Studies have emphasized the need to improve science literacy among non-science majors. Science education research suggests that instructors need to focus on remedies that increase student-student interaction in class, and encourage conceptual understanding rather than rote memorization of facts. Several assessment tools were used to determine if inquiry-based learning methods used in two sections of an Earth Science course were meeting these goals. Each section of the course had an initial enrollment of 160 students and was taught by a different instructor in back-to-back time periods.

Three types of assessments were conducted, each focusing on a different audience. First, geology faculty met prior to the semester to determine departmental priorities in teaching (Teaching Goals Inventory, TGI). Second, a series of student-centered surveys were used at the beginning and end of the semester to measure student logical thinking skills (Group Assessment of Logical Thinking, GALT), student attitudes about science (Test of Science-related attitudes, ToSRA), and student perceptions about science (Nature of Scientific Knowledge Scale, NSKS). Third, a colleague in the College of Education visited the classrooms of both Earth Science instructors during the semester to observe and score teaching methods using the Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP).

Results from the TGI clearly demonstrated that faculty favored classroom activities that would foster higher-order thinking skills such as methods that encourage problem solving, promote understanding of the scientific method, and ensure that students understand the fundamental concepts about how Earth works. The GALT survey results showed that students entered the class with cognitive skills that ranged from basic to sophisticated. Students were assigned to formal groups for the semester based on their initial GALT scores. GALT scores improved by 15%, with the greatest gains coming in the groups that scored the lowest on the pre-test. Results of the ToSRA and NSKS surveys were equivocal. Few of the items on either survey showed any statistically significant changes and those that did sometimes contradicted each other. Both instructors were scored informally on the 25-item RTOP scale. Scores for the semester ranged between 44-79 on a 100-point scale