HOW GAMIFICATION IN GEOSCIENCE LABORATORIES INFLUENCES UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT LEARNING AND INTEREST

Introductory geology courses have traditionally been composed mainly of students focused on fulfilling a university course requirement rather than already declared geology or geoscience majors. As such, exploring the best teaching practices aimed at encouraging student involvement is vital to major recruitment as well as training scientific skills for non-science majors. The use of game-like elements to introduce or work through content material, known as gamification, has been shown to increase student motivation and interest in the education setting, including laboratories, in addition to bridging achievement gaps between high and lower performance groups. A preliminary study exploring the gamification of a mineral identification lab at a large, research university in the southeast during spring 2023 indicated that, compared to a control lab, gamification can increase knowledge gains, and minimize learning gaps between initially higher and lower performers.

We re-designed 11 physical geology labs to incorporate different game-like elements. These labs cover traditional geology content areas, such as plate tectonics, rock types, and earthquakes. For Fall 2023, approximately 330 students are enrolled across 18 lab sections (n ~ 18 students/section) of the introductory physical geology course. Half of the sections will use the gamified labs, while the other half will use traditional labs without gamification (i.e. those used consistently in prior semesters of the course). Content knowledge is assessed at the beginning and end of each lab using a short series of multiple choice questions, with interest in the lab assessed as well at the end of the lab using a Likert scale.

This study explores two lines of inquiry: 1) the degree to which games or gamification can be applied to introductory geology labs, and 2) the extent to which student learning and interest are impacted as a result. We will highlight adaptations made to three early labs: introduction to the scientific method, plate tectonics, and mineral identification. We will also compare the pre-post learning gains and post-lab interest data from students on the same lab topics in the gamified and control condition. Results are expected to help us understand the extent to which gamification may be used to encourage student learning and interest, particularly in introductory, non-major courses.