by Trina Riegel, M.S.
Geology means the study of the earth. In order to best understand Earth, students must study Earth directly. This means outside, in the elements, looking at rocks and minerals as they are found naturally. The best Geology course is one that may never set foot in a classroom. The great outdoors is the laboratory.
However, classroom time is necessary for learning the basics, such as geological concepts, how to identify rocks, and how rocks and landscape features form. This is traditionally accomplished in a classroom setting, with the instructor leading and guiding students towards understanding. Fieldwork is hopefully an integral part of the course, directly students can apply what they have learned to the real world.
Yet, due to budget cuts and misunderstanding on the part of decision-makers of what fieldwork offers, field trips are often the class element to be deleted when trimming the budget. Some may think fieldwork is a dying skill, replaced now with high-tech laboratory methods. Others may think that the world has already been geologically mapped, and so no further experimentation is needed. Fieldwork is often dirty, subject to the whims of the weather, permission being granted to access private land, safety concerns, and sometimes just plain luck in finding minerals and fossils. Stricter controls on safety and money may mean the end of field trips in traditional classrooms.
However, learning Geology in a distance learning environment may overcome these frustrations. First, students are working one-by-one. They may have to cover the cost of driving out to the countryside, but on the other hand they are free to choose an area that interests them for further study. They are free to include friends and family members in their learning experience. They may immediately pass on knowledge and an appreciation of the outdoors to their children by involving them in fieldwork. Sometimes, students may have relationships with private owners that grant them access to land that would otherwise be off-limits. In conducting fieldwork, students are limited only by the fact that an instructor is not right there in the field with them answering their questions and inquiries.
Distance learning students, however, have the advantage of using the Internet and related online tools. Help and answers are just an email, text, or instant message away to an online course instructor. With advances in technology, students can email photos of the rocks and landscapes they are seeing. An online community of other students may collaboratively help along with the instructor in deciphering and interpreting the geology viewed by students. The key is an online instructor who provides timely communication and feedback with students working in the field, similar to the “boss back at the office” with who field geologists’ work must gain approval.
Geological laboratories are another hurdle for learning science at a distance. Yet even here there are clear advantages for the distance learner over a traditional classroom. First, traditional classroom laboratories are subject to the same budgetary limitations as field trips. Funding may not be available for upgrades in rock samples and other equipment. Because materials and equipment are often in short supply, students work in large groups in classroom-based labs. This may boost collaboration but also sometimes the group will move too fast for an individual student, who leaves the work to the more assertive students. Such a student may leave the lab session confused about what was just accomplished. The student who feels he/she learns at a different pace may just give in to the peer pressure, copy down answers and results, and never gain true comprehension or hands-on experience of the laboratory session.
Labs done at home, as part of a distance course, may avoid this learner confusion and disengagement. As part of a hands-on, rigorous laboratory experiment, the student must complete the work him/herself. Partners and helpers can be used, but they are most often friends, spouses, or children, and the student is the clear leader in this case. The student is in charge of his/her own laboratory, deciding to repeat experiments as necessary. They can direct family members in how to assist, and become engaged in the lab session. Student engagement is a crucial element for true and deep comprehension of material (Major and Major, 2008).
Students completing laboratories at home through a distance learning course are not subject to time constraints. Classroom students are often in a hurry to finish up and go about the rest of their lives, and no one wants to be “last guy” left in the classroom, hopelessly behind the others. There is subtle but real peer pressure to finish up early, even if it means lack of comprehension. Submitted lab reports for classroom courses back this up—often the answers to lab review questions are not well thought-out, but are paraphrasing someone in the group who told all of the others what to think and write. Distance students have no pressure to finish in a certain amount of time, other than the date the lab report is due. They are free to reflect on what they are doing, redo experiments as they deem necessary, and reach their own conclusions. They may participate in an online collaborative discussion and gain ideas, but they also have the privacy and time to critically review other students’ input. They must participate fully in the experiment and its conclusion, thereby becoming engaged in the material. In the end, the answers to the lab review questions are their own.
Working through experiments with a rigorous lab kit that emphasizes hands-on learning is akin to the scientific process in the “real world”. Scientists often collaborate with others, but they must conduct their own experiments, and often these experiments are done alone. Peer review is how their work is judged, which is similar to the grade an instructor grants. Other scientists are available for discussions over coffee, much as other students may help and offer ideas through online discussions. The distance student, by conducting the experiment on his/her own, must engage in a critical thought process, asking themselves important questions. Am I doing this correctly? What kind of results am I getting? Are they valid? This process brings them much closer to the actual experience of a scientist, more so than in a classroom setting where the group processes can often be dominated by certain students. Many distance students report an engagement with the material that leads them to further geological pursuits, either in the field or in their home laboratory. An appreciation of the scientific process is the goal for any lab-based science course, and offering the course at a distance may enhance and enrich students’ learning experience.
References:
Debbie Major and Howard Major, 2008: “Lighting the Fire…at a Distance”, Instructional Leadership Abstracts, a publication of the National Council of Instructional Administrators (NCIA), April 2008, Vol. 6 Issue 2.
Trina Riegel is an Adjunct Professor of Physical and Historical Geology for CCC-OnLine where she began teaching in 2000. She also teaches online Geology courses for Laramie County Community College and the University of Maryland and previously taught at Pikes Peak Community College. She holds a BA in Geology from the University of Minnesota and a Masters of Science in Geological Sciences from the Michigan State University. As an undergraduate, she studied the geology of the southwestern United States, Big Bend National Park in Texas, and the Black Hills of South Dakota and Wyoming. She also worked on an undergraduate research program studying “boulder pavement” in Minnesota and South Dakota. While in graduate school, Trina studied layers of clay minerals spanning 10,000 years around Lake Michigan to determine the lake’s different sources over time. She discovered that Lake Michigan had been both smaller and larger than it is today, and during one period it overlapped with Lake Superior, forming a very large “Great Lake”. In 2005 and 2006 Trina put some real distance into distance education by teaching her courses from northern Italy where she visited and researched several geologic sites. Trina is the author of the geologic lab manuals around which the GK-1 and GK-2 Geology LabPaqs are based. www.labpaqs.com
Geology means the study of the earth. In order to best understand Earth, students must study Earth directly. This means outside, in the elements, looking at rocks and minerals as they are found naturally. The best Geology course is one that may never set foot in a classroom. The great outdoors is the laboratory.
However, classroom time is necessary for learning the basics, such as geological concepts, how to identify rocks, and how rocks and landscape features form. This is traditionally accomplished in a classroom setting, with the instructor leading and guiding students towards understanding. Fieldwork is hopefully an integral part of the course, directly students can apply what they have learned to the real world.
Yet, due to budget cuts and misunderstanding on the part of decision-makers of what fieldwork offers, field trips are often the class element to be deleted when trimming the budget. Some may think fieldwork is a dying skill, replaced now with high-tech laboratory methods. Others may think that the world has already been geologically mapped, and so no further experimentation is needed. Fieldwork is often dirty, subject to the whims of the weather, permission being granted to access private land, safety concerns, and sometimes just plain luck in finding minerals and fossils. Stricter controls on safety and money may mean the end of field trips in traditional classrooms.
However, learning Geology in a distance learning environment may overcome these frustrations. First, students are working one-by-one. They may have to cover the cost of driving out to the countryside, but on the other hand they are free to choose an area that interests them for further study. They are free to include friends and family members in their learning experience. They may immediately pass on knowledge and an appreciation of the outdoors to their children by involving them in fieldwork. Sometimes, students may have relationships with private owners that grant them access to land that would otherwise be off-limits. In conducting fieldwork, students are limited only by the fact that an instructor is not right there in the field with them answering their questions and inquiries.
Distance learning students, however, have the advantage of using the Internet and related online tools. Help and answers are just an email, text, or instant message away to an online course instructor. With advances in technology, students can email photos of the rocks and landscapes they are seeing. An online community of other students may collaboratively help along with the instructor in deciphering and interpreting the geology viewed by students. The key is an online instructor who provides timely communication and feedback with students working in the field, similar to the “boss back at the office” with who field geologists’ work must gain approval.
Geological laboratories are another hurdle for learning science at a distance. Yet even here there are clear advantages for the distance learner over a traditional classroom. First, traditional classroom laboratories are subject to the same budgetary limitations as field trips. Funding may not be available for upgrades in rock samples and other equipment. Because materials and equipment are often in short supply, students work in large groups in classroom-based labs. This may boost collaboration but also sometimes the group will move too fast for an individual student, who leaves the work to the more assertive students. Such a student may leave the lab session confused about what was just accomplished. The student who feels he/she learns at a different pace may just give in to the peer pressure, copy down answers and results, and never gain true comprehension or hands-on experience of the laboratory session.
Labs done at home, as part of a distance course, may avoid this learner confusion and disengagement. As part of a hands-on, rigorous laboratory experiment, the student must complete the work him/herself. Partners and helpers can be used, but they are most often friends, spouses, or children, and the student is the clear leader in this case. The student is in charge of his/her own laboratory, deciding to repeat experiments as necessary. They can direct family members in how to assist, and become engaged in the lab session. Student engagement is a crucial element for true and deep comprehension of material (Major and Major, 2008).
Students completing laboratories at home through a distance learning course are not subject to time constraints. Classroom students are often in a hurry to finish up and go about the rest of their lives, and no one wants to be “last guy” left in the classroom, hopelessly behind the others. There is subtle but real peer pressure to finish up early, even if it means lack of comprehension. Submitted lab reports for classroom courses back this up—often the answers to lab review questions are not well thought-out, but are paraphrasing someone in the group who told all of the others what to think and write. Distance students have no pressure to finish in a certain amount of time, other than the date the lab report is due. They are free to reflect on what they are doing, redo experiments as they deem necessary, and reach their own conclusions. They may participate in an online collaborative discussion and gain ideas, but they also have the privacy and time to critically review other students’ input. They must participate fully in the experiment and its conclusion, thereby becoming engaged in the material. In the end, the answers to the lab review questions are their own.
Working through experiments with a rigorous lab kit that emphasizes hands-on learning is akin to the scientific process in the “real world”. Scientists often collaborate with others, but they must conduct their own experiments, and often these experiments are done alone. Peer review is how their work is judged, which is similar to the grade an instructor grants. Other scientists are available for discussions over coffee, much as other students may help and offer ideas through online discussions. The distance student, by conducting the experiment on his/her own, must engage in a critical thought process, asking themselves important questions. Am I doing this correctly? What kind of results am I getting? Are they valid? This process brings them much closer to the actual experience of a scientist, more so than in a classroom setting where the group processes can often be dominated by certain students. Many distance students report an engagement with the material that leads them to further geological pursuits, either in the field or in their home laboratory. An appreciation of the scientific process is the goal for any lab-based science course, and offering the course at a distance may enhance and enrich students’ learning experience.
References:
Debbie Major and Howard Major, 2008: “Lighting the Fire…at a Distance”, Instructional Leadership Abstracts, a publication of the National Council of Instructional Administrators (NCIA), April 2008, Vol. 6 Issue 2.
Trina Riegel is an Adjunct Professor of Physical and Historical Geology for CCC-OnLine where she began teaching in 2000. She also teaches online Geology courses for Laramie County Community College and the University of Maryland and previously taught at Pikes Peak Community College. She holds a BA in Geology from the University of Minnesota and a Masters of Science in Geological Sciences from the Michigan State University. As an undergraduate, she studied the geology of the southwestern United States, Big Bend National Park in Texas, and the Black Hills of South Dakota and Wyoming. She also worked on an undergraduate research program studying “boulder pavement” in Minnesota and South Dakota. While in graduate school, Trina studied layers of clay minerals spanning 10,000 years around Lake Michigan to determine the lake’s different sources over time. She discovered that Lake Michigan had been both smaller and larger than it is today, and during one period it overlapped with Lake Superior, forming a very large “Great Lake”. In 2005 and 2006 Trina put some real distance into distance education by teaching her courses from northern Italy where she visited and researched several geologic sites. Trina is the author of the geologic lab manuals around which the GK-1 and GK-2 Geology LabPaqs are based. www.labpaqs.com
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