SMALL CHANGE, BIG IMPROVEMENT: IMPROVING TRANSFER OF PLATE TECTONICS CONCEPTS IN PHYSICAL GEOLOGY LABS

Plate tectonics was taught during a 165-minute lab class in 36 Physical Geology lab sections during the 2009 fall semester and 28 sections in the 2010 spring semester at North Carolina State University. Students completed three exercises (A, B, C) during and subsequent to lab to assess their understanding of key plate tectonics concepts. These exercises involved identifying the number of plates, locating and interpreting various features associated with plate boundaries, and drawing a cross section that illustrated multiple plate boundaries. A review of work products of 589 cooperating students in the fall semester was performed to determine how well students could transfer the skills and knowledge learned in the lab to later similar exercises. Each exercise was graded on a common scale by the same reviewer who did not teach the lab.

On the basis of the review, the labs were modified to address low scores on some aspects student work, especially the construction of cross sections. Fall labs created physical models of plate configurations using paper or modeling clay and then discussed the attributes of each model. Spring labs also generated physical models but students were asked to draw and label map and cross section views of their models. During spring semester we collected work products from 498 cooperating students and these materials were again analyzed by the same reviewer using a common rubric.

Our analysis of student work products from the two semesters revealed an improvement of scores on all three exercises from fall to spring. The average scores on exercise A, completed at the end of the lab, increased by 10.6%; the average scores on exercise B, completed the week subsequent to lab, increased by 8.7%; and the scores on exercise C which was included on the midterm exam, increased by 16.1%.