Initial Publication Date: June 11, 2015

Introductory Geology and Earth Science, Tidewater Community College, Chesapeake Campus

Information for this profile was provided by Azam Tabrizi and Shelley Jaye in 2009. Tidewater Community College, Chesapeake Campus is a two year college . Students in this program are pursuing an AS or AA degree.

Program Design & Assessment

Overview

Introductory Geology and Earth Science curriculum. The Geology Program at Tidewater Community College is a non-major program. The students can take the individual or sequence of geology courses to satisfy their science requirements for an Associate degree in Science or Arts. TCC prepares standard curriculum students to transfer to four year colleges (such as ODU, UVA,W&M and Virginia Tech) to pursue a BS or BA degree.

Strengths of this program

The geology curriculum is a good choice for both science and non-science majors. The community college serves the entire community therefore the curriculum is designed to assist all students in having a much better understanding of their natural environment. The curriculum is designed to answer the basic questions about the physical processes that have shaped the Earth and have contributed to its place and evolution within our solar system. The inquiry based curriculum contributes to development of problem solving skills thus assisting in the student's preparation for more advanced courses at the community college, a four-year university, or into the workforce.

Types of students served

Program Goals

The goals of this program are as follows:

The primary goal of the curriculum is to provide the students a current and relevant base of knowledge in Earth System processes. Additionally, the curriculum will allow the students to increase their vocabulary as well as their research, writing, interpretive and technological skills.

The learning goals were informed by the following resources:

How program goals are assessed

The goals are assessed through student success. Student outcomes from a variety of challenging projects and "real world" problems assist us in refining and updating the curriculum to meet the needs of students in understanding their changing local, national and global environment.

Design features that allow goals to be met


Alumni Careers

Graduation rate

Careers pursued by our alumni

Courses and Sequencing

Diagram of course sequencing and requirements

Entry into the program

  • Earth Science
  • Physical Geology
  • Historical Geology

Other key features of this program:

Supporting Materials