INQUIRY-BASED GLACIER DEMONSTRATION USING FOOD IN AN INTRODUCTORY PHYSICAL GEOLOGY LAB SETTING

College students pay attention to demonstrations and lab activities that involve food. Glacial movement, erosion and deposition are demonstrated using ice-cream and cookies in this guided-inquiry laboratory for introductory physical geology students. Inquiry-based lessons have been shown to enhance student understanding of science and attitudes towards science by addressing different learning styles and engaging students in active learning. There are many permutations of an ice-cream glacier demo on the Internet, but here we show you how to turn this simple demonstration into a guided-inquiry full-length lab. The elements of this demonstration and lab involve many aspects of doing science, including making observations and hypotheses, as well as designing experiments to test those hypotheses. Students are prepped for the lab with a very simple discussion of different types of glaciers, glacial landforms, and guidelines for making hypotheses and designing experiments to test them. During the demonstration, students make observations as well as hypotheses about what type of glacier is being demonstrated and how the glacier moves. Each small lab group decides on one set of hypotheses, and then designs a scientific experiment to test each one. The lab was piloted in five sections of an introductory physical geology course at the University of Southern Indiana. Results of student work, teacher observations and curriculum-evaluation surveys will be presented. Preliminary results indicate that students enjoy the lab and come away with a better understanding of the scientific content as well as the nature of science.