A SERIES OF ASSIGNMENTS TO ENGENDER GEOLOGY INTEREST IN A GENERAL EDUCATION DISTRIBUTION CLASS

Both students and professors dread the introductory-level large lecture class. The professor is up front, droning on and on and on in front of a text-covered PowerPoint slide that seems to change before the student has written down even one quarter of the information. The students sit there as a result, slack-jawed and glassy-eyed, when not head-down and drooling onto their arms. As a format for learning, or for engendering interest in the sciences, large lecture halls leave a lot to be desired.

One means of reaching students is to provide them with assignments that students complete outside of class. In your typical assignment, students are asked to complete some sort of worksheet based on the reading material for class that day. This is about as exciting to the students as changing the style of pasta served in the cafeteria, possibly less. On the other hand, if students are asked to make choices, they begin to become engaged. When students feel like they have control over their own fate, their self-interest kicks in, and ensures that students are paying attention.

In the Basic Earth Science classes at Clarion University, students are given a list of ten assignments over the course of the semester. In order to maximize student interest, and to keep grading to a reasonable level for a large lecture class, students must choose four of these assignments to complete during the semester. Many of these assignments are designed to get students to embrace the earth science around them, either through having adventures or through reflection. Assignments include a variety of computer-based, indoor and outdoor activities to appeal to the diverse tastes of a large class.

By providing students with genuine choice in their assignments and giving students a chance to convey their own observations of the world, students become more engaged. Students given an opportunity to understand that science can be fun, that it can be involved in their own interests, and relevance to their lives, become more engaged. Engaged students are exactly what we need in our large lecture classes, where the temptation to zone out and not pay attention is higher than in most other college classes.