UTILIZING CONCEPT MAPPING TO CONVERT A PASSIVE STYLE PHYSICAL GEOLOGY LECTURE TO AN ENGAGED AND ACTIVE CLASSROOM

At Florida Gulf Coast University new faculty have the opportunity to participate in the New Faculty Academy. This is a program offered by the Lucas Center within the University. This program envisions to offer guidance to new faculty to become affective teachers. Through this opportunity, lectures in an introductory general education course, Physical Geology, were transformed into a more student-centered environment by implementing activities that require critical thinking and classroom participation. One of the methods utilized with Physical Geology students was concept maps. In the classroom 35 students were divided into five or six groups and asked to work on the white-boards around the classroom. They were given a topic, such as the rock cycle, and asked to draw a concept map of the topic and include as much information as possible about their readings on the topic. The concept mapping resulted in a very interactive classroom and the opportunity to correct some misconceptions students had about the topics. Students were monitored to identify ones who needed more support during concept mapping. Each group was asked to emphasize a different topic. Once they were done, they presented their concept map to the rest of the class. Based on this jigsaw approach, students had the opportunity to teach each other different topics by allowing them to become proficient in one subject area and explaining it to the rest of the class.