Designing a Course in Geophysics Teaching Geophysics in the 21 st Century.

Designing a Course Designing a Course in Geophysicsin Geophysics

Teaching GeophysicsTeaching Geophysics in the 21 in the 21stst Century Century

Teaching is commonly viewed as being teacher-centered.

Reinforced by the teaching evaluation process

Commonly reinforced by how we phrase course goals: “I want to expose my students to….” or “I want to teach my students that…” or “I want to show students that…”


“It dawned on me about two weeks into the first year that it was not teaching that was taking place in the classroom, but learning.”

Pop star Sting, reflecting uponhis early career as a teacher



We can’t do a student’s learning for him/her

Exposure does not guarantee learning Students learn when they are actively

engaged in practice, application, and problem-solving (NRC How People Learn).

If we are trying to decide what we want to accomplish in a course, shouldn’t we be asking what we want the students to be able to do as a results of having completed the course, rather than what the instructor will expose them to?


Could start by trying to develop list of topics that should be included in a geophysics course.

Misses the real point of a course Focus should not be on exposing students to topics.Focus should be on developing students’ abilities to tackle problems in geophysics


Example from a structural geo courseCourse focused on covered of the major topics in structural geology

Vs.Course focused on enabling students to make observations of rocks and thin sections and collect field data to evaluate the conditions of deformation and the deformation mechanisms responsible for structures and fabrics and, where possible, the history of deformation in a sequence of rocks.


Setting goalsSetting goals

Your course should enable your students, at appropriate level, to do what you do in your discipline, not just expose them to what you know.

Start by answering the question “What do I want my students to be able to do when they are done with my course?”

Goals involving lowerGoals involving lowerorder thinking skillsorder thinking skills

Knowledge, comprehension, application

explainexplain

describedescribe

paraphraseparaphrase

listlist

identifyidentify

recognizerecognize

calculatecalculate

know aboutknow about

prepareprepare

Examples of goals involving Examples of goals involving lower order thinking skillslower order thinking skills

At the end of this course, I want students to be able to:

List the periods of the geologic time scaleIdentify common rocks and mineralsKnow where various plate boundaries are in the worldCalculate plate spreading ratesRecognize erosional and depositional glacial landforms on a topographic map

Examples of goals involving Examples of goals involving lower order thinking skillslower order thinking skills


Know about the role of phase changes in the seismic velocity profile of the mantleCite examples of poor land use practice in areas of geologic hazardsExplain how geologists use radioactive decay of elements to determine the ages of rocks.Describe how to determine earthquake focal depth

Goals involving higherGoals involving higherorder thinking skillsorder thinking skills

Analysis, synthesis, evaluation, some types of application

predictpredict

interpretinterpret

evaluateevaluate

derivederive

designdesign

formulateformulate

analyzeanalyze

synthesizesynthesize

createcreate

Examples of goals involving Examples of goals involving higher order thinking skillshigher order thinking skills


Interpret unfamiliar geologic maps and construct cross sectionsAnalyze the modern geologic processes in an unfamiliar area and assess potential hazards to humans (different from recalling those presented in class)Use data from recent Mars missions to re-evaluate pre-2004 hypotheses about Mars geologic processes and history/evolution

Examples of goals involving Examples of goals involving higher order thinking skillshigher order thinking skills


Make an informed decision about a controversial topic, other than those covered in class, involving hydrogeologic issues.Collect and analyze data in order to ___Design a field exploration project of ___Solve unfamiliar problems in ____ Find and evaluate information/data on ____Predict the outcome of ____

Goals involving lower order Goals involving lower order thinking skills are imbedded in thinking skills are imbedded in

ones involving higher order ones involving higher order thinking skillsthinking skills

“being able to interpret tectonic settings based on information on physiography,

seismicity, and volcanic activity” has imbedded in it many goals involving lower

order thinking skills

Why are the goals Why are the goals important?important?

If you want students to be good at something, they must practice;

therefore goals drive both course design and assessment

Task: Set one or two goals Task: Set one or two goals for a geophysics coursefor a geophysics course

Set goals for the students, not the professorStart with “Students will be able to…”Don’t use “I want to expose students to…” or “I want to show students that…”

Set higher-order thinking skills goalsUse verbs such as interpret, solve, predict, analyze, synthesize, construct, design, evaluate, formulate (higher order thinking skills)Avoid identify, classify, recognize, describe, calculate, list, explain, know about, have a strong background in (lower order thinking skills)


Avoid goals that are abstract and difficult to assess, e.g.,

Students will understand plate tectonicsStudents will think like scientistsStudents will appreciate the complexity of Earth systems


Student-focused! Higher order thinking skills! Concrete and assessable!

Goals to courseGoals to coursevia contentvia content

What general content topics could provide students background and practice in the tasks related to the goal?

Different approach than starting with a laundry list of topics to cover.

Goals to course Goals to course via contentvia content

Goal: students will be able to make observations of rocks and thin sections and collect field data to evaluate the conditions of deformation and the deformation mechanisms responsible for structures and fabrics and, where possible, the history of deformation in a sequence of rocks.

Content to achieve goal: three case studies 1) brittle deformation features in rocks of Capitol Reef National Monument, 2) brittle and ductile deformation features of the Tethyan fold and thrust belt and the Gurla Mandhata metamorphic core complex in southwestern Tibet, and 3) a final, wrap-up case study with field trip in Precambrian and Lower Paleozoic deformed rocks northeast of Albany, NY.

Goals to courseGoals to coursevia contentvia content

Goal: students will be able to use data from recent Mars missions (Mars Express, Mars Exploration Rovers, and MOC and THEMIS images from the past year) to re-evaluate pre-2004 hypotheses about Mars geologic processes and geologic evolution.

Possible content topics to achieve the goals: 1) the origin of drainage networks on Mars, 2) the extent of intermediate to silicic rocks on Mars, and 3) the origin of layered rocks on Mars.

Cutting Edge CourseCutting Edge CourseDesign TutorialDesign Tutorial

http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/coursedesign/tutorial.html

Example from aExample from ageo hazards coursegeo hazards course

Overarching goal: students will be able to research and evaluate news reports of a natural disaster and communicate their analyses to someone else

Be able to research and evaluate news Be able to research and evaluate news reports of a natural disaster and reports of a natural disaster and

communicate analyses to someone elsecommunicate analyses to someone else

Instructor #1 chose four specific disasters as content topics

1973 Susquehanna flood

Landsliding in coastal California

Mt. St. Helens

Armenia earthquake



Instructor #2 chose four themes as content topics

Impact of hurricanes on building codes and insurance

Perception and reality of fire damage on the environment

Mitigating the effects of volcanic eruptions

Geologic and sociologic realities of earthquake prediction



Instructor #3 chose to focus on a historical survey of natural disasters in Vermont

Historical record of flooding in NW Vermont

1983 landsliding

2-3 other places in Vermont that have had natural disasters of different types.

Goals and content topics unite to Goals and content topics unite to provide course frameworkprovide course framework

Previous exampleSingle goalDifferent content topics mean that each course will be different.Choice of content topics drives how the instructor will accomplish the goal.Students will receive different kinds of practice during the course even though the overall goal is the same

Goals and content topics Goals and content topics unite to provide course unite to provide course

frameworkframework

How about a different goal for the same hazards course?

Students should be able to evaluate and predict the influence of climate, hydrology, biology, and geology on the severity of a natural disaster.

Could we use the same content topics? Yes!

How would the courses be different? In the activities developed to accomplish the goals and the type of practice students receive!!

Fleshing out content topicsFleshing out content topics

Geology and Development of Modern Africa

Not a “Geology of Africa” course Overarching goal: students should

be able to analyze the underlying influence of geology on human events

Fleshing out content Fleshing out content topicstopics

Context is Africa, although goal is more general Content topic #1: influence of climate change

on prehistoric settlement patterns in North Africa

Geologic content knowledge: 14C dating, fossils, lacustrine sedimentation, stratigraphic columns, using sedimentary rocks to interpret paleoenvironments, geologic time scale,….

Fleshing out content Fleshing out content topicstopics

Content topic #2: influence of development of East African Rift on hominid evolution

Geologic content knowledge: formation and evolution of continental rifts, radiometirc dating, rift volcanisms, stratigraphic columns, fossils, using sedimentary rocks to interpret paleoenvironments, geologic time scale, fluvial and alluvial processes, faulting, geologic history of East Africa, evolution

Content coverageContent coverage

Progression through content topics tends to be profoundly non-linear

Students learn what they need to know at any one time and re-visit content topics in increasing depth and breadth throughout the course.

Content coverageContent coverage

Do students need to know everything there is to know about each topic before they can do anything?? Nope!

Do students learn everything there is to know about each topic?? Nope!

Are either of these bad things? Nope! Depth in context of the goal vs. breadth

in context of list of content items

Achieving course goals through Achieving course goals through selecting content topicsselecting content topics

List your overarching goal(s). For each, list possible content topics

that you could use to reach that goal. For each content topic, begin a list of

content knowledge that students must master to achieve the goal using that topic.

Designing Designing assignments/activitiesassignments/activities

For each overarching goal, how will you lead students to the point where they can do ____ on their own?

Alternative phrasing: how will you give students practice in doing ____?

Importance of having a Importance of having a teaching toolboxteaching toolbox

If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

Same goes for teaching. If the only tool in your teaching toolbox is lecturing, then….

Importance of having a Importance of having a teaching toolboxteaching toolbox

Learn about successful student-active assignment/activity strategies

think-pair-share, jigsaw, discussion, simulations, role-playing, concept mapping, concept sketches, debates, long-term projects, research-like experiences….assignments involving writing, poster, oral presentation, service learning….

Make deliberate choices of the best strategy for the task.

AssessmentAssessment

What students receive grades on must be tasks that allow you to evaluate whether students have met the course goals

Don’t assess what is easily measured – assess what you value.

Setting goalsSetting goals

Example from an art history courseSurvey of art from a particular time period

Vs.Enabling students to evaluate an unfamiliar work in its historical context or reconstruct an unfamiliar historical event from different viewpoints or a familiar historical event from a new viewpoint or seek out and evaluate information about an unfamiliar historical event

AssessmentAssessment

If students are graded largely on their abilities to recall, define, recognize, and follow cook-book steps, you have not evaluated their progress toward goals involving higher order thinking skills.

How well does thisHow well does thisprocess work?process work?

Goals-setting is hard but worth the effort Once the goals are set (provided that

they are specific, measurable, higher order thinking skills goals), the course and the assessment “falls together”

How well does thisHow well does thisprocess work?process work?

Authentic assessment is easy to integrate if goals are kept in mind

Workshop participants’ ideas about course design are completely transformed.

Participants report applying the same design principles to other courses and to department curricula.

An aside on An aside on terminologyterminology

Design model is goals-focused Terminology: goals vs. objectives vs.

outcomes vs. learning goals vs. learning objectives vs. learning outcomes

Geology faculty at our workshops largely not fluent in edu-speak

Some have encountered terms defined differently in different venues

Our workshop participants wasted time and energy coping with the distinctions


The problem with the word “learning”The brown bread example

brown bread

brown bread

brown bread


The problem with the word “learning”“I am in the middle of learning research techniques in geomicrobiology.”

“I am finding out more about learning research in the geosciences.”

Ditto learning objectives and learning outcomes


For our workshops, we collapsed goals, objectives and outcomes into one standard English term “goals”.

Goals for us will be concrete and measurable (“My goal in life is to make a million $$”; “My goal next year is to make the Olympic sock wrestling team.”)

Avoided “learning” as an adjective.

Step I: Context and Step I: Context and audienceaudience

Our course design process begins with answering the following:

who are my students?

what do they need?

what are the constraints and support structure?

What’s missing??What’s missing??

articulation of what your students need articulation of goals beyond

content/coverage goals deliberate consideration of strategies to

achieve goals beyond content goals plan for evaluation of success

An alternativeAn alternativegoals-based approachgoals-based approach

Brings same kind of introspection, intellectual rigor, systematic documentation, and evaluation to teaching that each of us brings to our research

Really shakes the tree and designs the course from the bottom up

Assessment falls out naturally

The processThe process

Context Goals Activities/assignments/assessment

Does it work?Does it work?

Workshop for geoscience faculty on Designing Effective and Innovative Courses in the Geosciences

7 years of workshops; now part of NSF-funded On the Cutting Edge program (http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops)

An effective design template !!Not the only way to design a course!!

The course design processThe course design processá la Cutting Edgeá la Cutting Edge

Remember: this is not meant to be the be all or end all – just one way

to go about it!

Common denominatorCommon denominator

What sorts of things do you do simply because you are a professional in your discipline??

I use the geologic record to reconstruct the pastI use geologic past to predict the futureI look at houses on floodplains, and wonder how people could be so stupidI hear the latest news from Mars and say, well that must mean that….

What do What do youyou do?? do??

Physicist: predict outcomes based on calculations from physics principles

Art historian: assess works of art Historian: interpret historical account in

light of the source of information English prof: analyze prose/poetry French prof: communicate in the

language or analyze literature

Concrete goals with Concrete goals with measurable outcomesmeasurable outcomes

Easier to design a course when overarching goals are stated as specific, observable actions that students should be able to perform if they have mastered the content and skills of a course.

I want students to be able to interpret unfamiliar tectonic settings based on information on physiography, volcanic activity, and seismicity.

Vs.I want students to understand plate tectonics.

Abstract vs. concrete Abstract vs. concrete goalsgoals

Abstract goals are laudable but difficult to assess directly and difficult translate into practical course design

I want students to appreciate the complexity of Earth systems.

I want students to know about plate tectonics.

I want students to understand plate tectonics.

I want students to think like scientists.

Which are measurable, higher Which are measurable, higher order thinking skills goals?order thinking skills goals?

I want students to be able to:analyze historical records in an area and predict the likelihood of future natural disaster events.apply geologic knowledge to municipal planning and land use decisions.understand the connection between plate tectonics and geologic hazards.analyze a local area for geologic hazard potential.describe the seven major disasters covered in the course.assess the geologic hazard risk for any property that they might buy and decide on what kind of insurance to purchase.

Which are measurable, higher Which are measurable, higher order thinking skills goals?order thinking skills goals?

I want students to be able to:appreciate the awesome power of nature.

research and evaluate news reports of a natural disaster and communicate their analyses to someone else.

think like a scientist; do critical thinking.

understand why geologic catastrophes happen in some places but not in others.

understand the consequences of building on a floodplain.

Setting overarching goalsSetting overarching goals

The overarching goals are the underpinning of your course and serve as the basis for developing activities to meet those goals.

There is no one right set of overarching goals for a particular course topic.

1-3 overarching goals is ideal.

Designing a Course in Geophysics Teaching Geophysics in the 21 st Century.

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