Barbara J. Tewksbury Department of Geosciences Hamilton College Having an Impact Teaching Introductory Geoscience with the Future in Mind

Intro geo in the curriculum  Not on students’ radar screens  Adequate enrollment is not a foregone conclusion  Every department is under enrollment pressure  Yield of majors is critical  Courses designed to recruit

The impact of a course  No surprise that, when asked about the impact of a particular course, we think about  How high were the enrollments?  How many will take more geo?  How many majors did we get?

Impact of a course  Spend a lot of time thinking about how we can improve the numbers  What can we do to make courses more attractive?  What can we do to make courses more relevant?  What can we do to hook students?

The hook  World Natural Environments  Intro to Environmental Pollution  Sustainable Earth  The Science Behind the Stories  Earth Science and the NYC Urban Environment  Geology and Human Events in Africa and the Middle East  Geological Disasters: Agents of Chaos

What we focus on  Spend a lot of time on:  attracting students into our courses  making courses good learning experiences  Focus on short term impact  Hope for long term impact

Long term impact – the student perspective  For many, it is the first major exposure to geoscience  For most, it is also the last exposure to geoscience  Most are taking intro geo to satisfy distribution requirements

Long term impact – the student perspective  What kind of impact does a course really have over the long term?  Do students give any thought to whether the course  changes their thinking in ways that could benefit themselves and society?  increases their capabilities and adds value to their lives for the future?  Well…

 Example: gen-ed geo course  Hands-on course, effective, really teaches them about geology Vs.  Similar course but also emphasizes practice in making good decisions with respect to geologic hazards Changing courses for long-term impact

 Example: course for K-6 pre-service teachers  Hands-on course, effective, really teaches them about geology Vs.  Similar course but also emphasizes practice in finding out about, evaluating, and summarizing information about local geology, geologic events, etc.

 Example: gen-ed geo course  Hands-on course, effective, really teaches them about geology Vs.  Similar course but also emphasizes practice in assessing what is science and what is pseudoscience Changing courses for long-term impact

Brainstorming impact ideas  What kind of long-term impact might we want an intro geo course to have?  In what ways could we change their thinking to benefit themselves and society?  In what ways could we increase their capabilities and add value to their lives for the future?  At your table, brainstorm a list of desirable long-term impacts from an intro geo course

Achieving long-term impacts  Commonly hope that knowledge confers ability  Course that teaches students effectively only about geology or science will likely fail in long-term impact  If you want to have long-term impact, students have to have repeated opportunities for practice  Directly affects course design

Brainstorming how to achieve long-term impact  Choose one or two long-term impacts  Brainstorm ways of giving students repeated practice