ENGAGING GEOSCIENCE MAJORS EMBEDDED IN A LARGE GENERAL EDUCATION LAB COURSE

Teaching a physical geology lab class to 400+ students distributed among 18 labs per semester poses obvious challenges in providing same teaching practices. Subsequently, learning outcomes are varied among the student groups, especially when 80%-90% of the students are only seeking general education credits. Complicating this problem is the need to challenge and engage the small percentage (<5%) of students that are geoscience majors and the 10%-15% of students who also need the geoscience content for related majors. As expected, and supported by education research, learning outcomes are varied among these large general education curricula courses, and in some cases, better learning outcomes are observed among the general education student groups compared to the ’majors’ groups.

Student census data, student survey data (pre-, mid and post-lab instruction), and student assessments were reviewed over a two year period to evaluate relationships between learning outcomes and various criteria (e. g., math and science background). This data was also used to compare the general education student group with the ‘majors’ group to attempt to predict differences in learning outcomes. In addition, to enhance the learning outcomes among the ‘majors’ group embedded in the large physical geology lab course, supplementary (i. e., extra credit) educational activities and practices were introduced to challenge and engage the majors group. Supplementary practices included a conducted field trip, self-guided field trip and weekly research questions. Student satisfaction surveys and lab instructor observations were also considered when evaluating learning outcomes among this large general education lab course.