Pub Date : 2022-05-06DOI: 10.1080/10899995.2022.2071082
K. Bateman, Joy Ham, N. Barshi, B. Tikoff, T. Shipley
Abstract Spatial skills are embedded in all aspects of the geosciences. The teaching and learning of spatial skills has been a challenging, but vital, endeavor. To support student learning of spatial skills in undergraduate courses, we designed scaffolds for spatially dependent content in a mid-level geoscience course using playdough to allow students to model and manipulate geologic structures and processes. Using a semester-long geology course as a case study, we explore the ways in which students reported playdough supported their learning of geoscience content during the course. Students found the playdough most helpful for visualizing geologic structures, such as faults and domes, which students were then able to encode into their long-term memories, or “mental libraries,” for application to new contexts on assessments later. The playdough was more helpful at the start of the course when students were grappling with introductory course content and skills. Later in the course, the need for the playdough as a scaffold faded, as intended. Most students eventually sought new scaffolds, such as three-dimensional block models, which illustrate more complex and sophisticated structures and processes. Therefore, we see playdough as a useful scaffold for students in the early stages of spatial and geologic skill development as it aids students in developing both sets of skills. It is easy to utilize, inexpensive, portable, widely available, and familiar to most students.
{"title":"Scaffolding geology content and spatial skills with playdough modeling in the field and classroom","authors":"K. Bateman, Joy Ham, N. Barshi, B. Tikoff, T. Shipley","doi":"10.1080/10899995.2022.2071082","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10899995.2022.2071082","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Spatial skills are embedded in all aspects of the geosciences. The teaching and learning of spatial skills has been a challenging, but vital, endeavor. To support student learning of spatial skills in undergraduate courses, we designed scaffolds for spatially dependent content in a mid-level geoscience course using playdough to allow students to model and manipulate geologic structures and processes. Using a semester-long geology course as a case study, we explore the ways in which students reported playdough supported their learning of geoscience content during the course. Students found the playdough most helpful for visualizing geologic structures, such as faults and domes, which students were then able to encode into their long-term memories, or “mental libraries,” for application to new contexts on assessments later. The playdough was more helpful at the start of the course when students were grappling with introductory course content and skills. Later in the course, the need for the playdough as a scaffold faded, as intended. Most students eventually sought new scaffolds, such as three-dimensional block models, which illustrate more complex and sophisticated structures and processes. Therefore, we see playdough as a useful scaffold for students in the early stages of spatial and geologic skill development as it aids students in developing both sets of skills. It is easy to utilize, inexpensive, portable, widely available, and familiar to most students.","PeriodicalId":35858,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Geoscience Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44227507","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-04DOI: 10.1080/10899995.2022.2066927
M. Hensel, Jovan Bryan, C. McCarthy, K. McNeal, N. Norfles, K. Rath, J. Rooney-Varga
Abstract Despite clear scientific evidence to support an urgent need to cut greenhouse gas emissions, societal action remains inadequate to meet international climate goals. New approaches in climate change communication are needed to motivate climate action. World Climate is an interactive, engaging, and socially rich role-play simulation that challenges participants to negotiate a climate agreement to limit warming to 2 °C above pre-industrial levels. During the simulation, participants use a computer model, C-ROADS, to test their greenhouse gas emissions decisions and get immediate feedback on the resulting expected climate outcomes. In 2019, several programs that assist high school and college students who come from disadvantaged backgrounds implemented the World Climate simulation. In total, 39 participants who displayed the largest gains in their sense of urgency about climate change, measured through pre- and post-simulation surveys, were invited to participate in a semi-structured interview regarding their experience. Twelve individuals from four different simulation sessions were interviewed, and their responses were transcribed and categorized into codes. Results from this study show that interviewees attributed gains in their climate change risk perception to the simulation and also experienced gains in collective efficacy as a result. We constructed a causal loop diagram to visualize relationships between aspects of the simulation and gains in climate change beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors based on interview data. Insights from this qualitative study show that group deliberation guided by interaction with a model are important components to increasing urgency and climate action for the subset of the population interviewed.
{"title":"Participatory approaches enhance a sense of urgency and collective efficacy about climate change: Qualitative evidence from the world climate simulation","authors":"M. Hensel, Jovan Bryan, C. McCarthy, K. McNeal, N. Norfles, K. Rath, J. Rooney-Varga","doi":"10.1080/10899995.2022.2066927","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10899995.2022.2066927","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Despite clear scientific evidence to support an urgent need to cut greenhouse gas emissions, societal action remains inadequate to meet international climate goals. New approaches in climate change communication are needed to motivate climate action. World Climate is an interactive, engaging, and socially rich role-play simulation that challenges participants to negotiate a climate agreement to limit warming to 2 °C above pre-industrial levels. During the simulation, participants use a computer model, C-ROADS, to test their greenhouse gas emissions decisions and get immediate feedback on the resulting expected climate outcomes. In 2019, several programs that assist high school and college students who come from disadvantaged backgrounds implemented the World Climate simulation. In total, 39 participants who displayed the largest gains in their sense of urgency about climate change, measured through pre- and post-simulation surveys, were invited to participate in a semi-structured interview regarding their experience. Twelve individuals from four different simulation sessions were interviewed, and their responses were transcribed and categorized into codes. Results from this study show that interviewees attributed gains in their climate change risk perception to the simulation and also experienced gains in collective efficacy as a result. We constructed a causal loop diagram to visualize relationships between aspects of the simulation and gains in climate change beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors based on interview data. Insights from this qualitative study show that group deliberation guided by interaction with a model are important components to increasing urgency and climate action for the subset of the population interviewed.","PeriodicalId":35858,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Geoscience Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45773490","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-02DOI: 10.1080/10899995.2022.2065826
Rachel M. Headley
Abstract Math anxiety involves moderate to extreme fear, anxiety, and occasionally physical pain associated with anticipating or performing mathematical tasks. High levels of math anxiety have been tied to students taking lower levels of math and choosing less quantitatively challenging courses and careers. In a small geoscience program in a primarily undergraduate university, math anxiety has been assessed using a standardized math anxiety rating survey embedded into a more general anxiety survey. An intervention that involves re-phrasing geoscience-focused quantitative word problems was used on both low- and high-stakes assessments. In courses with no intervention at both the major and general education levels, students were found to have similar math anxiety ratings and no significant change over the semester. In contrast, students in the intervention major courses were statistically more likely to have a drop in their math anxiety when compared to the large control and also when compared to a smaller control of similar-level courses. In a geoscience classroom, rephrasing quantitative questions to focus more on geoscience knowledge versus the quantitative task appears to be a viable way to lower math anxiety while giving students’ experience to build their quantitative skills.
{"title":"An intervention to address math anxiety in the geosciences","authors":"Rachel M. Headley","doi":"10.1080/10899995.2022.2065826","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10899995.2022.2065826","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Math anxiety involves moderate to extreme fear, anxiety, and occasionally physical pain associated with anticipating or performing mathematical tasks. High levels of math anxiety have been tied to students taking lower levels of math and choosing less quantitatively challenging courses and careers. In a small geoscience program in a primarily undergraduate university, math anxiety has been assessed using a standardized math anxiety rating survey embedded into a more general anxiety survey. An intervention that involves re-phrasing geoscience-focused quantitative word problems was used on both low- and high-stakes assessments. In courses with no intervention at both the major and general education levels, students were found to have similar math anxiety ratings and no significant change over the semester. In contrast, students in the intervention major courses were statistically more likely to have a drop in their math anxiety when compared to the large control and also when compared to a smaller control of similar-level courses. In a geoscience classroom, rephrasing quantitative questions to focus more on geoscience knowledge versus the quantitative task appears to be a viable way to lower math anxiety while giving students’ experience to build their quantitative skills.","PeriodicalId":35858,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Geoscience Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42592131","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-15DOI: 10.1080/10899995.2022.2044665
S. Nyarko, H. Petcovic
Abstract Geoscience employers have increasingly called for the future workforce (students) to demonstrate competence in non-technical skills, including teamwork. This descriptive qualitative study contributes to ongoing efforts to identify the specific practices, skills, habits, and knowledge that make up these desired teamwork competencies in the geosciences. We collected interview data from three online focus group discussions centered around teamwork. Focus group participants (n = 12) were hydrogeology and environmental geology employers and team managers from government, private industry, and nonprofit organizations in the United States. Using a teamwork skills taxonomy model as our conceptual framework, we coded the transcripts to generate three categories of teamwork skills specific to environmental geoscience teams. First, our data indicate that these employers value team transition skills related to specifying goals, interpreting team tasks, identifying resources, and planning. The second category of desired teamwork competencies included action skills such as metacognition, coordination, and mentoring. These skills directly impact successful task completion. The third category captured interpersonal skills such as emotional intelligence, proactive communication, and organization. A fourth category of desired teamwork competencies emerged from data analysis and include ethical skills related to trust, integrity, and humility. This study provides a detailed description of teamwork competencies desired by environmental geoscience employers. We recommend that geoscience instructors consider using techniques such as intentional teaching of teamwork skills, experiential learning, professional development, and teamwork awareness in order to prepare students for workforce expectations.
{"title":"Essential teamwork skills: Perspectives of environmental geoscience employers","authors":"S. Nyarko, H. Petcovic","doi":"10.1080/10899995.2022.2044665","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10899995.2022.2044665","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Geoscience employers have increasingly called for the future workforce (students) to demonstrate competence in non-technical skills, including teamwork. This descriptive qualitative study contributes to ongoing efforts to identify the specific practices, skills, habits, and knowledge that make up these desired teamwork competencies in the geosciences. We collected interview data from three online focus group discussions centered around teamwork. Focus group participants (n = 12) were hydrogeology and environmental geology employers and team managers from government, private industry, and nonprofit organizations in the United States. Using a teamwork skills taxonomy model as our conceptual framework, we coded the transcripts to generate three categories of teamwork skills specific to environmental geoscience teams. First, our data indicate that these employers value team transition skills related to specifying goals, interpreting team tasks, identifying resources, and planning. The second category of desired teamwork competencies included action skills such as metacognition, coordination, and mentoring. These skills directly impact successful task completion. The third category captured interpersonal skills such as emotional intelligence, proactive communication, and organization. A fourth category of desired teamwork competencies emerged from data analysis and include ethical skills related to trust, integrity, and humility. This study provides a detailed description of teamwork competencies desired by environmental geoscience employers. We recommend that geoscience instructors consider using techniques such as intentional teaching of teamwork skills, experiential learning, professional development, and teamwork awareness in order to prepare students for workforce expectations.","PeriodicalId":35858,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Geoscience Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44922837","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-02DOI: 10.1080/10899995.2022.2044259
K. Hannula
The papers published in JGE share ideas and research about an incredible range of ways to engage students. In this issue, Nicole LaDue and coauthors combine geoscientists’ discipline-based perspectives on active learning with theory from psychology to propose a model for thinking about and researching different types of engagement. Their model includes four dimensions: behavioral, emotional, cognitive (whether students learn better), and agentic (whether students make decisions), which can be combined in many ways. They put commonly used protocols for observing what happens in a classroom into their framework, and propose ways to evaluate various types of student engagement. Their framework was an "ah-ha!" moment for me, and helps me think about many of the other papers that we publish. The C&I papers in this issue share innovative ways to engage students. The first two papers involve educational board games. Wendy Robertson describes a hydrologic cycle game for undergraduate courses, while Estefanía Salgado-Jauregui and coauthors adapted "Taphonomy: Dead or Alive" (originally designed for college students) to be used by high school students. A third paper, by Erik Haroldson, uses games from improv theater in undergraduate mineralogy and petrology courses. Erin Kraal and coauthors have their students create audio narratives (podcasts) in introductory courses, giving students a sense of innovation and personal relevance (aspects of emotional and agentic engagement). Finally, Ankun Ma and coauthors incorporated Earth Science into an environmental education course for pre-service and in-service teachers in British Columbia. The place-based learning that occurred is an example of what LaDue and coauthors would call emotional and cognitive engagement. In one of this issue’s research papers, Nicole James and coauthors tested a technique to make clicker-based activities (behavioral engagement) more effective for learning, self-efficacy, and interest (cognitive and emotional engagement). These predict-observe-explain activities are more effective at engaging students than clicker activities that only involve discussion. The last two research papers in this issue deal with images. Caitlin Kirby and coauthors asked geoscientists at a national conference to draw a picture that explains "the process of natural selection". They found that, although the geoscientists did well on multiple choice questions about evolution, their drawings left out some important concepts. Dominik Conrad and Julie Libarkin used Conceptual Metaphor Theory and the Model of Educational Reconstruction to analyze US and German student explanations of tectonic concepts, along with the images that illustrate tectonic concepts in US and German textbooks. They recommend using the concept of image schemas when designing textbook images, to avoid inadv e r t e nt l y e n c ou r a g i n g t h e d e v e l opm e nt o f misconceptions. Finally, we are saddened by the recent passing of JGE Associ
发表在JGE上的论文分享了一系列令人难以置信的方法来吸引学生的想法和研究。在本期中，Nicole LaDue和合著者将地球科学家基于学科的主动学习观点与心理学理论相结合，提出了一个思考和研究不同类型参与的模型。他们的模型包括四个维度:行为、情感、认知(学生是否学得更好)和代理(学生是否做决定)，它们可以以多种方式组合在一起。他们将观察教室中发生的事情的常用协议放入他们的框架中，并提出了评估各种类型的学生参与的方法。他们的框架对我来说是一个“啊哈!”的时刻，并帮助我思考我们发表的许多其他论文。本期的C&I论文分享了吸引学生的创新方法。前两篇论文涉及教育棋盘游戏。Wendy Robertson描述了一款本科课程的水文循环游戏，而Estefanía Salgado-Jauregui及其合作者将《taponomy: Dead or Alive》(最初是为大学生设计的)改编为高中生游戏。Erik Haroldson的第三篇论文在矿物学和岩石学本科课程中使用了即兴戏剧中的游戏。Erin Kraal和他的合作者让他们的学生在入门课程中创建音频叙述(播客)，给学生一种创新和个人关联的感觉(情感和代理参与的方面)。最后，马安坤等人将地球科学纳入了不列颠哥伦比亚省一门面向职前和在职教师的环境教育课程。发生的基于地点的学习是LaDue和合作者称之为情感和认知参与的一个例子。在本期的一篇研究论文中，Nicole James和合著者测试了一种技术，可以使基于点击器的活动(行为参与)对学习、自我效能和兴趣(认知和情感参与)更有效。这些预测-观察-解释的活动比只涉及讨论的点击式活动更有效地吸引学生。这个问题的最后两篇研究论文是关于图像的。凯特琳·柯比(Caitlin Kirby)和合著者在一次全国会议上要求地球科学家画一幅图来解释“自然选择的过程”。他们发现，尽管地球科学家在关于进化的多项选择题上做得很好，但他们的图纸遗漏了一些重要的概念。多米尼克·康拉德(Dominik Conrad)和朱莉·利巴金(Julie Libarkin)利用概念隐喻理论和教育重建模型分析了美国和德国学生对构造概念的解释，以及美国和德国教科书中阐释构造概念的图像。他们建议在设计教科书图像时使用图像图式的概念，以避免人们对教科书图像的错误理解，因为人们对教科书图像的理解往往是错误的。最后，我们对JGE副主编Anne-Marie Ryan最近的逝世表示哀悼。安妮-玛丽是达尔豪斯大学地球与环境科学系的大学教学研究员，也是一位鼓舞人心的老师、支持我的导师、非凡的同事和体贴的朋友。我们重视她对JGE的贡献。
{"title":"Many types of engagement","authors":"K. Hannula","doi":"10.1080/10899995.2022.2044259","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10899995.2022.2044259","url":null,"abstract":"The papers published in JGE share ideas and research about an incredible range of ways to engage students. In this issue, Nicole LaDue and coauthors combine geoscientists’ discipline-based perspectives on active learning with theory from psychology to propose a model for thinking about and researching different types of engagement. Their model includes four dimensions: behavioral, emotional, cognitive (whether students learn better), and agentic (whether students make decisions), which can be combined in many ways. They put commonly used protocols for observing what happens in a classroom into their framework, and propose ways to evaluate various types of student engagement. Their framework was an \"ah-ha!\" moment for me, and helps me think about many of the other papers that we publish. The C&I papers in this issue share innovative ways to engage students. The first two papers involve educational board games. Wendy Robertson describes a hydrologic cycle game for undergraduate courses, while Estefanía Salgado-Jauregui and coauthors adapted \"Taphonomy: Dead or Alive\" (originally designed for college students) to be used by high school students. A third paper, by Erik Haroldson, uses games from improv theater in undergraduate mineralogy and petrology courses. Erin Kraal and coauthors have their students create audio narratives (podcasts) in introductory courses, giving students a sense of innovation and personal relevance (aspects of emotional and agentic engagement). Finally, Ankun Ma and coauthors incorporated Earth Science into an environmental education course for pre-service and in-service teachers in British Columbia. The place-based learning that occurred is an example of what LaDue and coauthors would call emotional and cognitive engagement. In one of this issue’s research papers, Nicole James and coauthors tested a technique to make clicker-based activities (behavioral engagement) more effective for learning, self-efficacy, and interest (cognitive and emotional engagement). These predict-observe-explain activities are more effective at engaging students than clicker activities that only involve discussion. The last two research papers in this issue deal with images. Caitlin Kirby and coauthors asked geoscientists at a national conference to draw a picture that explains \"the process of natural selection\". They found that, although the geoscientists did well on multiple choice questions about evolution, their drawings left out some important concepts. Dominik Conrad and Julie Libarkin used Conceptual Metaphor Theory and the Model of Educational Reconstruction to analyze US and German student explanations of tectonic concepts, along with the images that illustrate tectonic concepts in US and German textbooks. They recommend using the concept of image schemas when designing textbook images, to avoid inadv e r t e nt l y e n c ou r a g i n g t h e d e v e l opm e nt o f misconceptions. Finally, we are saddened by the recent passing of JGE Associ","PeriodicalId":35858,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Geoscience Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"59660676","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-02-28DOI: 10.1080/10899995.2022.2038963
J. Cervenec, Jesse Fox, Karina Peggau, Aaron B. Wilson, Bingyu Li, Dingyu Hu, Ruiyang Chang, Joey Wong, Craig Bossley
Abstract The Fluid Earth (FE) is an interactive data visualization initially developed for learning about Earth’s atmosphere in informal educational settings. In this study, we tested FE in middle school classes to assess student engagement in a formal educational setting. Using a quasi-experimental design, students were assigned to interact with the data visualization website (high interactivity) or prerecorded videos of the visualization (low interactivity). Students who used the website demonstrated greater engagement and perceived learning than students who used videos, but no differences were observed for behavioral intentions to use FE in the future. Results provide preliminary evidence that the interactive interface provided a more engaging educational experience than videos. Findings suggest that interactivity is an important component of science education visualizations, and there is value in creating interactive tools for students to explore geosciences processes and concepts. Additional work is needed to assess the visualization’s impact on student learning of content knowledge and its applicability to more diverse student groups.
{"title":"Interactive data visualizations of Earth’s atmosphere: Effects on student engagement and perceived learning","authors":"J. Cervenec, Jesse Fox, Karina Peggau, Aaron B. Wilson, Bingyu Li, Dingyu Hu, Ruiyang Chang, Joey Wong, Craig Bossley","doi":"10.1080/10899995.2022.2038963","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10899995.2022.2038963","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The Fluid Earth (FE) is an interactive data visualization initially developed for learning about Earth’s atmosphere in informal educational settings. In this study, we tested FE in middle school classes to assess student engagement in a formal educational setting. Using a quasi-experimental design, students were assigned to interact with the data visualization website (high interactivity) or prerecorded videos of the visualization (low interactivity). Students who used the website demonstrated greater engagement and perceived learning than students who used videos, but no differences were observed for behavioral intentions to use FE in the future. Results provide preliminary evidence that the interactive interface provided a more engaging educational experience than videos. Findings suggest that interactivity is an important component of science education visualizations, and there is value in creating interactive tools for students to explore geosciences processes and concepts. Additional work is needed to assess the visualization’s impact on student learning of content knowledge and its applicability to more diverse student groups.","PeriodicalId":35858,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Geoscience Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-02-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44692568","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-02-17DOI: 10.1080/10899995.2022.2037403
C. Matyas, K. Stofer, Heidi J. L. Lannon, J. Judge, B. Hom, Brandan Lanman
Abstract This study details the mentored research component of a program intended to recruit, retain, and transfer students attending a two-year college (2YC) to four-year geosciences programs. Eighteen of 20 students who started the program were from minoritized backgrounds: 12 women, six racial/ethnic minorities, 12 low-income, and 13 first-generation college attendees. During a calendar year, students engaged in faculty-mentored research at a 4-year university (4YU), coursework at the 2YC, and a paid six-week internship in geoscience education. Students were to spend at least five hours weekly on research February-June and make a public presentation of results in December. Of 11 students who completed their research projects, 10 were minoritized students. Eight of 11 transferred into a science major. Students progressed the most in research when working together on a project designed for them and regularly meeting in-person with their mentors. Student exit interviews indicated that they valued the research experience and the skills gained. However, less progress occurred in the summer than planned, and students cited challenges in commuting to the 4YU due to jobs and personal commitments. Mentor-student matching produced mixed success. Based on the findings, we recommend incorporating a mini-internship with each mentor into the spring course, then pairing the students with one project and mentor for the summer and fall. Funding the research hours in addition to the internship would help alleviate financial burdens on students. Finally, all mentors would benefit from training together to better understand the mindsets of 2YC students and effectively accommodate individual needs.
{"title":"Despite challenges, 2-year college students benefit from faculty-mentored geoscience research at a 4-year university during an extracurricular program","authors":"C. Matyas, K. Stofer, Heidi J. L. Lannon, J. Judge, B. Hom, Brandan Lanman","doi":"10.1080/10899995.2022.2037403","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10899995.2022.2037403","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This study details the mentored research component of a program intended to recruit, retain, and transfer students attending a two-year college (2YC) to four-year geosciences programs. Eighteen of 20 students who started the program were from minoritized backgrounds: 12 women, six racial/ethnic minorities, 12 low-income, and 13 first-generation college attendees. During a calendar year, students engaged in faculty-mentored research at a 4-year university (4YU), coursework at the 2YC, and a paid six-week internship in geoscience education. Students were to spend at least five hours weekly on research February-June and make a public presentation of results in December. Of 11 students who completed their research projects, 10 were minoritized students. Eight of 11 transferred into a science major. Students progressed the most in research when working together on a project designed for them and regularly meeting in-person with their mentors. Student exit interviews indicated that they valued the research experience and the skills gained. However, less progress occurred in the summer than planned, and students cited challenges in commuting to the 4YU due to jobs and personal commitments. Mentor-student matching produced mixed success. Based on the findings, we recommend incorporating a mini-internship with each mentor into the spring course, then pairing the students with one project and mentor for the summer and fall. Funding the research hours in addition to the internship would help alleviate financial burdens on students. Finally, all mentors would benefit from training together to better understand the mindsets of 2YC students and effectively accommodate individual needs.","PeriodicalId":35858,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Geoscience Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-02-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44510494","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-02-07DOI: 10.1080/10899995.2022.2036045
E. A. Boyd, K. Lazar
Abstract Recruitment and retention are critical for geoscience and the need for innovative ways of building these bridges to the geosciences is growing. Field experiences are a common attractor for students to the field sciences such as geoscience, but many research- and field-based experiences are limited to those who are already majors. Innovative, experiential approaches to geoscience recruitment and retention could be a new way to attract more students to geoscience. International field and research experiences designed for undergraduates from any academic discipline aim to provide opportunities for students to explore their (geo)science interests and potential career paths. A single, exploratory case study approach with semi-structured interviews combined with quantitative pre- and post-survey results is used to highlight the experiences of four students and their plans for continuing in the geosciences. Students (including geoscience and non-geoscience majors) were found to have had inherent, pre-college, and college influences for participation in the field experience; all students indicated plans to continue in the geosciences. Two years after the experience, researchers followed-up with the students and found that three of the four were still involved in the geosciences. Many international geoscience field experiences are exclusively for majors, but experiential learning opportunities like these should also be considered for potential majors. These results are beneficial for departments interested in designing and adapting their recruitment and retention efforts to better train the next generation of geoscientists.
{"title":"“It’s not just a picture”: The effects of an international two-week field experience on student geoscience involvement and persistence","authors":"E. A. Boyd, K. Lazar","doi":"10.1080/10899995.2022.2036045","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10899995.2022.2036045","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Recruitment and retention are critical for geoscience and the need for innovative ways of building these bridges to the geosciences is growing. Field experiences are a common attractor for students to the field sciences such as geoscience, but many research- and field-based experiences are limited to those who are already majors. Innovative, experiential approaches to geoscience recruitment and retention could be a new way to attract more students to geoscience. International field and research experiences designed for undergraduates from any academic discipline aim to provide opportunities for students to explore their (geo)science interests and potential career paths. A single, exploratory case study approach with semi-structured interviews combined with quantitative pre- and post-survey results is used to highlight the experiences of four students and their plans for continuing in the geosciences. Students (including geoscience and non-geoscience majors) were found to have had inherent, pre-college, and college influences for participation in the field experience; all students indicated plans to continue in the geosciences. Two years after the experience, researchers followed-up with the students and found that three of the four were still involved in the geosciences. Many international geoscience field experiences are exclusively for majors, but experiential learning opportunities like these should also be considered for potential majors. These results are beneficial for departments interested in designing and adapting their recruitment and retention efforts to better train the next generation of geoscientists.","PeriodicalId":35858,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Geoscience Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-02-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48051877","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-02-07DOI: 10.1080/10899995.2022.2028519
Jason P. Jones, D. McConnell
Abstract In the past couple of decades, the geoscience education community has made great strides toward investigating how to provide effective student learning experiences in the college setting. While experiences such as student-centered teaching strategies and course design elements are useful for the instructor, they may not make important elements of the learning process itself explicit to the student. As a result, students may navigate a course without timely and necessary feedback related to their learning progress. To help remedy this issue, we designed and developed the Confidence-based Learning Accuracy Support System (CLASS) to provide students explicit feedback related to their mastery of geology content and the accuracy of their perceptions of their abilities. CLASS leverages robust evidence from education psychology regarding student metacognition and self-regulated learning (SRL). We investigated the relationship between students’ judgments of their performance and their actual performance during summative exams in an introductory physical geology course. This study collected student confidence data for every question of students’ midterm exams and compared this confidence to performance via multiple empirically-derived measures of the disparity between students’ perceptions of their performance and their actual performance. In addition to exam-based data, we developed and provided CLASS quizzes (with varying requirements) to provide students with feedback regarding their learning and accuracy during the target courses. Results indicated that students utilizing CLASS performed better than their predecessors for the first two exams and were generally more accurate in their approximations. Overall, results provide support for CLASS’s potential to serve as a tool for increasing student metacognitive awareness, self-regulation and performance in undergraduate geoscience courses.
{"title":"Investigating best practices in utilizing a web-based assessment tool in an introductory geology course: “CLASS,” course setting and course structure","authors":"Jason P. Jones, D. McConnell","doi":"10.1080/10899995.2022.2028519","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10899995.2022.2028519","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract In the past couple of decades, the geoscience education community has made great strides toward investigating how to provide effective student learning experiences in the college setting. While experiences such as student-centered teaching strategies and course design elements are useful for the instructor, they may not make important elements of the learning process itself explicit to the student. As a result, students may navigate a course without timely and necessary feedback related to their learning progress. To help remedy this issue, we designed and developed the Confidence-based Learning Accuracy Support System (CLASS) to provide students explicit feedback related to their mastery of geology content and the accuracy of their perceptions of their abilities. CLASS leverages robust evidence from education psychology regarding student metacognition and self-regulated learning (SRL). We investigated the relationship between students’ judgments of their performance and their actual performance during summative exams in an introductory physical geology course. This study collected student confidence data for every question of students’ midterm exams and compared this confidence to performance via multiple empirically-derived measures of the disparity between students’ perceptions of their performance and their actual performance. In addition to exam-based data, we developed and provided CLASS quizzes (with varying requirements) to provide students with feedback regarding their learning and accuracy during the target courses. Results indicated that students utilizing CLASS performed better than their predecessors for the first two exams and were generally more accurate in their approximations. Overall, results provide support for CLASS’s potential to serve as a tool for increasing student metacognitive awareness, self-regulation and performance in undergraduate geoscience courses.","PeriodicalId":35858,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Geoscience Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-02-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49367049","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-01-06DOI: 10.1080/10899995.2021.2020020
{"title":"Statement of Retraction: Rock Your Body: A first-year learning community integrating geology and fitness","authors":"","doi":"10.1080/10899995.2021.2020020","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10899995.2021.2020020","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":35858,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Geoscience Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44740409","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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