This page is designed to provide a guide to a planned implementation of The Math You Need, When You Need It. It will change as the implementation proceeds at this institution. Please check back regularly for updates and more information.

Rocks and Minerals of the Pacific Northwest (GEO143)
at Chemeketa Community College, Salem, Oregon

Implementor(s): Lisanne Pearcy
Enrollment: 24
Anticipated Start Date: Jan. 1, 2012 (Quarters/Trimesters)

Challenges to using math in introductory geoscience

There are no prerequisites for this course. Most students take this class to fulfill a lab science requirement and do not intend to major in a science. The majority are working on transfer degrees so that they can go to a four-year college and get a bachelor's degree.

On the whole, most students are underprepared for applying basic math in a science class. Some students are severely math-phobic. Some are very rusty after years in the workforce and/or raising a family. A few students are well-advanced in math and can figure out the math on their own, but I would say the majority have trouble calculating percents and plotting and interpreting graphs, which is required to do well in the course. For example, students need to comprehend P-T diagrams and plots of variations in cation concentrations in a melt during crystal fractionation (a la Bowen's Reaction Series; see next section for details).


I am inspired to use TMYN in my class because I see it as providing a non-threatening, helpful way for students to prepare in advance to actively participate in lectures and labs. I anticipate that they will be able to spend more time in class exploring geological concepts and less time struggling with math.

My department is supportive of me attending this workshop and helping students build quantitative skills, understanding that science does involve math. I might even be asked to help other instructors use TMYN.

The main challenges I foresee for myself as instructor to use TMYN are:

  • scheduling the TMYN modules into the course so they are reasonably spaced within the term and also fresh and relevant to the subject matter at hand
  • juggling the incorporation of TMYN at the same time I am revamping my course to a hybrid model (partial online delivery) -- it feels like a lot to change at once!
  • making time to create and test-drive my assessments (pre-test, post-test, and each module)

More about your geoscience course

The course fills distribution requirements for lab science. It is mostly taken by non-science majors. The course has three hours of lecture and three hours of lab weekly. Starting in 2012, this is a "Hybrid" course, with one hour of online instruction per week. The remaining five hours (including all labs) take place on Saturday afternoons. Other instructors teach this course at outreach campuses, mostly in the evenings. I will be the first to make mine a hybrid course; I think this format will work well with TMYN modules because students are required to work online each week.

The textbook we use currently is Essentials of Geology by Lutgens, Tarbuck and Tasa. We have no lab manual; I have grabbed labs from different sources and tailored them to the course. Most of the labs in the course are on mineral properties, mineral ID and rock ID.

This course is part of a three-course series of introductory (physical) geology courses focused on the Pacific Northwest. All three courses have labs. A student may take any number of the courses, in any order. In other words, none of the classes have prerequisites, and by necessity there is slight overlap among the courses. The other two courses are "Volcanoes, Mountains and Glaciers of the Pacific Northwest" (includes earthquakes, tsunamis, structure) and "Rivers, Streams and Deserts of the Pacific Northwest" (basically surficial processes). All three courses include a component of geologic history of the Pacific Northwest, with emphasis on Oregon.

For this particular course, TMYN will be used in large part for understanding lectures and textbook readings, including P-T melting/crystallization and metamorphic plots, Bowen's Reaction Series and igneous rock ID charts based on percentages of minerals present. In one lab exercise students determine the specific gravity of two mineral samples by weighing them in air and then in water and use a formula provided.

The biggest quantitative challenge for studentsis the lab in which they simulate Bowen's reaction series crystallization and crystal settling in a basaltic melt using M&M's for major cations. I have simplified and revised this lab slightly from Karl Wirth's exercise at http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/gsa03/activities/2028.html. My version is included in "Resources" below.

The M&M lab involves some basic skills in interpreting stoichiometry of chemical formulas, calculating percentages, and plotting and interpreting x-y data as it relates to melt evolution by fractionation. Students plot the atomic percent of each cation in the melt vs. the percent melt remaining in the magma chamber for each of the ten crystallization steps they simulate with the M&M's. The M&M's are basically there to help students visualize what is going on in the chamber, and mathematically advanced students sometimes prefer to leave the candy out of the exercise all together!

I have all 24 students in my class in lab at one time, which is immediately following the weekly lecture time on Saturday afternoons. I have no TA's or helpers in my labs.

Inclusion of quantitative content pre-TMYN

I do not intend to increase the quantitative content of the course. My goal is for students to develop a better understanding of the quantitative material already present in their textbook, lectures and labs.

I am currently helping students "on the fly" in lecture to understand graphs from their textbook and in slides and equations, such as calculating specific gravity. In lab, I am helping/tutoring students in their lab groups and by giving tips on how to proceed to the entire class when everyone seems stuck on the same thing. It really slows things down for the students and frustrates them because many don't expect the course to include math applications, and I can't help everyone at once. I've improved the instructions for the M&M lab twice to be more explicit and include example calculations. (This will be only my third time to teach the class in 2012.)

I don't devote much class time to quantitative skills -- only as needed for them to complete lab. I know many students don't understand their textbook material as well as if they were comfortable with the math. I don't feel there is time to bring everyone up to speed in lecture, and it's difficult with students at such different skill levels.

Which Math You Need Modules will/do you use in your course?

  • Density
  • Graphing: Plotting Points
  • Graphing: Reading Points from a Line
  • Fractions and Percents - Not yet available - Hoping I have time to submit content, but I'm open to someone else taking this on!!

Strategies for successfully implementing The Math You Need

Introduce TMYN as a tool to help students succeed in class. Assign to all students. For example, "I'm giving you this pre-test so I can assess what skills you have have already and where you may need additional help, to be sure that everyone has the chance to succeed in this class regardless of how recently you've taken math classes." And after the pre-test something like: "We have access to a wonderful resource, designed especially for introductory geology students, to provide you with step-by-step help for understanding many of the math applications we'll use in this class. It's called, appropriately, 'The Math You Need, When You Need It,' and it's provided free to us online. No matter your level of confidence or experience coming into this class, TMYN, can help you succeed... Everywhere you see TMYN on your syllabus, those are TMYN learning modules for you to complete just before we'll need them in class or lab."

Administer ungraded pre-test online at home or in on-campus in computer lab or paper version the first week of class. All modules and post-test to be graded but low-stakes (5-10% of grade total, 1% per module). All module assessments taken online at home.

Post-test to be Pre-and post-tests will have about 20 questions each, and individual module tests about 5 questions each. I will consider integrating post-test into in-class hard copy final exam, or taking students to the computer lab to complete it, to deter cheating.

It was difficult to decide when to assign each module because:

1) I normally have them measure density of minerals in lab the first day of class when we discuss the basic structure of the Earth (formation of solar system; Earth's layers). I think I will assign the Density module the week after they have calculated it in lab based on the formula provided in the first week's lab.

2) The rest of the skills are needed the week we begin Igneous Rocks, for the Bowen's Reaction Series lab mentioned above, and I don't want to cram too many modules into one week for them. I plan to do some of the modules earlier, but I would like to find a way to apply them in class when we're studying minerals, so they can see the immediate benefit and get practice applying them.

I'm currently hoping I can come up with a good start on a Fractions and Percents module (not yet created) in time so that Jen and Eric could have it up and running by Jan. 2012 when I'll need it. But that may not be possible, and I might find a web resource elsewhere to use for percents. If anyone else is interested in working ontextfor a module on percentages (introduction, steps and sample problems), that would be great! Just email Jen at: wenner at uwosh dot edu.

Reflections and Results (after implementing)

Resources

Draft Syllabus for Rocks and Minerals of the Pacific Northwest (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 33kB Jul29 11)
M&M Lab Instructions for Students (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 18kB Sep22 11)
M&M Blank Table (Acrobat (PDF) 47kB Sep22 11)
M&M Lab Questions for Student (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 21kB Sep22 11)