A STRATEGY FOR REVEALING STUDENT PRECONCEPTIONS ABOUT GEOLOGIC TOPICS

Allowing students to confront their preconceptions about a scientific phenomenon is a necessary step in order to fully comprehend a concept according to the National Academy of Sciences publication titled “How People Learn.” A white-boarding session where students can present and discuss their initial ideas about a concept is an ideal forum to facilitate this process. I have used these sessions to introduce new topics in my introductory-level geology courses and have found them to be valuable at gaining insight about students' scientific understanding. These informative experiences have guided and altered my lecture development about geologic topics.

I was introduced to the elements of How People Learn and white boarding as an Earth Science curriculum design team participant and as a facilitator-in-training during the 2006 Earth Science Summer Academy, sponsored by the North Cascades and Olympic Science Partnership (NCOSP). The NSF supported NCOSP project is designed to reform K-16 science education through teacher professional development by promoting learning through thinking. My goal as a participant was to experience these pedagogies to enhance my traditional lecture based-style, and student learning in my courses. Although the entire NCOSP Earth Science curriculum is supported by multiple research findings from How People Learn, I have found that select elements can be useful for improving student learning in traditional university lecture based courses.