a resource and may use it for additional support later in the semester.