THE SPECIAL PLACE PROJECT: ASSESSING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF A PLACE-BASED WRITING PROJECT ON GEOSCIENCE LEARNING BY GENERAL EDUCATION STUDENTS IN 2-YR AND 4-YR COLLEGE ENVIRONMENTS

Place-based approaches which tie into a student’s pre-existing knowledge and relationship to the land have been proposed to be an effective approach for engaging general education students in the geosciences. While these techniques have been found to be particularly effective with Native Americans, it is unclear whether other student populations outside the classical 18-23 year-old middle/upper class white college population benefit to a similar degree. This presentation compares the efficacy of one such technique in meeting geoscience education goals for students attending 2 and 4 YR institutions. Results using the technique with classical general education students from strong academic backgrounds in a highly-selective, private, 4-year college are compared to general education students in the diverse, often academically-challenged, population of an open enrollment, 2-year community college. The same instructor changed from a full time non-tenure track contract employee to a part-time adjunct at the 4 and 2-YR schools respectively.

The special-place project in this study was designed for use in large introductory physical geology courses. Each student is required to select a specific place, familiar to them, for an in-depth study of the common course content. Students identify how their site came to be, the geologic processes that act upon it today, and how climate change in the past and future might impact the site. At the start of the course, each student writes an initial essay describing his site and beliefs about its origination. Short essays explaining the contribution of each content area to the explanation of the student’s place are drafted over the semester and contribute to writing a final essay expressing the student’s understanding of their place, its origin and future, based on what they have learned during the semester. Student learning outcomes from each population were measured by changes in scores on standardized pre and post-semester multiple-choice questions drawn from the Geoscience Concept Inventory. While the student’s selection of specific places and writing abilities do reflect the socioeconomic and academic background associated with their institutions, the results suggest that the special place technique offers students improved learning in both 4 YR and 2 YR college environments.