UTLILIZING UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS' ALTERNATIVE CONCEPTIONS TO MODIFY INSTRUCTION IN GEOSCIENCE COURSES

Assessment is a key issue in geosciences education, whether it is used to assess student learning and skill development or to evaluate effectiveness of instruction. Identifying alternative conceptions and using them to modify instruction is already an integral part of education courses. In conjunction with National Science Teacher Association accreditation criteria, we require our secondary science student teachers to conduct pre- and post-tests to collect data on their teaching effectiveness and student progress. Several instruments have been developed (e.g. the Geoscience Concept Inventory-GCI) to provide geosciences instructors with tools to evaluate their students’ prior knowledge and identify alternative conceptions. Now that these instruments are being revised and validated, the next step is to use the results to modify instruction in geosciences courses. We used the Geoscience Concept Inventory (GCI) and two instruments that we are developing in earth and space science to modify instruction in two classes, Introduction to Science - Geology and Meteorology. Examples include: 1) using “rule of v’s” to examine direction of river flow and to replace commonly held misconceptions that rivers flow toward the south; 2) using map resources to allow students to discover that glaciers are not just found at the poles; 3) calculating the amount of water vapor for a given temperature and relative humidity to demonstrate that Antarctica is a desert, not a tundra biome, a misconception held by preservice elementary teachers; and 4) using video testimonies to debunk the myth that lightning cannot strike the same place twice. Education research shows that alternative conceptions are not innate: they are learned through experiences. If we want to achieve conceptual change in geoscience education, we must include this strategy of first identifying prior knowledge and then designing new experiences to address specific alternative conceptions.