Post on 17-Jan-2016
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)
How geologists use sketches and illustrations
For recording observations and ideas
For organizing knowledge
For conveying ideas to others
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
How do we ask students to use sketches and illustrations?
To receive knowledgewe ask students to learn from diagrams in
books
To reproduce knowledge at a rote levelwe commonly ask students to draw
labeled sketches
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
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?
Reynolds and Jackson’s work
Explored concept mappingStudents 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
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
What does a concept sketch look like?
(Reynolds and Jackson, in press)
Features of a concept sketch
More than a simple labeled diagram
Combines identifying and linking key concepts while retaining spatial relationships among concepts
(Reynolds and Jackson, in press)
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
Reynolds and Jackson’s work
Using concept sketches In classAs homework preparation for classOn exams
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
My experience
Gave one homework assignment to teach students how to do concept sketches
Students had no problem figuring out what to do
My experience
In the field, students: Made concept sketches at each outcropTook notes in concept caption form
In the lab, students:Examined samples and thin sections from
the outcrops
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.
Results
I was struck by:How natural it seemed to my students to
make concept sketchesHow much more complete their
observations and notes were in the fieldHow much I learned from reading concept
captions about what they knewHow much most of them enjoyed the
process
More information on concept sketches
TSG Resource Sitehttp://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.