GEO-Logic: How Well Do You Know Your National Parks and Memorials

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Initial Publication Date: June 1, 2006

Summary

GEOLogic questions are puzzles that were developed to support students understanding of geoscience concepts while challenging them to develop better logic and problem solving skills.
In this example, students are asked to associate historical figures with a particular National Park or Memorial (and its size) as well as the number of points they scored in a fictitious game show, based on clues about the situation given from various perspectives.

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Learning Goals

  • To develop students' problem solving skills by requiring them to examine problems from multiple points of view
  • To expose students to real geologic data and common concepts and units (rates, distance, time, etc.)

Context for Use

This activity is appropriate for a high school science class or an introductory level undergraduate geoscience course. The activity can be given as an in class assignment or for homework.

Description and Teaching Materials

Teaching Notes and Tips

See the author's paper under Resources.

Assessment

As long as the student makes a substantial effort towards solving the problem, they receive credit for the assignment. Alternatively, GEOLogic problems could be used as extra credit exercises which would be graded more rigorously.

References and Resources

Guertin, 2000 . Using Logic Problems in Introductory-Level Geoscience Courses to Develop Critical Reasoning and Basic Quantitative Skills, Journal of Geoscience Education, 48(4), 423.
- In this paper, the author describes the development and implementation of GEOLogic problems as well as her reasoning for the focus on logic problems and problem solving.