Christopher Berg: GEOL 1121 (Physical Geology) at the University of West Georgia
About this Course
An introductory course for non-majors.
110
students.
Two 75 minute lecture sessions per week
Course Syllabus - Fall 2016 (Acrobat (PDF) 49kB Jul5 17)
Acquaints students with geological concepts, processes, and earth materials and their effects on mankind and the environment. Topics include rocks and minerals, volcanoes, earthquakes, rivers, glaciers and the dynamic forces that move continents, build mountains, and create ocean basins.
Physical geology is the study of the materials and forces, both internal and external, which shape our planet. In this course we will examine these features and processes, with an eye towards their impacts on the natural environment and on human society. By the end of this course, students will be expected to be able to:
- Identify the principles of scientific investigation;
- Develop and demonstrate critical thinking skills;
- Describe the physical and chemical makeup of the Earth and the operation of the fundamental geologic processes (e.g. plate tectonics, erosion, sedimentation, mountain building, streamflow, and glaciation) that have shaped it throughout its history (and continue to do so today);
- Explain the linkages between geologic processes and our everyday lives;
- Show that you have become an informed citizen on a variety of issues relevant to geology, natural resources, natural hazards, and the environment; and
- Demonstrate a greater understanding (and appreciation?) of the natural world around you.
Revising a Course with InTeGrate Materials
My course is a 16-week introductory geology lecture course that is taught in a traditional classroom / lecture hall setting. Before taking part in this project, I had been dissatisfied with the level of student engagement and interest in the material, and I was seeking ways to make geologic concepts more immersive and relevant to my students, for whom this class could be their only exposure to the geosciences. As part of this course revision, I replaced approximately half of my traditional lecture content with InteGrate modules and units. I found that by incorporating the student materials into a course packet, integrating readings and assignments into my online CMS, and using in-class polling techniques, I could successfully adapt most of the activities to my large-lecture (70-110 seat) classroom setting. Students gained an appreciation for the natural resources our society depends upon (mineral, water, energy) that they previously took for granted, and the challenges related to preparing for and mitigating natural hazard threats and their wide-reaching impacts.
The modules and activities implemented in this course redesign opened students' eyes to the issues of sustainability and resource management within the context of physical geology, both within their own community and as global concerns. These materials grabbed their attention in ways that the more traditional approach could not.
My Experience Teaching with InTeGrate Materials
I found that the students, once they got used to the fact that they were responsible for analyzing the data and making their own interpretations and drawing their own conclusions (and not the instructor), really enjoyed the active-learning tasks. Many of the student comments I received on my course evaluations indicated that they had a new perspective on the issues related to resource availability and natural hazards, and how events on the other side of the world could truly impact their daily lives. The modules and activities are flexible and can be easily modified to fit the context of the specific class and its needs. Whenever possible, I modified pre-class and post-class assignments as self-grading quizzes or open discussions on my CMS platform. Most handouts were included in a course packet that was made available to students.
Relationship of InTeGrate Materials to my Course
The 16-week course was heavily modified by incorporation of module activities: general rock cycle principles were incorporated into the Humans' Dependence on Earth's Mineral Resources module; content related plate tectonics, earthquakes, volcanoes, ocean crust, deformation and mountain building were merged with the Living on the Edge module; portions of other modules were used to supplement content related to weathering, rivers and streams, groundwater, and shoreline processes.
Here is some general advice for adapting these activities and modules for a large lecture classroom, based on my own experiences revising this physical geology course:
- Whenever possible, move written assignments, assigned readings, and assessments to an online CMS platform. In my implementation, I adapted most pre-class assessments as multiple-choice auto-graded quizzes to be completed before class. This allowed me to check the results before class and see where students had difficulty prior to diving into the activities.
- To reduce paper waste and maximize class time available for activities, I included nearly all activity handouts, datasets, and worksheets into a course packet that I produced. These materials were collated along with materials I had previously designed to go along with the traditional lectures; this allowed for a more seamless integration of the new materials with the remaining class content.
- Be mindful of student limitations. Most of my students had not previously had an earth science class; many of them had limited familiarity with the technology and software available to them. I adapted most activities to not require laptops/tablets in the classroom (if they had them it was fine, but other students could use static images in the course packet and have the same experience). For the Living on the Edge module, I assigned the supplemental "Exploring Plate Tectonics Using Google Earth" activity as a way for students to practice using the software.
- Think about transitions. How well do the modules and activities fit in with the rest of your course? Does the classroom experience change significantly from one meeting to the next? Be mindful about how you can integrate these activities and concepts into the course you're teaching, and how you can more seamlessly merge the content to make a more unified experience. In this class, I didn't completely eliminate my traditional lectures, but I shortened them substantially, and moved large portions of the material online for students to view outside the class. The activities became the focus, but the fundamental content knowledge was still available to the students.
Assessments
I found that the workload suggested by the authors of the modules was generally not realistic for the sheer number of students in the classroom. The students quickly realized that the workload seemed to be much higher in this section than in other sections of the same course, let alone other general education science course offerings. With over 100 students enrolled, and one undergraduate assistant in the classroom, grading open-ended writing assignments fairly and efficiently was a major challenge. As a result, I sought ways to condense and reduce the assignments that students were required to complete. Pre-class assignments were converted to auto-graded multiple choice quizzes administered in the online CMS prior to class. In-class worksheets were collected for participation grades on the basis of completeness. To assess student knowledge and skills, I created short polling-style quizzes that were completed in class; students were also asked to write minute-paper reflections at the end of each class period.
Outcomes
This course is a general-education science course taken mostly by non-majors; in addition to potentially serving as a recruitment tool for new majors, one goal that I had for this course revision was to instill more of a sense of the relevance of the geosciences in the daily lives of all of the students in the class. With respect to this goal, I was quite pleased with how the students developed a more thorough understanding of the processes and forces that shape our world, and how these geologic principles directly influence aspects of our social, economic, and political spheres across multiple scales. The activities provide immersive, relevant case studies and examples to model scientific thinking and decision-making.
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