STUDENT CONCEPTUAL ERRORS RELATED TO SEQUENCE STRATIGRAPHIC INTERPRETATION

Sequence stratigraphic interpretations utilize a range of complex diagrams that require a combination of spatial reasoning and conceptual understanding. Despite being introduced to the basic concepts of sequence stratigraphy in multiple courses, many students struggle with the concepts of base level or relative sea level. The nature of student errors can provide direction for targeted instruction. For this study, sixty-one advanced undergraduate and graduate students completed a pre-test and a post-test sequence stratigraphic interpretation task. In between, their instructor provided training using Wheeler diagrams. We analyzed the nature of the student errors on the pre- and post-test. Student errors were grouped into four categories: fundamental concepts, subaerial erosional unconformities, correlative conformities, and sequence identification. Overall, students successfully identified fundamental concepts (e.g., youngest/oldest layers and basin ward vs landward). Similar to other studies, which found students had errors in defining concepts related to base level, students in this study seemed to overestimate changes in base level in the diagrams. A unique error that appeared in the subaerial erosional unconformities category highlights students’ inability to identify erosional unconformities. On both the pre-test and post-test a minimum of twenty students incorrectly selected the contact between genetically related facies as an unconformity. Additionally, more students select this incorrect contact on the Wheeler diagram than the post-test sequence diagram despite the erosional unconformities being more apparent in the Wheeler diagram. This error was also common when students identified a full sequence on the diagrams. We will discuss some possible explanations for errors and suggestions for teaching strategies to avoid this misconception.