THE IMPACT OF SEMESTER-LONG PLACE-BASED GEOSCIENCE CASE STUDIES ON GEOSCIENCE LEARNING IN AN ENVIRONMENTAL GEOLOGY COURSE

Place-based approaches to geoscience education have been an active area of research as a means for reaching out to underserved populations, particularly indigenous populations whose cultures have a deep historical connection to particular landscapes. Positive impact on affect, student interest in the geosciences, has been observed in the aforementioned populations in numerous studies. The question of whether place-based approaches improve student learning outcomes in the broader undergraduate population has received less attention. Further, how extensively place-based approaches must determine the instructional format of a geoscience course before significant impact on student affect and learning appears remains a significant question for instructors considering implementing place-based approaches in an already time constrained curriculum.

This study explores the impact on student learning of core geoscience concepts in an environmental geology course taught at the lower division at a community college whose population reflects the rural Midwestern United States. The place-based approach utilized was a dominant structural component of the course with the content organized around providing students tools to aid in exploring individual and class case studies. Each student was asked to prepare a semester-long case study on a real place of their own choosing while the class as a whole explored a location chosen by the instructor serving as a model for the individual projects. Assessments in the course placed equal weight on the individual case studies as on exams.

The impact of the place-based approach on student learning is measured in this study by comparing individual student performance on multiple choice questions adapted from the Geoscience Concept Inventory used on pre- and post-tests. Student performance and learning gains on questions related to geomorphologic features explored in the case studies is contrasted to their gains on general geoscience concepts related to Earth structure and formation for which evidence is not apparent in exploration of a particular location at the Earth’s surface. Affect on student attitudes toward the geosciences was not examined in this study. The results suggest that a high level of integration of a place-based approach does impact student learning with general education populations reflective of the population examined and research should be broadened to include how place-based approaches can benefit the entire undergraduate population rather than as a niche tool reserved for underserved populations.