USE OF INTEGRATE MATERIALS TO TEACH ABOUT SUSTAINABILITY IN AN UPPER DIVISION GEOLOGY COURSE FOR CIVIL ENGINEERING STUDENTS

For the past three years we have used InTeGrate materials in a junior level “Geology for Engineers” class that applies physical geology and geophysics to engineering problems. InTeGrate, an NSF funded STEP Center Program, has developed a variety of undergraduate geoscience curricula to help increase undergraduate geoscience literacy and the number of professionals who use geosciences to help solve societal issues, including material on sustainability that is appropriate for use with engineering students. Our course consists of two 50 minute “lecture” periods and a 3 hour laboratory that meets each week. Since no textbook is required for the course, the class depends heavily on annotated lecture materials, study guides and supplements; all posted on-line. Quizzes are given each week to insure the students keep up with the materials. One 50 minute class period each week is devoted to an interactive lecture that uses think/pair/share, voting cards, and general class discussions. The other 50 minute period is devoted to group work. This class format was instituted a year before InTeGrate materials were incorporated. About 40% of the group activities are now based on InTeGrate curricula (adapted from units that focus on sustainability of mineral resources and fresh water). In 2014 and 2015 Doser developed and taught the course. In 2016 Hussein used these same materials to teach the course for the first time. From 2013 to 2015 we observed an increase in the students’ final course grades over time. Course grades in 2016 were similar to 2015, indicating that students performed well regardless of the instructor. Although only 40% of the group activities used InTeGrate materials, over half the 2016 class indicated they liked these activities the most. Student responses indicate they clearly find the materials engaging and that they appear to retain information from the materials until at least the end of the semester.