Drumlin Formation Library Work

Alison M Anders
,
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Summary

Students work in groups to research different models of Drumlin formation in the Geology Library. Students present the results of their research to each other and each student completes a writing assignment using information from all groups.

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Context

Audience

A mixed undergraduate/graduate course for geology, natural resources and geotechnical engineering majors.

Skills and concepts that students must have mastered

Knowledge of glacial processes generally

How the activity is situated in the course

This is part of a series of assignments focusing on writing different portions of a scientific manuscript. For this assignment students generate an introduction.

Goals

Content/concepts goals for this activity

learning different models for drumlin formation
reading primary literature

Higher order thinking skills goals for this activity

dealing with multiple working hypotheses
synthesizing material for presentation

Other skills goals for this activity

library research skills
oral presentation
group work
writing
proper citation format

Description of the activity/assignment

Students will individually produce a written introduction for a paper about the presence of drumlins on Mars - this introduction describes different models for drumlin formation on earth. To prepare for this assignment, students work in groups to do library research to find and read articles. The groups summarize their findings for each other. Each student then writes an introduction incorporating material from all the groups.
Designed for a geomorphology course
Uses geomorphology to solve problems in other fields

Determining whether students have met the goals

The presentations provide information on the success of each group's research and I take notes to have a baseline for what might be in each student's paper. Grades are assigned based on the written introduction.

More information about assessment tools and techniques.

Teaching materials and tips

Other Materials

Supporting references/URLs

http://www.library.uiuc.edu/gex/Classes/Geol301Geomorph.html#DRUM

is a course website designed for this assignment - it lists relevant references.