Field Sketching Exercises and Accessing Student Understanding While Instructing Proper Recording of Field Notes Field Sketching Exercises: Add a Pictorial Combination of Observation and Interpretation to Field Notes Are an Assessment of the Student’s Understanding of –Contact relationships –Relative timing –Geologic context Aid Faculty in –Field checking of notes –Promoting student participation –Promoting questions and active learning Marshak, 2009 Michael Stewart

Credit due: Steve Marshak Univ. of Illinois Geology Students, especially –Sam Dwyer –Greg Gauf –Matt Dziarski –others Two important geofluids…

Outline: Why we should have student sketching outcrops Nuts-n-bolts –Prerequisite knowledge –Logistics –Assessment –Basics of activity on the outcrop Examples for discussion –What is a field sketch Important elements Importance of quality Note: a digital image pasted in the field book does not convey our observations or interpretations.

Why we should force students to sketch outcrops The Negative Element in Most Field Trips: Stop, Look and then Move –Common complaint from students: limited time to build contextual understanding of each stop within the ‘big picture’. –Common complaint from faculty: lethargic students, trips take-on ‘show and tell’ feel with little student activity. Sketching forces us to allow the students time to –Investigate the outcrop and apply knowledge –Build confidence –Synthesize a contextual understanding of the stops within the regional geologic setting Sketching forces students to actively ask questions of each other, your, and the outcrop. Sketches put a meaningful image in our field notes!

Nuts-n-Bolts: prerequisite knowledge No prerequisite knowledge required Sketching is appropriate for all levels from introductory students to graduate students to professionals. The more we sketch the better are sketches become. 2nd-year student’s sketch of a Cyclothem Note: scale and direction given, correct use of lithologic symbols, contacts are clearly marked, fish indicate river, a tree is in the river (?), missing a title - likely in her notes. From her notes: “ Rainy, Windy, Sleet, Some Snow, VERY Cold”. Paper was wet and hard to write on. Hands were numb and nearly immobile. Sam Dwyer, 2007, her second ever field trip

Logistics of sketching We MUST schedule the TIME in the field Beginning students must be given direction and a nudge to start We MUST give clear instructions of scale, elements and expectation –Sketch the entire outcrop, or some portion, what level/scale of detail is expected –Set a time limit (e.g. 30 minutes) –Wrap-up at the end, and tie-in the outcrop to ‘regional’ setting When sketching road-cuts, always begin with a word about safety! Students often forget where they are.

Give good direction for a successful sketching activity: Scale, compass direction, and location must all be noted First draw in horizon/margins/outline Correctly place obvious trees/cover and and geologic features to scale Then begin sketching what you see… –This forces students to investigate the outcrop and alter their sketch –This will provide questions and interactions You will know the exercise is successful when –Students begin sketching –Start talking among themselves in groups –Visit/revisit the outcrop, step back and sketch more, repeat –Eventually, your students begin to work independently, and your field trip is less show and tell and more active learning.

A note about object size: you can sketch mountains and hand-samples Note: I did not ‘assign’ these sketches. This student obviously learned the utility of sketching. Gregg Gauf, 2010

Assessment: Field Checks and Prof Sketches Field Check the sketches –Doing so during the exercise forces students to participate –You can also grade sketches in the office if you give good instruction of the elements you expect As part of the wrap-up, you should produce a sketch too! This is what you get when you fail to field check…. This is why I have so few sketches in my field book... Matt Dziarski, 2009

Example: Importance of visiting the outcrop Little Harquahala Mts. AZ This sketch did not benefit from an opportunity to visit the outcrop Questions: where exactly is the fault? what is its attitude? Mapped as a thrust, looks like a normal fault from here. Digital image

The benefit of visiting with the outcrop… 1st sketch 2nd sketch In the Second Sketch compared to the First: Notice the confident fault (though no sense of motion)Notice the confident fault (though no sense of motion) Notice the addition of annotated detailsNotice the addition of annotated details Sam Dwyer, 2008 The 1st sketch was drawn on arrival. The student then discussed with classmates and the professors. Then she made the 2nd sketch.

Improvement with experience: Compared to the first drawing, the second… –has more detail –Has scale, principle direction –More accurately depicts the angular unconformity Sam Dwyer, 2007 Sam Dwyer, 2010, a grad student at the time

Recapping Sketching Activity : Discuss safety issuesDiscuss safety issues –Roads, railways, snakes, spiders, local indigenous peoples. Give clear instructions regardingGive clear instructions regarding –Subject of the sketch –Time allotment –Elements you want in the sketch Contacts, lithologies, structuresContacts, lithologies, structures Secondary featuresSecondary features Inform students that you will check sketches!Inform students that you will check sketches! Field Checks –Begin checking just a few minutes into exercise. –Rapidly do as many students as possible Wrapping-up –You should sketch for your students –Use your sketch as visual aid to wrap-up the stop and place it in regional context

Example: My sketch of Painted Canyon, SW CA near San Andreas FZ A simple fold and fault? Field notes give context: Reverse flower structure in a releasing bend

Well labeled, but a poor representation of the outcrop