HOW EFFECTIVE IS YOUR PEDAGOGY? USING THE MOTIVATED STRATEGIES FOR LEARNING QUESTIONNAIRE AND THE GEOSCIENCE CONCEPT INVENTORY TO MEASURE STUDENT ENGAGEMENT IN CLASS

As non-traditional pedagogical practices (such as online, hybrid, and flipped classes) are becoming more common in geoscience courses, so is the need to test the effectiveness of these approaches compared to traditional, lecture-style pedagogy. Introductory-level and general education courses provide an ideal environment to test the effectiveness of these novel pedagogical approaches, as typically more than one section of an introductory-level course is offered each semester. These multi-section courses offer a good opportunity to compare different pedagogical approaches, especially when taught by the same instructor. Specifically, we have compared online lectures, online lab sections, and flipped classes to traditional lecture-style classes at various institutions over several semesters to test the effectiveness of the novel pedagogical approach.

During the trials, students completed anonymous, traceable pre-course/activity and post-course/activity assessments to examine if students learn the same basic geologic concepts in the novel pedagogical approach as compared to students in the traditional class. These assessments are populated from the Geoscience Concept Inventory and include questions covering the main learning objectives of the course utilized for the trial. The pre- and post-course scores are statistically analyzed to determine if post-course assessment scores are statistically higher than pre-course assessment scores.

Additionally, the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ), an attitudinal survey administered to the students at the end of the semester, provides valuable information on how students view the learning environment, value the class materials, and utilize cognitive and metacognitive strategies. The MSLQ provides information beyond the basic goal of covering course objectives, including how a student values their geoscience class compared to other courses. Coupled with the pre- and post-course assessments, this information can provide a comprehensive evaluation of the value of the novel pedagogical approach.