A PEDAGOGICAL SHIFT IN TEACHING FIELD GEOLOGY COURSES FOR COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS: FROM “CRAM-AND-JAM” TO “OBSERVE, DESCRIBE, AND INTERPRET”

Geoscience teachers at all levels understand that providing meaningful field experiences for students is one of the most effective methods of enhancing student learning in geology in an often aesthetically stimulating learning venue. As such, I have led dozens of field-camp-style courses with Pierce College’s general education and geoscience major students for sixteen years to destinations throughout the western U.S., Hawai’i, and the Galapagos Islands.

These courses have no prerequisites, and their scheduling often does not permit the opportunity to build a classroom-based foundation prior to departure, so many students arrive at the trip destination with no geologic knowledge base. As a result, I have traditionally spent the first half-day in camp providing students with fundamental principles before going into the field. Although this “cram-and-jam” approach has been relatively successful, introductory students often have felt overwhelmed and lack confidence during the first couple days of these trips.

More recently, I have begun experimenting with a pedagogical shift to building students’ early geo-foundation in the field. This has been to bring the group on the first day to a key location and ask them to observe the landscape and/or its bedrock units, where they sketch the scene and write a detailed description of what lays before them. After discussing their collective observations, I instruct them to describe the processes by which the landscape and its rock units may have formed. This process is then repeated throughout the trip, during which time I reinforce their observations with appropriate discussions of geologic principles such as the rock cycle, geologic time, and relative dating.

The result of this paradigm shift to an “observe, describe, and interpret” approach has been positive. Although lacking technical detail, students are able to correctly identify at least some of the processes responsible for the evolution of the initial landscape presented to them. This approach avoids overwhelming them with a large volume of initial material while enhancing their geo-confidence; builds their observational, descriptive, interpretive and communication skills; fosters critical thinking and their use of the scientific method; and provides them with a more enjoyable and productive learning environment.