Designing Activities to Engage Students and Enhance Learning in Quantitatively Challenging Geoscience Content
Conveners
Casey Davenport, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Lauren Burns, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Zachary Handlos, Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus
John Knox, University of Georgia
Across the geosciences, math is used to represent physical processes within the Earth system. However, students routinely struggle to make connections between equations and real-world applications; this is often a function of multiple issues, including math phobia, varying levels of preparation with extra-departmental prerequisite courses, and challenges in understanding the underlying physical process. These challenges can make it difficult to teach geoscience courses with quantitative content and ensure students are supported for long-term learning and success. Notably, while substantial science education research has demonstrated that students are most engaged and learn more effectively within courses that incorporate active learning exercises, traditional lecture still dominates geoscience instruction. Building upon recent workshops that focused on improving student engagement and learning in quantitatively-intensive geoscience courses and the strong interest in having tangible teaching resources, this workshop benefits instructors teaching any course or specific topic that is quantitatively challenging for students. Participant outcomes include the following: 1) design, within disciplinary and/or course-specific groups, one or more active learning exercise(s) or activity(ies) designed to tackle a quantitatively challenging topic, 2) lead the workshop in participation of the designed activity(ies), and 3) share the designed active learning activity(ies) within an online repository to be shared with the broader community. To the extent possible, groups will also be sorted based on course enrollment size and/or course level, as execution of active learning exercises will necessarily be different with varying numbers of students and varying levels of student preparation.
Intended Audience
Anyone that is or will be an instructor of courses with quantitatively challenging content within the geosciences. Examples include earth science physics, atmospheric thermodynamics, atmospheric dynamics, oceanography, geodynamics, and related courses.
Goals
By the end of this workshop, participants will:
- Design, within disciplinary and/or course-specific groups, one or more active learning exercise(s) or activity(ies) designed to tackle a quantitatively challenging topic
- Lead the workshop in participation of the designed activity(ies)
- Share the designed active learning activity(ies) within an online repository to be shared with the broader community


