ROCK YOUR BODY: A FRESHMAN LEARNING COMMUNITY INTEGRATING GEOLOGY AND FITNESS

Learning communities enroll a single cohort of students in multiple classes together during a semester, with the professors integrating the curriculum between the classes to create a coherent learning experience for the students. “Rock Your Body” is a learning community for first year students at Westminster College integrating a section of our general education geology course, “Geology of the American West” with a health and wellness class, “Fitness for Life.” This seemingly unorthodox pairing of ostensibly very different classes has allowed us to incorporate a significant kinesthetic component into the curriculum of the geology class.

Kinesthetic learning is a tactile learning style distinct from auditory, visual or text-based learning. While some models of learning treat it as synonymous with hands-on or experiential learning, it differs significantly in that kinesthetic learners use their own bodies to model what they are learning, rather than manipulating an external model. Students in the learning community engage in the same hands-on lab exercises as students in other sections of “Geology of the American West.” However, they supplement these experiences with additional kinesthetic exercises. Among other activities, they learn how seismic waves travel while standing on a slackline. They model chemical equilibrium by playing Dodgeball. They meditate on isostatic processes during a session of paddleboard yoga.

We have assessed the outcomes of the learning community using pre and post-testing based on the Geoscience Concept Inventory. Data collected to date demonstrate that students in “Rock Your Body” come away from their introductory geology experience having made significant gains in their understanding of geologic phenomena and processes relative to students in other sections.