MEASURING STUDENT LEARNING AND ATTITUDES OF PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS AFTER AN ADDITIONAL ASSIGNMENT TO THE ROCK AND MINERAL IDENTIFICATION LABS DURING EARTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL COURSE

The purpose of this study is to increase student learning and positive attitudes when teaching rocks and minerals in geology through the addition of a practical assignment to the rock and mineral identification lab. Wright State University pre-service teachers are required to take Earth and Environmental Science I Concepts for Educators. Education majors need to understand the concepts taught for future classes they will teach; for middle school science education majors it is a requirement to understand this because it is part of their licensure test. The new assignment was given after the rock identification lab and involves researching the common uses of a selected mineral. The students were given a prompt and rubric to help them with their research after which they presented their findings to the class. Preliminary data from pre and post tests about geologic concepts and rocks and minerals show some learning gains as a combination of Geoscience Concept Inventory questions (GCI) and non GCI questions (GEOSCIENCE CONCEPT INVENTORY Wiki, 2016). Student Assessment of Learning Gains (SALG) results show some gains in comfort and less anxiety towards the subject, (Seymour, E., Wiese, D. J., Hunter, A., & Daffinrud, S. M., 2000.). Students expressed good to moderate gains when asked about confidence and comfort level in the material after the assignment, but students also expressed little to no gain when asked about their enthusiasm or interest in taking more classes in the subject. Students’ written responses, stated they felt less intimidated by geologic concepts or that the subject does not interest them and they would not wish to take a similar class. This study in assessing student learning in geology classes and attitudes toward the subject is important for promoting better learning for pre-service teachers who will ultimately foster better learning skills for future students.

References

GEOSCIENCE CONCEPT INVENTORY Wiki. (2016.). Retrieved September 21, 2015. http://geoscienceconceptinventory.wikispaces.com/FUNDAMENTAL+CONCEPTS

 Seymour, E., Wiese, D. J., Hunter, A., & Daffinrud, S. M. (2000). Creating a Better Mousetrap: On-line Student Assessment of their Learning Gains. National Meetings of the American Chemical Society Symposium,. Retrieved December 12, 2015, from http://www.salgsite.org