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“WHAT WORKS AND WHY?” TEACHING SMALL LAB/(FIELD-BASED) CLASSES ERIC LEONARD DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY COLORADO COLLEGE. COURSE “DECISIONS” LEVEL/PREREQUISITES -- 200-Level class with Introductory Geology or Introduction to the Earth System prerequisite. COURSE “DECISIONS”
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“WHAT WORKS AND WHY?” TEACHING SMALL LAB/(FIELD-BASED) CLASSES ERIC LEONARD DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY COLORADO COLLEGE
COURSE “DECISIONS” LEVEL/PREREQUISITES -- 200-Level class with Introductory Geology or Introduction to the Earth System prerequisite
COURSE “DECISIONS” LEVEL/PREREQUISITES -- 200-Level class with Introductory Geology or Introduction to the Earth System prerequisite 2) FOCUS -- Operation of the climate system, record and causes of naturally occurring climate change
COURSE DECISIONS LEVEL/PREREQUISITES -- 200-Level class with Introductory Geology or Introduction to the Earth System prerequisite 2) FOCUS -- Operation of the climate system, record and causes of naturally occurring climate change 3) PEDAGOGY -- “Interactive” lectures, sequence of labs, student presentations, class discussion
COURSE GOALS • 1) Provide science majors with an understanding of the record and causes of naturally occurring climate change, as part of their broader science education. • 2) Provide both science and non-science majors with an understanding of how the climate system operates and changes due to natural forcing, as a basis for understanding anthropogenic changes.
COURSE GOALS • 1) Provide science majors with an understanding of the record and causes of naturally occurring climate change, as part of their broader science education. • 2) Provide both science and non-science majors with an understanding of how the climate system operates and changes due to natural forcing, as a basis for understanding anthropogenic changes. • 3) Provide students with hands-on experience of collection, analysis, and interpretation of data related to climate change.
COURSE GOALS • 1) Provide science majors with an understanding of the record and causes of naturally occurring climate change, as part of their broader science education. • 2) Provide both science and non-science majors with an understanding of how the climate system operates and changes due to natural forcing, as a basis for understanding anthropogenic changes. • 3) Provide students with hands-on experience of collection, analysis, and interpretation of data related to climate change. • 4) Introduce students to critical reading of current climate-change literature.
COURSE GOALS • 1) Provide science majors with an understanding of the record and causes of naturally occurring climate change, as part of their broader science education. • 2) Provide both science and non-science majors with an understanding of how the climate system operates and changes due to natural forcing, as a basis for understanding anthropogenic changes. • 3) Provide students with hands-on experience of collection, analysis, and interpretation of data related to climate change. • 4) Introduce students to critical reading of current climate-change literature. • 5) Highlight the interdisciplinary nature of the field.
LAB PROJECTS THE PRACTICE OF CLIMATE-CHANGE SCIENCE DATA COLLECTION -- Crowfoot Glacier History, Representativeness of the macrofossil record
LAB PROJECTS THE PRACTICE OF CLIMATE-CHANGE SCIENCE DATA COLLECTION -- Crowfoot Glacier History, Representativeness of the macrofossil record 2) ANALYSIS OF “RAW” DATA -- LDGO Vostok core lab
LAB PROJECTS THE PRACTICE OF CLIMATE-CHANGE SCIENCE DATA COLLECTION -- Crowfoot Glacier History, Representativeness of the macrofossil record 2) ANALYSIS OF “RAW” DATA -- LDGO Vostok core lab 3) ITERPRETATION/IMPLICATIONS OF “FINISHED”DATA -- Past, present, and future climate maps of the Rocky Mountain region
LAB PROJECTS THE PRACTICE OF CLIMATE-CHANGE SCIENCE DATA COLLECTION -- Crowfoot Glacier History, Representativeness of the macrofossil record 2) ANALYSIS OF “RAW” DATA -- LDGO Vostok core lab 3) ITERPRETATION/IMPLICATIONS OF “FINISHED”DATA -- Past, present, and future climate maps of the Rocky Mountain region 4) FINAL GROUP PROJECTS -- Data analysis and interpretation (not collection), on topic selected by group
SUMMARY Prerequisites help -- even for an introductory course 2) A fairly narrow focus allows a more in-depth course. It is difficult to cover the whole field and choices of focus are necessary. This may be a particular problem under the Colorado College Block Plan. 3) Hands-on work (lab/field) is very important. We try to cover the the whole sequence from data collection, through data analysis, through data interpretation. 4)There is a need to weave together hands-on work with more content-driven approaches (“interactive” lectures, reading).