EARTH SCIENCE TEACHERS' PERCEPTIONS OF AN AUTONOMOUS FIELDWORK ASSIGNMENT IN A NATIONWIDE ONLINE PALEONTOLOGY COURSE

Application of geological content knowledge within any graduate course can present challenges, but application within a national online setting encounters the additional problems of a geographically widespread student population with multidimensional diverse learners. In a nationwide graduate paleontology class of teachers taught entirely online at a research university in the South, students (N=36) were required to apply their content knowledge in a self-selected local field area through the collection and identification of a small number of fossil specimens, and the subsequent development of a paleoeducational activity for their own middle or secondary students. When weather conditions or local geography thwarted the assigned fieldwork, students (n=4) were given the alternative assignment to investigate three informal educational sites (e.g., museums, nature centers, parks) for fossil samples and depositional environment analyses.

Approximately 86% of students scored higher in this hands-on fieldwork activity than in previous course laboratory assignments. In addition, 44% of students (n=16) chose to participate in an optional, anonymous survey designed to elicit feedback. Of the survey participants, 81% noted that this application exercise was not perceived as being more difficult when presentation of the material was in online format, but 88% of participants thought that a field-based exercise should be weighted more than a traditional application activity. All survey participants acknowledged that their science education background was valuable in designing paleontology-related educational activities, and 63% of survey participants demonstrated capability of geological synthesis of the field environment. Although not all students relished the field activity, 25% of survey participants spontaneously chose the field assignment as the course's outstanding characteristic.

Our exploratory study results indicate that autonomous geoscience fieldwork activities are possible in an online graduate course setting. Although flexibility and adaptability of instructor expectations are necessary, the majority of online students we studied did not encounter more difficulties with field application assignments than do students in traditional graduate paleontology courses.