GEOLOGIC TIME AND GEOLOGIC BLINDNESS: INFUSING INQUIRY AND A NARRATIVE OF THE NATURE OF SCIENCE INTO AN UNDERGRADUATE INTRODUCTORY GEOLOGY CLASS

In order to ascertain geologic blindness (a construct of disinterest, unawareness, inexperience, and disdain for geology and geological processes) among undergraduate students in an introductory geology class for non-majors, mixed-methods research was conducted at a large Midwestern research-based land grant university. Individual items and item clusters measuring attitudes and perceived understanding of geology indicated little change in either variable, although a moderately strong significant correlation of the two. Participants did express preferences for learning activities and teaching style, and favorable views toward certain content areas, one of which was geologic time. Students indicated interest in the narrative aspect of geologic time, viewing the topic as one of geology’s big ideas that was easier to comprehend. Several outcomes of this study are incorporated into the pedagogy and activities that may help to improve student understanding and attitudes toward geologic time and geology as a whole, including beginning the course with a geologic time unit, and having students develop outcrop sketches to determine relative age, predicting placement of events and fossils along a timeline, as well as providing students with the back story to the question of how old the Earth is, and how science and scientists determined it.