ENGAGEMENT AND STUDENT SUCCESS THROUGH INFUSION OF ENERGY SCIENCE THEMES IN GENERAL SCIENCE COURSES AT TWO-YEAR COLLEGES

The overwhelming majority of students at 2-year colleges are non-majors, taking geoscience courses to fulfill part of the general education requirements of the Associates in Arts (AA) degree or General Education certificates for transfer to a 4-year school. Additionally, community colleges face the challenge of large numbers of students who are often under-prepared and low performing in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). We present a successful teaching strategy of infusing energy related themes and contextual learning across the curriculum of physical science courses that meet the general education requirement of the AA degree (e.g. physical geology, physical geography, or introductory physics) for non-major undergraduate study.

Thematic instruction increases student achievement by strengthening links between new concepts and existing knowledge rather than introducing skills and facts in isolation. This requires instructors to carefully plan curriculum in ways that connect learning with key thematic concepts. Successful themes are chosen to relate to students’ everyday lives, ensuring interest and engagement. Due to the immense impact of energy on everyday life, the topic is easily conceptualized by most students. Energy issues, ranging from the price of gas to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, have proven to be of great interest to many students. Closely related to thematic instruction is the idea of contextual learning designed to support students in activities and problem solving in ways that reflect the real-world nature of such tasks. Infusing energy themes across physical science curriculum is designed to reach students with diverse backgrounds, inspire interest in the energy field, broaden the scope of understanding of STEM, and prepare students to be responsible energy consumers. An added benefit is the increased interest and retention of students in STEM related fields by leading students into more advanced science, engineering, and technology courses as a means to pursue energy related themes.