1 / 25

Student-Generated Concept Sketches for Learning and Teaching Structural Geology

This article explores how geologists use sketches and illustrations in structural geology courses, and how students can effectively use concept sketches to organize knowledge, convey ideas, and construct their own understanding. It discusses the benefits of using concept sketches as a learning tool and provides examples of how instructors and students can integrate them into their coursework.

vfinney
Download Presentation

Student-Generated Concept Sketches for Learning and Teaching Structural Geology

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Using Student-Generated Concept Sketches for Learning, Teaching, and Assessment in Structural Geology Courses Barbara J. Tewksbury (Hamilton College) Stephen J. Reynolds and Julia K. Johnson (Arizona State University)

  2. How geologists use sketches and illustrations • For recording observations and ideas • For organizing knowledge • For conveying ideas to others

  3. How geologists use sketches and illustrations • We are actively engaged in creating sketches and illustrations • They become an integral part of constructing our own knowledge and conveying knowledge to others

  4. How do we ask students to use sketches and illustrations? • To receive knowledge • we ask students to learn from diagrams in books • To reproduce knowledge at a rote level • we commonly ask students to draw labeled sketches

  5. What do we know about how students use illustrations in textbooks? • Many students skip illustrations entirely without seeing them as more than pictures • Most students do not know how to interpret or use scientific illustrations (Lowe, 1989, 1993; Schwartz, 1993) • Many students can easily label a diagram by rote but be unable to articulate concepts

  6. Reynolds and Jackson’s work • How to make illustrations an effective part of the learning process? • How to help students use illustrations as part of constructing knowledge? • How to make a student’s experience with illustrations more like ours?

  7. Reynolds and Jackson’s work • Explored concept mapping • Students organize own knowledge as network of linked concepts; demonstrable learning gains (e.g., Esiobu & Soyibo, 1995) • Argued that concept maps fail to adequately address spatial relationships important in geology

  8. Reynolds and Jackson’s work • Developed idea of a concept sketch • Sketch or diagram concisely annotated with short statements describing processes, concepts, and interrelationships shown in the sketch • Builds on value of concept mapping

  9. What does a concept sketch look like? (Reynolds and Jackson, in press)

  10. Features of a concept sketch • More than a simple labeled diagram • Combines identifying and linking key concepts while retaining spatial relationships among concepts

  11. (Reynolds and Jackson, in press)

  12. Reynolds and Jackson’s work • Instructor-generated diagrams • Most successful for student learning if students construct own captions • Forces students to think though key features and processes • Student-generated diagrams • Students must make decisions about what to draw • Forces students to think more deeply about concepts

  13. Reynolds and Jackson’s work • Using concept sketches • In class • As homework preparation for class • On exams

  14. My experience • Steve described idea to me at end of April last spring • I decided to try it in the field and for final project in my structural geology course

  15. My experience • Gave one homework assignment to teach students how to do concept sketches • Students had no problem figuring out what to do

  16. My experience • In the field, students: • Made concept sketches at each outcrop • Took notes in concept caption form • In the lab, students: • Examined samples and thin sections from the outcrops

  17. My experience • Assignment for final project: • Create a set of concept diagrams, with a short introduction, to illustrate the structural features and geologic history of Glens Falls/Whitehall area, with an emphasis on deformation mechanisms and causes of deformation. • Integrate field and laboratory observations.

  18. Results • I was struck by: • How natural it seemed to my students to make concept sketches • How much more complete their observations and notes were in the field • How much I learned from reading concept captions about what they knew • How much most of them enjoyed the process

  19. More information on concept sketches • TSG Resource Site • http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/structure/presentations.html • Scroll down to Short Demonstration Sessions, S1B • Article in press in JGE • Reynolds, Stephen J. and Jackson, Julia K., in press, Concept sketches – using student- and instructor-generated, annotated sketches for learning, teaching, and assessment: Journal of Geoscience Education.

More Related