ASSESSING INQUIRY IN INSTRUCTOR-GENERATED INTRODUCTORY GEOSCIENCE LABORATORY ACTIVITIES

High-quality instruction of intro geoscience courses is key to ensuring that undergraduate students have the opportunity to learn and apply scientific information and practices in addition to recruiting majors. Prior studies indicate that inquiry-based activities increase student knowledge and interest and are therefore one avenue to explore when considering instructional practices. Teaching labs from seven introductory geoscience courses at five US institutions were evaluated in this study, all of which included labs developed in-house or during a 2020 workshop on inquiry-based labs. Most of these labs included multiple activities. The level of inquiry for each of these activities was assessed using a rubric modified from Buck et al. (2008) and Ryker & McConnell (2017). Activities were categorized based on the amount of autonomy students were given throughout the scientific method, from confirmation (no student inquiry), structured, guided, open, to authentic (all student inquiry). Labs used online (N = 177) and in-person (N = 205) from Spring 2020-22 were examined and categorized into one of 11 topics (e.g. Rocks & Minerals, Maps, Field Trips).

Lab activities from online (n = 696) and in-person (n = 733) formats ranged from confirmation to open inquiry. Online labs relied more on lower inquiry activities with 8% confirmation, 70% structured, 19% guided, and only 4% open. In-person labs were more likely to include higher inquiry activities with 3% confirmation, 62% structured, 26% guided, and 9% open. Preliminary analyses indicate that the degree of inquiry used varies by lab topic, with in-person Field Trip and less common topics grouped as “Other” labs typically receiving higher inquiry scores. Variances in inquiry use within lab topics was also examined. Topics whose variance was more than one standard deviation above the average of all were identified. In-person Maps and Field Trip labs and online Introduction to Science labs had higher variances than average. This may indicate that expectations of instructors not only vary by topic but change with modality. Having a more complete understanding of lab inquiry levels may provide insights into how common geoscience lab topics were impacted by the transitions in teaching modality as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic.