<Courses Index>

Issues in Geoscience Education (GEO270)

Fall 2003

William Prothero Office: 1051 Web Office Hours: 2-4 Thursday telephone: 893-3308 email: prothero@geol.ucsb.edu

Gregory Kelly Office: 2213 Phelps Office Hours: M 2:30 - 4 or by appointment telephone: 893-3882 email: gkelly@education.ucsb.edu

Time: 9AM-12AM on Wednesday

Place: Webb 1030

Units: 3

Course description:

This course will focus on issues in geoscience education in the context of educational reform in the broader science education community.

Some of the topics we will discuss are:

• Learning theories

• Education reform

• “New” teaching methods, group work, hands on, inquiry, writing to learn

• Teaching resources, technology, online resources, digital libraries

• Course and materials evaluation

• Online learning, online environments.

If you are a student with a disability and would like to discuss special academic accommodations, please contact Drs. Kelly or Prothero during their office hours.

Required textbooks:

How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School. National Research Council. National Academy Press. Washington D.C. 2000. This book is available in the book store, listed under Education 210A.

Course reader:

The course reader includes required reading and will provide research articles that explore issues in more depth than the textbooks. It can be purchased at the Associated Students Notetaking and Publishing Office at the UCEN.

Quality Rubric

As a class will be creating a “quality rubric” that can be applied to the evaluation of teaching methods, technologies, and curricula. This will be an on-going project completed by all members participating in the class.

Assignments for the class will include:

1) Weekly student participation in discussions based on reading assignments. The tentative reading assignments are listed below, due on the date specified. Each week, a student will be responsible for presenting one or more of the papers to the class.

For each reading assignment:

All students: Please analyze each of the papers using the course “Quality Rubric” that the class is developing. You should both apply the rubric to the articles in question, as well as consider what modifications the articles suggest for the emerging rubric. Please come prepared to ask one or more questions about each of the papers.

Presenting student: present an outline of the important points or issues addressed by the paper.

2) Each student is required to complete a course project of your own choosing. We will provide more details as the course progresses, but each student is expected to

• submit a 1-page proposal of the class project, due Oct. 15

• make a presentation of the final project to the class, dates TBA

• write and submit a paper by December 3.

Possible course projects topics are listed below. In each case there is an expectation that the project will be justified by readings completed in this class or other educational theory.

• Critique and suggested changes in an existing geology/geoscience course or curriculum.

• Development of an instructional unit at any K-14 level.

• Application of an educational technology to a learning situation.

• Review of recent literature on a relevant topic for geoscience education (i.e., computers and geology, distance education, applications of technology in educational settings).

Tentative class schedule and reading list

Week 1 (September 24): Introduction

Overview of course and course expectations. Modeling with STELLA.

Week 2 (Oct. 1): Science education: Perspectives and an application

Readings:

American Association for the Advancement of Science. (1989). Science for all Americans. New York: Oxford University Press. Chapter 1, pp. 3-13, Chapter 4, pp. 35 – 51.

Ault, C.R. (1998). Criteria of excellence for geological inquiry: The necessity of ambiguity. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 35, 189-212.

Bice, D. (2001). Using STELLA Models to Explore the Dynamics of Earth Systems: Experimenting with Earth's Climate System Using a Simple Computer Model. Journal of Geoscience Education, March 2001.

Week 3 (Oct. 8): The science of learning and visualization

Readings:

Bransford, J. D., Brown, A. L., & Cocking, R. R. (Eds.). (1999). How people learn. Washington, DC: National Academy Press. Chapter 1, pp. 3-31

Wells, N (2002). Studying Earthquakes, While also Learning about Data and Visualization. Journal of Geoscience Education, May 2002.

Week 4 (Oct 15): Teaching for active learning

Readings:

Rudd, J, Greenbowe, and Hand (2001/2002). Recrafting the General Chemistry laboratory Report. Journal of College Science Teaching, December 2001/January 2002.

Towns, Marden, Sauder, Stout, Long, Waxman, Kahlow, and Zielinski (2000/2001). Interinstitutional Peer Review on the Internet. Journal of College Science Teaching, December 2000/January 2001.

Yuretich, R. (2001). Active-Learning Methods to Improve Student Performance and Scientific Interest in a Large Introductory Course. Journal of Geoscience Education, March 2001.

Week 5 (Oct. 22): Students’ conceptions and learning environments

Readings:

Bransford, J. D., Brown, A. L., & Cocking, R. R. (Eds.). (1999). How people learn. Washington, DC: National Academy Press. Chapter 6, pp. 131-154

Nussbaum, J. (1985). The Earth as a Cosmic Body. In Driver, R., Guesne, E., & Tiberghien, A. (Eds.). Children’s Ideals in Science (170-192). Open University Press: Philadelphia.

Gobert, J. D. (2000). A typology of causal models for plate tectonics: Inferential power and barriers to understanding, International Journal of Science Education, 22, 937-977.

Week 6 (Oct. 29): Technology applications for geoscience education:Part 1 Teaching science

Bransford, J. D., Brown, A. L., & Cocking, R. R. (Eds.). (1999). How people learn. Washington, DC: National Academy Press. Chapter 7, pp. 172-189.

Kal, Y. (2003). A Virtual Journey within the Rock-cycle: A Software Kit for the Developing Effective K-16 Geoscience Research Partnerships. Journal of Geoscience Education, March 2003 Issue. Accompanying Website http://yaelkali.org

Kastens, K. A. (2001). Development and Evaluation of "Where Are We" Map-Skills Software and Curriculum. Journal of Geoscience Education, May 2001.

Week 7 (Nov 5): Technology applications for geoscience education: Part 3 Web-based instruction and applications

Readings:

Loegering, J. and Edge, W.D. (2002). Reinforcing Science with Web-Based Exercises. Journal of College Science Teaching, December 2001/January 2002.

Riffell and Sibley (2003). Learning Online: student Perceptions of a Hybrid Learning Format. Journal of College Science Teaching, March/April 2003.

Martin , E. E. (2001). Active Inquiry, Web-Based Oceanography Exercises. Journal of Geoscience Education, March 2001.

Week 8 (Nov. 12): Cultural issues in geoscience & university-school relations

Readings:

Padgett, D. A. Teaching Race, Class, and Cultural Issues in Earth Sciences to Enhance Multicultural Education. Journal of Geoscience Education, September 2001.

Hobson, A. (2001). Teaching Relevant Science for Scientific Literacy: Adding Cultural Context to the Sciences. Journal of College Science Teaching, December 2000/January 2001.

Buck, P. (2003). Authentic Research Experiences for Nevada High School Teachers and Students. Journal of Geoscience Education, January 2003 Issue.

Week 9 (Nov. 19): Technology applications for geoscience education: Part 2 GIS

Readings:

Hall-Wallace, M. K. (2002). Design, implementation, and evaluation of gis-based learning materials in an introductory geoscience course. Journal of Geoscience Education, January 2002.

Stewart, M. E. (2001). A GIS Class Exercise to Study Environmental Risk,  Journal of Geoscience Education, May 2001.

November 26: Student project presentations

December 3: Student project presentations