CALIBRATED PEER REVIEW FOR THE EARTH SCIENCES: A PROTOTYPE ASSIGNMENT ON EARTHQUAKES AND PLATE TECTONICS

Calibrated Peer Review™ (CPR - http://cpr.molsci.ucla.edu/cpr_info/index.asp) enables instructors to assign writing assignments in a variety of courses by using the Internet. This learning tool is widely used by chemistry and biology departments around the country and was developed by chemistry faculty from six California institutions (http://intro.chem.okstate.edu/midp/ProjectDesc/MS.html). CPR enhances student learning by having students write on important course topics without increasing grading workload. CPR provides a set of digital tools that manage student input, the review process, and assignment evaluation for both student and instructor. Currently, CPR also includes an assignment-authoring tool that allows instructors to construct the various components of a CPR assignment and to store them in an assignment library. Students obtain a score on CPR assignments that is based on each component of the assignment: essay content and quality (determined by their peers and statistically averaged with more weight given to better reviewers); peer-review proficiency during calibration stage; success in reviewing three randomly selected essays written by their peers; and success in self-assessing the student’s own essay. Although the learning potential of CPR has been widely exploited in chemistry and biology classes, thus far the concept has limited implementation in the Earth sciences. We developed one prototype CPR assignment on Earthquakes and Plate Boundaries and implemented this assignment in two sections of an introductory geology class at Iowa State University in fall 2002. We are presenting statistical results from this implementation showing that students who completed the CPR assignment performed better on exam questions as compared to students who completed a different type of writing assignment. We are also presenting positive and negative feedback from student surveys on the use of CPR. Currently, we are developing two new assignments, one on floods and one on global warming, that will be pilot-tested at ISU and other institutions in fall 2003 and spring 2004.