Transcript Field and Classroom Strategies to Improve Critical Thinking in

Field and Classroom Strategies to Improve
Critical Thinking in Introductory Geoscience
Courses
Becca Walker ([email protected])
Dept. of Earth Sciences and Astronomy, Mount San Antonio College
Collaborators: Mark Boryta, Terri Long (faculty); Ryan Fox, Tiffany Garbiso, Jon Hale,
Amos Jo, Ronnie Neihart, Diego Raya (students)
Project Overview
•In class, students seem to understand
geologic concepts and can identify rocks
and minerals in hand sample.
•Still, they struggle transferring that
knowledge to an outcrop.
•How can we teach students to use
existing knowledge to think critically and
make accurate interpretations in the
field?
Angular unconformity between
Miguelito shale and unconsolidated
sediment
•Used video, interview, and written data
to identify common problems and modify
our classroom and field instruction.
Hurdles to critical thinking in the field
•Procedure—not sure what to do when they get to the outcrop.
•What am I supposed to be writing, other than what color the rock is
and its name?
•Am I supposed to be looking at “the whole thing” or just one rock?
•Am I supposed to touch it?
•Metacognition—not engaging in self-regulation.
•Why do I think that this is a granite and not a rhyolite?
•Which pieces of information are most important for me to consider?
•Recall—difficulty retrieving information learned during class and
applying the information to a real, live outcrop.
•Confidence lacking—afraid to be wrong.
•Feel rushed—not enough time to reflect before the instructor
sums up.
First semester video
(no changes in instructional methods made; just observing)
Context: Student attempts to locate angular unconformity.
Prior to field trip, this student demonstrated
understanding of unconformities during class.
Realization #1: Some field trip instructional
methods/instructor behavior hinder critical thinking.
[Think for ~20 seconds and come up with an example or two.]
•Inadequate wait time (translates to inadequate think time)
•Too much peppering (rapid questioning)
•Lecturing
•Spending too little time at an outcrop
Realization #2: Discussing explicitly with students what it
means to think critically in geoscience is important.
•Example: spring 2010 oceanography
course; 20 students
Written prompt: “What does ‘critical
thinking’ mean?”
33% responded: “Thinking outside the
box.”
[Think for a few seconds about how a
geologist would think critically about this
outcrop.]
Realization #3: Students need more models and
repetition in the classroom to prepare for the field.
1
2
3
Examples:
1: video tutorials of outcrop
analysis
2: field notebook guides
3: student co-inquirers
Classroom strategies
Repetition with rocks, minerals, and photos before field trip.
--skill of the day/photo of the day
--This rock is ___. I know because ___. It formed ____.
Outcrop analysis training before field trip.
--“What would this [feature] look like in the field?”
--lab exercise: how to be a field geologist
--written and oral thinkalouds
More models provided before field trip.
--video tutorials of outcrop analysis
--“yellow cards” (what to include in a field notebook entry)
--hypothetical field notebook entries
Second semester video
(some classroom changes implemented)
Context: Students attempt to locate same angular unconformity.
Field strategies
•Student co-inquirers with specific roles and responsibilities
•Thinkalouds in the field
•Allow more processing time; avoid rapid questioning
•No lecturing: students “tell the story” at end of stop
•In some cases,
instructor walks away
(really difficult!)
Hardworking students:
not an instructor in sight
Third semester video
(substantial classroom and field instruction changes made)
Context: Students attempt to identify rhyolite tuff.
In class, they had successfully identified rhyolite tuff
and demonstrated understanding of tuff formation
and characteristics.
However, this particular tuff is much richer in
lithic fragments than the tuff they identified in class.