LESSONS LEARNED FROM ASSESSING SPREADSHEET MODULES IN GEOLOGY CLASSES

As part of a program to develop resources to enhance geology students’ quantitative reasoning skills, Vacher and Harden presented a set of Powerpoint/Excel spreadsheet modules exploring the density of the Earth and rocks at a poster session at the GSA Denver Convention (2002), seeking collaborators for assessment. Wetzel has now tested two of the modules in three undergraduate marine science courses at Eckerd College. The modules require students to manipulate equations for volume and density, complete unit conversions, and create graphs. Students began their work in a computer lab during a regular lab or class period, and completed them as homework assignments. Many of the freshmen were confused and frustrated by the modules; the sophomores were more patient. Of the freshmen who completed the modules, however, 89% felt more at ease using spreadsheets, and 78% correctly identified the appropriate depth vs. density graph for Earth. On the other hand, fewer than 50% of the sophomores understood the inverse relationship between density and volume both before and after completing the modules.

Overall, we have concluded that the combination of learning to use spreadsheets, overcoming math anxiety, grasping new geological/physical concepts, and, most of all, figuring out “how to solve it” all at the same time presents more of a barrier than a challenge for many of the students. In future implementation of these and similar modules, we will precede the modules with a homework exercise introducing spreadsheets (data entry, unit conversions) and an in-class, work-in-groups exercise introducing the relevant equations (pencil-paper-and-calculator manipulation and computation).