A NOVEL PEDAGOGY FOR ENHANCING STUDENT LEARNING AND CONCEPT UNDERSTANDING OF PLATE TECTONICS: AN EVIDENCE-BASED STUDY

One of the most critical science phenomena which geoscience students are expected to comprehend is plate tectonics (PT), a physically, chemically and mathematically complex process that is too immense and too slow to visually and temporally observe in real-time. PT is fundamental to all areas of geoscience and most geoscience students struggle with understanding its core concepts. Since PT theory, the unifying theory of geology, has had significant and far-reaching consequences in all fields of geoscience (it provides the basis for relating many seemingly unrelated phenomena) it is critical for all geoscience students to attain a fundamental and conceptual understanding of this theory. We have created a high fidelity (i.e., perceptual, manipulative and functional fidelity) engineered learning-module, referred to as the PT “Integrated Pedagogical Module” (IPM). The IPM is an educational instrument whereby a physics-based interactive computer simulation is used in tandem with an inquiry-based worksheet, namely the Guided Inquiry Worksheet (GIW). The GIW is a is a flexible “science as practice” tool which guides student learning and inquiry as they manipulate physical variables and perform experimental analyses via the interactive computer simulation. The interactive simulation is a computer program that models the plate tectonic process. The simulated modeling environment provides students the opportunity to observe and explore the PT processes, interactions, and consequences while at the same time allows them to manipulate/measure process variables as well as to modify the model’s time scale, i.e., to stop and/or slow or speed up the simulated process which in turn aids student learning by making the interpretation of certain aspects of the phenomena easier. This presentation discusses evidence-based research demonstrating the student learning benefit of our IPM for teaching plate tectonics. The effectiveness of the IPM pedagogy was attained by evaluating students’ knowledge-gain and depth of understanding of the underlying scientific concepts consummated through the IPM. Additionally, student learning behavior and exploration engagement was assessed via independent unbiased observation of the in situ pedagogical environment and student surveys.