STUDENTS TAKING OWNERSHIP OF IGNEOUS PETROLOGY: ACTIVE VOLCANOES WEB PAGE PROJECT ON WEBCT

Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology students at Cal State Fullerton gain an increased interest in igneous petrology and a heightened appreciation of its relevance through the creation of home pages focused on active volcanoes. Students write a fact sheet on their volcano, guide their classmates on a tour through their volcano homepage, and write exam questions based on other students’ presentations. This exercise appears to increase content mastery, provide multiple forums for scientific discussion, and build student confidence in their web-research and communication skills. This junior-level course is taught in a lab where each student has access to the course WebCT site through a networked personal computer. The WebCT software provides mechanisms for posting materials, organizing links to pertinent web sites, and building simple homepages.

Students use links (e.g., U.S.G.S, Electronic Volcano) compiled in WebCT to pick an active volcano and begin their web research. Initially, research is guided by the necessity to compile a fact sheet that follows a set format. The format guarantees a meaningful level of scientific content and facilitates later comparison among volcanoes. Having accumulated this basic information, students are encouraged to design their web site around some interesting aspect of their volcano, such as potential hazards, eruption style, or tectonic environment. The sites typically consist of 4 to 6 active links to pertinent web sites imbedded within 3 to 5 paragraphs of text. The only html command that students learn is that necessary to create an active link. Formatting options, beyond those available in WebCT, are not required; many students, however, seem to enjoy learning how to make their sites more visually stimulating.

During the presentations, the author leads her classmates through her web page, summarizing the text and guiding the audience to particular places on the linked sites for discussion. Students seem to find that links within the links are hard to resist, so time is left for students to explore linked sites on their own. Meanwhile, the professor serves as a discussion facilitator--focusing questions, and drawing comparisons with other presentations and/or course content. Later, the professor writes an exam study guide based on student-generated questions.