TEACHING GEOLOGICAL PROBLEM-SOLVING IN HISTORICAL GEOLOGY

Transforming the traditional historical geology course into a forum for active learning is challenging. In a typical historical geology course, students hear about the tools of historical geology – stratigraphic principles, depositional environments, tectonic stratigraphy – and then hear about the events that have shaped the Earth, but have little opportunity to analyze geological problems. Courses typically involve much lecturing on the events of different geologic periods, and students struggle to remain engaged. At California State University, Sacramento, we have gradually transitioned from a traditional lecture course to one rooted in problem-based learning. Students first learn and practice the tools needed to interpret geologic histories. For example, they learn to interpret depositional environments and tectonic setting, then apply those skills to specific stratigraphic sequences. Then the history of the Earth is taught as a series of stratigraphic problems solved by student teams. For example, one team of students analyzes the rocks of the Colorado Plateau, while another unravels the Early Paleozoic history of the northern Appalachians. Each team then teaches their piece of Earth's history to the rest of the class. This set of stratigraphic problems is still under development, but the problems already developed have been quite successful.