UNDERGRADUATE CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING OF SURFACE PROCESSES

Undergraduate students enrolled in introductory geology courses hold a wide range of conceptions about surface processes. Geologic surface processes include weathering, erosion, and depositional processes, including landscape formation and sedimentation. To gain an understanding of students’ conceptual understanding, we studied two sections of a large-enrollment, introduction to geology course for science majors at a large, research intensive university. Students answered questions about surface processes with relevant diagrams on a pre-assessment at the start of the semester, and also at the end of the semester. During the course, students responded to open-ended versions of the questions administered through a classroom response system by clicking on their Smart device screens. Our primary research question was: is there a significant improvement in students’ responses from the pre-assessment to the post-assessment? A second research question was: what is the nature of students’ conceptual errors on surface processes questions? The students’ correct and incorrect answers were tallied and then a chi-squared analysis was run to test for significant change. Out of 231 total students, 140 students selected the correct answer in the pre-assessment bedrock weathering question, and 178 students selected the correct answer in the post-assessment bedrock weathering question. Chi-square analysis of the bedrock weathering scores indicated a significant (P<0.05) increase in students’ scores (p=0.001). Out of the same 231 students, 146 selected the correct answer in the pre-assessment river base level question, and 200 students selected the correct answer in the post-assessment river base level questions. Chi-square analysis of the base level scores indicated a significant increase in students’ scores (p<0.001). Qualitative analysis of open-ended click-on-diagram questions indicate the common errors in students’ responses. For the weathering question, students select the older layer rather than the one with less differential weathering. For the river erosion question, students demonstrate a weak understanding of base level. Our study indicates that, within the time period of the course, the students gain greater understanding of surface processes as measured by our assessment questions.