Framework for Discipline‐Based Education Research: \u3ci\u3eDBER meeting starter “nugget” : Series of 6\u3c/i\u3e

What is Discipline‐Based Education Research (DBER)? Who Does Discipline‐Based Education Research (DBER)? Where and When is Discipline‐Based Education Research (DBER) Done? How is Discipline‐Based Education Research (DBER) Conducted? Why is Discipline‐Based Education Research (DBER) Important

Using Interactive Engagement Strategies to Enhance Learning in College Science Courses

The number of decreasing science majors in U.S. institutions of higher education is connected to the quality of science instruction (Seymour, 1994; Daempfle, 2003) and resulted in nation-wide efforts to improve the quality of college-level science education (National Committee on Science Education Standards and Assessment et al., 1996; NGSS Lead States, 2013). This talk presents historical trends in the adoption of interactive engagement (IE) strategies in college-level science courses and presents one such IE strategy, lecture tutorials (LTs), in the context of sedimentology and stratigraphy. To determine historical trends in the adoption of IE strategies, peer-reviewed journal articles accessible via the Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) reviewed for the period of 1994-2014. The review reveals growth in IE strategy adoption, especially in the field of Biology. Five distinct types of IE strategies emerged from the literature review: polling, whole-class discussion and activities, in-class group work, out-of-class group work, and online activities. One form of in-class group work includes LTs, which are designed to improve students’ conceptual understanding. To identify weaknesses in students’ conceptual understanding of sedimentology and stratigraphy, geoscience instructors at institutions of higher education across the U.S. were surveyed. Four LTs were designed to address the identified weaknesses and tested using a quasi-experimental design, which compared the learning gains of a control group (lecture-only) with a treatment group (lecture-and-LT). Three of the four LTs produced significant learning gains above the lecture-only scenarios. IE strategies developed in one discipline (e.g., LTs were initially developed in Physics) offer potential for their transferability to other disciplines. Although the disciplinary content and context will necessarily change, the overriding design and implementation principles developed in one discipline provide a jump start for the creation of curricular materials for similar IE strategies in other disciplines

Student-Teacher Affect in STEM College Course Transformation

Despite federal efforts to support the propagation of active-learning strategies in introductory college science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses, instructor adoption of these strategies lags behind the published research that touts their efficacy for students’ learning. Possible reasons for this lag are varied and, herein, we investigate the potential role that students play in STEM instructors’ decisions on whether and how to adopt active-learning strategies. Our study was conducted at a large public university in the Midwest. Grounded in social cognitive theory, we use a mixed methods approach that combines 34 classroom observations, one-onone interviews with students (n=57) and instructors (n=12), and online surveys of students (n=301) and instructors (n=12). We find that students pose impediments to adopting active-learning strategies, but facultyperceived impediments related to time and reward outweigh them. In addition, we find that students also provide the motivation behind instructors’ decisions to adopt active-learning strategies. The majority of students in this study indicate that they want more active-learning experiences in the classroom, and the instructors indicate that they want to provide students with more active-learning experiences, engage with them, and see their growth as learners, yet find it difficult to motivate students. Given the instructional support and time needed to develop and implement courses based on active-learning strategies, we present implications and recommendations to support the transformation of introductory college STEM courses that can inform departmental, college, and university efforts to enhance students’ learning and academic experience

Student-Teacher Affect in STEM College Course Transformation

Despite federal efforts to support the propagation of active-learning strategies in introductory college science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses, instructor adoption of these strategies lags behind the published research that touts their efficacy for students’ learning. Possible reasons for this lag are varied and, herein, we investigate the potential role that students play in STEM instructors’ decisions on whether and how to adopt active-learning strategies. Our study was conducted at a large public university in the Midwest. Grounded in social cognitive theory, we use a mixed methods approach that combines 34 classroom observations, one-onone interviews with students (n=57) and instructors (n=12), and online surveys of students (n=301) and instructors (n=12). We find that students pose impediments to adopting active-learning strategies, but facultyperceived impediments related to time and reward outweigh them. In addition, we find that students also provide the motivation behind instructors’ decisions to adopt active-learning strategies. The majority of students in this study indicate that they want more active-learning experiences in the classroom, and the instructors indicate that they want to provide students with more active-learning experiences, engage with them, and see their growth as learners, yet find it difficult to motivate students. Given the instructional support and time needed to develop and implement courses based on active-learning strategies, we present implications and recommendations to support the transformation of introductory college STEM courses that can inform departmental, college, and university efforts to enhance students’ learning and academic experience

Mental Models Of Groundwater Residence: A Deeper Understanding Of Students’ Preconceptions As A Resource For Teaching And Learning About Groundwater And Aquifers

There is a growing need for public understanding about groundwater resources. Knowing what groundwater and aquifers are is fundamental to understanding more complex issues such as groundwater quality and availability.  However, groundwater and related concepts are among the topics that instructors most struggle to teach.  Although constructivist theories suggest that students’ preconceptions or misconceptions can be used as teaching tools, the question about exactly how remains.  A resource perspective on this question states the first step involves understanding students’ preconceptions. To gain a deeper understanding of college students’ pre-instructional mental models about groundwater residence, 215 students enrolled in introductory-level environmental geoscience courses taught at two large US state universities were surveyed.  An open-ended questionnaire asked participants to draw and label a concept sketch.  Follow-up interviews asked participants to elaborate upon their concept sketches.  Eight categories of mental models emerged from the analysis of the collected data. These results were interpreted through the lens of cognitive schema theory, which generated to four patterns of mental models.  These patterns emphasize key aspects of students’ pre-instructional mental models about groundwater residence.  Instructors can use this information to design instructional activities about groundwater and aquifers using a resource perspective

Undergraduate geoscience education research: Evolution of an emerging field of discipline-based education research

Discipline-based education research (DBER) conducted by faculty within geoscience departments can address identified needs in undergraduate geoscience education. This study explores the evolution of undergraduate geoscience education research (GER) from 1985 to 2016, primarily in terms of the types of published research and secondarily in terms of the insights this literature offers on the evolution of GER as a scholarly discipline. Stokes&rsquo; (1997) quadrant model of research types is used as a theoretical framework for the former and Kuhn&rsquo;s (1970) model of disciplinary paradigm for the latter. An exploratory sequential mixed-methods approach to a systematic literature review of 1,760 articles is utilized. The period 1985-2000 is characterized by proto-research as evidenced by the abundance of instructive and informational education articles rather that research articles. From 2000 to 2011, GER underwent a growth period characterized by the presence of applied, use-inspired, and pure basic research. The period 2011-2016 appears to be a period of relative steady-state conditions in the normalized number of GER publications per year. Existing gaps in knowledge about geoscience education, the evident unfamiliarity with education and social science research methodologies among authors of GER articles, and efforts to build consensus about what GER is and how to conduct it suggest that GER is pre-paradigmatic or at a low paradigm state. That is, GER is an immature discipline as far as the evolution of a discipline goes. A path forward is proposed for the continued evolutionary growth of GER. This study provides new perspectives on the emergence of GER as a discipline that can be used as a basis for studies on cross-disciplinary DBER comparisons.</p

Novice Explanations Of Hurricane Formation Offer Insights Into Scientific Literacy And The Development Of Expert-Like Conceptions

The ability to explain scientific phenomena is a key feature of scientific literacy, and engaging students’ prior knowledge, especially their alternate conceptions, is an effective strategy for enhancing scientific literacy and developing expertise.  The gap in knowledge about the alternate conceptions that novices have about many of Earth’s complex phenomena (National Research Council, 2012), however, makes this type of engagement in geoscience courses challenging.  This study helps to fill this gap by identifying and describing how novices to geoscience explain a complex scientific phenomenon, hurricane formation.  Using a pragmatism methodology, 326 students in introductory-level geoscience courses at two public universities in the United States of America, in Georgia (n=168) and Nebraska (n=158), were surveyed.  The questionnaire was designed to target and collect novices’ explanations of a single complex Earth phenomenon – hurricane formation.  Constant comparative analyses of textual content and diagrams revealed a variety of alternate conceptions.  The data suggess that novices seldom invoke scientific first principles, which students matriculating through the education system are expected to learn before college, in their explanations.  Two theoretical models synthesize the alternate conceptions and illustrate pathways of conceptual change along which students might move from more novice-like to more expert-like ways of scientific thinking.  Our findings provide a basis for the development of instructional activities that aid students in developing more expert-like conceptions of hurricane formation and other complex Earth phenomena

Drawing As A Method To Facilitate Conceptual Change In Earth Sciences Education

Communicating even fundamental scientific concepts can be challenging. Furthermore, student mental models are often difficult to uncover even by the most talented teacher or researcher. Drawing is a universal process skill widely used by scientists to refine their conceptions about a wide range of topics, communicate ideas, and advance scientific thought in their disciplines. Just as drawing is useful to scientists for refining their conceptions, it has the potential to be useful for revealing misconceptions when teaching from a conceptual change perspective of science students’ mental models. Using a design study methodology and framed within the knowledge integration perspective of conceptual change, this longitudinal study investigates the efficacy of a delimited-sketch activity on the conceptual change of novices’ mental models about groundwater residence. A delimited-sketch activity, the focal case of this study, involves (i) students drawing to expand upon a provided partially-drawn concept sketch and then (ii) collectively debriefing the ideas communicated in the completed student-expanded concept sketches. The activity’s efficacy at facilitating conceptual change is tested with two different sample populations at two different large public universities in the USA. The first population is drawn from an introductory-level college geoscience course designed for non-science majors and the second population is drawn from a similar course designed for science majors. The activity has a large significant impact on moving students away from novice-like toward more expert-like conceptions of groundwater residence. The impact is observed even two months after the activity concludes

Research on Institutional Change and Professional Development

Over the past 20 years, numerous institutions and groups have repeatedly called for changes in undergraduate STEM education in the United States in order to develop a stronger, more diverse STEM workforce, to foster a more scientifically literate society, and to improve equitable access to education for all. To achieve these goals, substantial improvements in areas as broad as instruction, mentoring and advising, and departmental climate must be made. Our ability to change can be supported by a better understanding of how educators, departments, and institutions change and how professional development opportunities foster and support productive change. This theme chapter considers how future geoscience education research can address issues of change in institutions of higher education and professional development that will promote high-quality geoscience education. Specifically, it identifies and describes three grand challenges that connect to the following components: the individual geoscience instructor, the departments and programs in which geoscience instructors teach, and the broader communities in which these departments operate

Paleogeographic Maps: Audience Insights on Portrayal of Ancient Terrain and Climate

Paleogeographic maps are one of the most used earth science communication tools, but their efficacy with audiences remains uninvestigated. We present new data that begins to close this gap, gleaned from an intercept interview study of two communities&mdash;practicing geoscientists (i.e., &ldquo;professionals&rdquo;) and adults who visit locations where paleogeographic maps are commonly displayed (&ldquo;the public&rdquo;). In this work, we sought to determine: (1) how commonly used paleogeographic maps convey the terrain and climate of ancient Earth; and (2) how community perception informs new practices for creating paleogeographic maps. When presented with paleogeographic maps, the public can identify about three large-scale landscape features (often including mountains and ocean) but not smaller or more subtle geomorphic features (e.g., rivers, volcanos, or plains). In contrast, practicing geoscientists identify about five features at a variety of spatial scales. Given an example of a warm, wet landscape, public audiences can describe one of two components of portrayed climate (i.e., warm or wet), but are less adept at identifying both climate components. Professionals are better able to identify climate components but are only able to fully describe climate 55% of the time. Paleogeographic maps catalyze curiosity in both public and professional audiences, commonly prompting questions or hypotheses about how ancient Earth reached modern-day conditions or about the time period shown. Professional geoscientists also want more information on sources of data. Recommendations to enhance the efficacy of paleographic maps include adding data sources and employing an aesthetic with detailed bathymetric shading, high contrast, and explicit climate indicators. &nbsp;</p