Rationale   To test the idea that students learn better when they have rich opportunities to work in groups, conduct their own inquiries, reflect on disjunctions between their prior concepts and new ideas, and share their thinking with others, we have linked changes in the way teaching and learning occurs in our Earth Science classes to extensive use of mobile technology in the classroom.   In the Earth Science program at Wenatchee Valley College, the mobile technology of choice is wireless tablet computers, one for each student while that student is in class or lab. The educational purposes for which the students use the wireless tablet computers are too many to list here, but includes exchanging files, conducting threaded email discussions, creating and showing images and slide shows, researching on the Web, and conducting assessments -- quizzes, essays and reports -- online. The students also use tablet computers to measure physical parameters in the laboratory and the environment -- temperature, humidity, light intensity, and so on -- through digital sensors hooked up to analytical software on the computers.   The technology is used to make it easy for the students to engage in a collaborative learning enterprise, and it used to help measure the results.

Implementation (pedagogy) The Earth Science courses were previously taught with a mixture of multimedia lecture, student activities using paper and pencil, and lab exercises that occasionally made use of information technology. This approach has now been changed to make the learning more student-centered and inquiry-driven. One big change is that lectures by the instructor have been reduced to introducing topics and raising questions at the beginning of each week, and helping to sum things up at the end of each week. The rest of lecture time is turned over to students researching and compiling their results in small groups and then presenting their results to the rest of the class. Each student group creates a question about their topic that goes into the mid-term or final exams. More information technology tools are now used by students in the labs as well, including: Taking digital photographs of each rock or mineral they identify, along with the identifying properties they observed and the theoretical origin of each rock or mineral, and turning the digital information in at the completion of each rock or mineral Using a spreadsheet (Excel) to enter calculate, graph, and compare seafloor spreading rates from measurements the students make of magnetic anomaly patterns on maps Using a spreadsheet to enter data on age and distance of chains of volcanoes formed at a proposed fixed hot spot, then calculating, graphing, and interpret the data Using a spreadsheet to calculate and graph radioactive decay and radioisotope ages Using a spreadsheet to calculate recurrence intervals and extrapolate flood frequencies using semi-log graphs of historical peak discharge data on rivers Using digital sensors, hooked up to the wireless laptop computers, to measure experimental and environmental information such as temperature, humidity, air pressure, and light intensity These changes pervade the classroom and laboratory experiences of the students in the Earth Science classes. In addition, an online classroom is used for guided, threaded discussions about each weekly set of topics, and for quizzing and assessing the progress of student learning. Related resources Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) Project Abstracts, http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/fipse/projects.html National Academies of Science/National Science Education Standards, http://books.nap.edu/html/nses/html/

Impact on Teaching This project transforms my role from being a lecturer to being a research coordinator who guides the students in the performance and completion of research.

Researching a topic. When people recall a breakthrough in their science education, how many remember a lecture? Breakthrough experiences tend to come from the laboratory or the field, where theory meets up with reality in a way that breaks the mental mold. By having students actively engage in research, I hope to create breakthrough opportunities. Student in-class reports from one week. Students work in groups of three to research aspects of each week's topic. They report their results to each other in PowerPoint, including a question to be used in a subsequent exam. (Click on link above.) Student lab report. For each rock lab, students took pictures of the rocks they identified. They listed the technical characteristics and inferred origin of each rock, and turned in their results in as a PowerPoint slide show. (Click on link above.) Student lab worksheet. As one part of the geologic time lab, students created spreadsheets to calculate and graph radioactive decay and calculate example ages. (Click on link above, then click on Chart1, Sheet1, Sheet2 tabs, bottom left.)

Quick Facts Dept: Earth Sciences Courses Impacted: 3 # Students Impacted: 46-48 per academic term, 138-144 per year # Faculty Involved: 1 This project is funded in part by an HP Technology for Teaching grant.

Dr. Ralph Dawes, Earth Sciences Contact Us Ralph Dawes [email protected] (509) 682-6754

References & Publications Anderson, S.W., and Libarkin, J., 2003, The retention of geologic misconceptions: Alternative ideas that persist after instruction, EOS, v. 84, Abstract ED22E-07. Dawes, R.L. and Dawes, C.D., 2002, Using the Web to Link Physical and Regional Geology in Students’ Minds, Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Cordilleran Section Meeting. Dawes, R.L., 2003, Online field trips as tools for critical thinking, Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, National Meeting. DeLaughter. J.E., Stein, S., and Stein, C.A., 1998, Preconceptions abound among students in an Introductory Earth Science Course, EOS, v. 79, p. 429-432. Jonassen and others, Learning With Technology: A Constructivist Perspective, Prentice Hall, 1999. Kurdziel, J.P., and Libarkin, J.C., 2001, Research Methodologies in Science Education: Assessing Students' Alternative Conceptions, Journal of Geoscience Education, v. 49, p. 378-383. Libarkin, J.C., and Anderson, S.W, 2005, Assessment of Learning in Entry-Level Geoscience Courses: Results from the Geoscience Concept Inventory, Journal of Geoscience Education, v. 53, n. 4, September, 2005, p. 394-401.

Impact on Student Learning Success will look like each and every student: presenting his or her own results on a regular basis writing his or her own spreadsheets photographing and analyzing his or her own rock and mineral (or cloud and weather) samples setting up and conducting his or her own experiments and field measurements asking questions and sticking with it until he or she has answers to show the rest of the class Success will also look like improved scores on assessments aimed at common misconceptions about the earth and earth sciences, based on pre-and post-class concept inventories and weekly pre- and post-topic quizzes. This provides quantitative gauges of success. One Year Ago Students attended lectures, completed in-class activities, participated in lab (or tagged along in lab while the lab partner did the work), and seldom overcame misconceptions about science. Today - Students now conduct their own research in small groups and present the results to class each week to help each other learn, are learning to use digital tools such as tablet computers, digital cameras, and spreadsheets, and are showing significant advancement beyond common misconceptions. One Year From Now - Students able to understand a broader range of topics than is being achieved currently, with even greater improvement relative to pre-conceptions that are revealed on pre-tests.