When I first started teaching MEA 110, the lab manual covered a great deal of information. In order to help students focus on the important points, and make sure they looked over the lab before coming to class, I wrote a series of pre-labs. Student response to these seemed to be positive. These topics include: Earth History, Structures, Minerals, Sedimentary and Metamorphic Rocks, Igneous Rocks, Topographic Maps, Groundwater and Geologic Maps.
During my second semester with the class, I began putting together optional extra credit activities students could use to challenge themselves. These were designed to give students extra resources to develop their content knowledge, and encourage them to make connections with the world around them. Extra credit resources included:
The way I have assessed student learning has dramatically changed from my first semester of teaching MEA 110. When I began, most of questions were focused on lower levels of Bloom's. As I moved into my second semester, I developed assessments that were more interactive and stimulated more higher order thinking skills. The particular one shown here (Quiz 4) was inspired by a conversation with Dr. Barbi Honeycutt, the CoAT program director, on the value of games in the classroom, and a newfound respect for "mastery" quizzes. Students reported more engagement (playing the disaster games long after they'd earned an "A" level score), were better able to synthesize their knowledge, and were excited to discuss what they'd learned with their peers.
During my time as Physical Geology lab coordinator, I developed a series of post-lab assessments. These are completed by students individually after they do their group lab work. Though they account for a relatively small percent of students’ total grades, we have seen preliminary evidence in our research that they have produced significant gains in content knowledge from pre- and post-tests. Because many of these are still in use, they are not posted here. If you are an educator interested in learning more about these post-lab assessments, please contact me.