REFORMING INTRODUCTORY GEOSCIENCE LABS

One of the challenges of teaching introductory geoscience labs is the need to encourage a scientific mindset in students with diverse academic interests. Hands-on, active-learning environments have been shown to produce students who are better able to model scientific thinking, with higher order reasoning skills and a deeper understanding of the scientific process. We used the Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP) to assess the characteristics of learning environments for a series of introductory geoscience labs. The RTOP evaluates 25 items on a scale from 0 (Not Observed) to 4 (Very Descriptive), for a possible score of 0 to 100 points, with higher scores reflecting a more reformed (active) learning environment.

An assessment of Physical Geology labs was completed using RTOP in Fall 2009 and again in Spring 2011. The labs underwent several changes over that interval, including the development of lab-specific Suggestion Sheets given to the Teaching Assistants (TAs) during weekly meetings. The suggestion sheets contained instructions for lab management, sample questions to encourage divergent thinking, real world examples and common student misconceptions. A significant improvement was seen in multiple RTOP categories between 2009 and 2011. This suggests that simple modifications to the labs resulted in significant improvement to the reformed nature of the geology labs.

During Spring 2011, RTOP observations were collected for multiple physical geology TAs teaching the same lab topics. This was done to discover if having a well-defined lesson structure was sufficient to ensure that different TAs would teach the lab in a consistent fashion. Individual TAs incorporated their own teaching strategies, which produced small variations in the scores received even within the same lab topic. In order to compare whether TAs would achieve a similar goal with less formal guidance, multiple introductory labs in Marine Science and Earth System Science were also observed. There was a substantial difference in the range of RTOP scores for the Physical Geology (68-82) and the “other” labs (36-58).

These results have important implications for reinforcing best practices from teaching assistants in introductory geosciences labs to fully engage students in the scientific community.