SYNTHESIZING MULTI-SCALE GEOLOGIC CONCEPTS BY CREATING ITERATIVE, ZOOMING, CONCEPT MAPS

Geology requires learners to explore and understand processes operating on, and features expressed at, dramatically different scales. Great understanding comes with the ability to simultaneously observe and interpret submicroscopic (e.g., chemistry; mineral structures), microscopic (mineral assemblages; textures), macroscopic (hand samples) and megascopic (landscapes; tectonic settings) views of the natural world. Learning to navigate this zoomed‐in/zoomed‐out world and achieve nuanced understanding can be challenging for students, particularly as they transition from introductory to upper-level courses. Likewise, it can be challenging for educators to provide effective strategies for organizing, internalizing and synthesizing multi‐scale material.

In response to these challenges, we have developed a multi-scale concept map project using Prezi, a free online resource designed to create zooming presentations. This project has been tested in undergraduate Mineralogy and Petrology classes, but is applicable to any discipline in which multi-scale content plays an important role.

Students use Prezi to create interactive, zooming, concept maps. The free‐form Prezi platform allows students to exercise creativity and take ownership over material. Students may integrate maps, photographs (landscapes, hand samples, thin sections), SEM imagery, data tables, graphs, diagrams, videos and text. Special emphasis is placed on representing the relationships between submicro-, micro-, macro‐and megascopic aspects of course content using Prezi’s zooming function. Concept maps are pieced together incrementally (new contributions required after each major course theme) and iteratively (students required to respond to feedback and re-evaluate information and relationships). This project reinforces that neither learning nor course content is linear, as students integrate and frequently recall, reassess, and reevaluate a semester’s worth of multi-scale material.

Most students report that this project strengthens their ability to navigate multi-scale concepts and understand geologic issues. In the next stage of development, this project will be used to bridge Mineralogy and Petrology in a two-semester course (and project) sequence.