Broadening Student Horizons: The Development, Delivery, and Assessment of a New Course in Earth System Science

Journal of Geoscience Education, May 2006 by Hurtt, G C, Wake, C, Wawrzeniak, T, Frappier, A, Et al

5. Relating ESS to the human condition represents one of the important student learning objectives for this course. We used multiple assessment methods to evaluate student performance on this objective (Table 1). Assessment techniques included questions on Exam 1 and Exam 2, weekly student team project updates, final projects, and concept maps. The most impressive illustration of students' progress appeared in the progression of their concept maps. Initial concept maps typically omitted human interactions (Figure 3a), or depicted human activity as being relatively isolated from the rest of the Earth System (Figure 2a). Later concept maps typically included some human element (Figures 2b and 3b). One student created the "anthroposphere" to depict that humans represent a key component of the Earth System (Figure 3b).

6. Students' demonstrated peer-to-peer cooperation in learning and research by effectively working with increasing efficiency in team study-groups, lab exercises, and team research, projects. Group interaction was evaluated qualitatively by noting the balance of presentation time and content for each member of the group during weekly updates. Following presentations, students were asked questions in order to further gauge their understanding. After answering, students would often ask fellow team members to elaborate if possible. By the end of the course, students readily formed groups to address challenging interdisciplinary topics when they arose without instructors provocation, and generally produced results that were better than any student could have produced alone. Student comments made during exit interviews indicated that group interactions were positive and effectively encouraged.

7. Uncertainty is a key concept in ESS and was the basis of Objective 7. Exam assessment results show that the course was effective in conveying the ESS nature of uncertainty. This objective tied with Objective 3 for the highest mean score (Figure 1).

Creating an inquiry-based learning environment The creation of an inquiry-based learning environment to motivate student learning was an important characteristic of the course. Students recognized the importance of this environment. Initial student interviews yielded responses such as students being "interested in the unique way of learning that he/she expects to experience taking this class, including peer learning" and students preferring lectures coinciding with topic discussion and concept application in a cooperative environment. Student feedback in course assessments indicated that we were successful at facilitating an effective social arrangement in the classroom. Most notably, students became comfortable enough to request changes in the course format. For example, one of the twenty questions on the mid-semester evaluation asked students to respond to the statement "I would like more discussions of readings". Options for answers ranged from strongly agree (1) to strongly disagree (5) The average numeric response was 2.6, suggesting that the students were seeking somewhat more discussion. Follow up informal conversations indicted they also were also interested in assuming a larger role in leading the discussions of the advanced readings. This suggestion was implemented by having the students voluntarily assign themselves discussion leaders for specific articles on the reading schedule, direct discussions, and provide short written summaries of each article to their classmates. Following these adjustments, the average end-of semester response shifted to 3.3. Through informal discussion, we also learned that students met outside of class to study advanced readings for the mid-term exam. Question 19 on the mid-term and end-of-semester course evaluation asked students to respond the statement "The instructors create an inquiry based learning environment". The average of their responses shifted from 2.1 to 1.7, reflecting a shift towards "agree".