Dynamic Teaching of “Dynamic Earth” at Wright State University
Baylee Stark, SA-7520
Lectures accompanied with hands-on activities increase interest in the Earth sciences. To better facilitate these inter- active experiences Wright State University has introduced the use of SCALE-UP (Student Centered Active Learning Environment for Undergraduate Programs/Upside-down Pedagogies) classrooms. During fall semester 2015, the first SCALE-UP style Earth science lecture was taught at WSU in the course “EES1050 The Dynamic Earth”, an entry-level physical geology class.
This lecture took place in a classroom where students were placed at tables in groups of six. The students had access to laptops provided by Wright State, and were encouraged to use them during group activities. The walls of the classroom were lined with white boards, and there were multiple projector screens spaced throughout.
STUDENT ARTICLE
computer simulations. Lectures supported by PowerPoint were kept brief and focused on background information for the day’s activity. To achieve the same level of content coverage, pre-session activities were assigned, such as pre-class videos, and readings.
Another defining feature in the SCALE-UP classroom was the presence of Learning Assistants (LA’s), a type of in-class undergraduate teaching assistant. These were undergradu- ate Earth or Environmental sciences majors. They were responsible for facilitating in-class activities and tracking student progress at their assigned tables. The use of Learning Assistants greatly reduced the need for the professor to assist all of the students during activities, an impossible task in classes of one hundred plus students. The LA’s helped create an environment of ease, as they interacted with the students individually or as a whole at their tables. As a Learning Assistant in this course myself I experienced firsthand the blossoming of communication, interaction, critical thinking skills, and understanding of Earth processes by the students.
This type of classroom design was utilized to foster coopera- tion and interaction between students. The tables allowed for communication, the laptops were essential for doing research during in-class activities, the projector screens provided an immersive feel to the lecture, and the whiteboards promoted both student teaching and class-wide discussions.
Along with the design of the classroom, the teaching style was also unique. The majority of in-class time was spent on collaborative activities, hands-on specimen identification, and
To measure quantitatively and qualitatively how effective this classroom style actually was when applied to an earth science course, a research project was created to assess the learning gains and satisfaction of the students in the class. To accomplish this, both pre- and post- tests were given contain- ing questions related to themes and content from the course. Students also completed the SALG (Student Assessment of Learning Gains) survey. At the end of the course, a compari- son between the pre- and post- tests scores was made. In this comparison, score increases as a whole were analyzed, as well as increases related to specific hands-on activities that were completed during class time. With the SALG, questions were asked about the students’ satisfaction with specific activities, the classroom design, group dynamics, and LA effectiveness. Overall, the students had a mean improvement of 13.1 points between the pre- and post- test scores. On the SALG students were asked to assess how well the in-class activities aided in their understanding of specific topics. These topics included: mineral and rock identification, plate tectonics, earthquakes, volcanoes, glaciers, relative and absolute dating, evolution, and fossils. The students were asked to select between: no gain,
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