COLLEGE STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS LEARNING EARTH AND ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES AND THE STRATEGIES THEY EMPLOY

The purpose of our study is to assess college students’ attitudes towards learning Earth and atmospheric sciences at the college introductory-level as well as the learning strategies they use, prior to and after their participation in a study skills workshop series. For this study, a control group of ~150 students (not enrolled in the workshop series) and a treatment group of ~20 students (enrolled in the workshop series) will be compared. In this presentation, we will discuss the baseline attitudinal and learning strategies data collected at the beginning of the Spring 2014 semester from both the control and treatment groups. The data was collected using a survey adapted from the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (Pintrich et al., 1991). In addition, we will describe the goals, format, and expected outcomes of the study skills workshop designed for students enrolled in introductory-level Earth and atmospheric science courses.

In order for students to effectively develop expertise in scientific disciplines, they must utilize learning skills effectively (e.g., Zimmerman, 2002; Weinstein et al., 2011). Furthermore, students’ attitudes towards science have a demonstrated impact on their performance in science courses (e.g., Steiner and Sullivan, 1984). Those with growth mindsets have attitudes that are conducive to learning even in challenging subject areas and these types of mindsets can be learned (Dweck, 2006). The workshop series that we’ve developed is grounded in evidence-based learning strategies using active learning methods, and is aimed at improving student mindsets, attitudes, and learning strategies. Thus, the significance of this study lies in its characterization of students’ attitudes and learning strategies in courses taught in our home department as well as in the evaluation of a workshop series aimed at improving student attitudes and study strategies. The workshop series focuses on a few key learning strategies in order to provide students with ample opportunities to practice the strategies during the workshops with the goal of enhancing students’ understanding of when and how to implement the strategies and promote transfer to their geoscience courses.