Student Reactions to Investigative Approach in Courses About Venus and Mars

Details Student Reactions to Investigative Approach in Courses About Venus and Mars Student Reactions to Investigative Approach in Courses About Venus and Mars

Dec 2006

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006agufmed33b1386m&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2006, abstract #ED33B-1386

Computer Science

Learning

0810 Post-Secondary Education, 0820 Curriculum And Laboratory Design, 0825 Teaching Methods, 0850 Geoscience Education Research

Scientific paper

We report on how students perceived their learning experiences during two half-semester courses, the Geology of Venus, taught in the Fall of 2004, and The Geology of Mars, taught this Fall, just prior to this AGU meeting. These courses were designed to have a strong research component. Students were required to complete two research projects, one based on a location of their choosing, the other based on a process thought to be significant on the planet. They were to use images and data from the PDS and similar sites, and to access the primary literature. Edgard and Zack found this approach very much to their liking because they knew that: 1. They were using the very same imagery available to scientists who were at the cutting edge of their fields. 2. They were using techniques which had the potential to reveal things which no one had seen before. 3. There are many questions still unanswered about the basic history of the planets they were studying, some of which might be susceptible to the approaches they were using. In addition, as they worked on an area they developed a sense of ownership, and a feeling that they knew that area better than anyone else in the class, and perhaps better than many planetary scientists. They wanted to learn more about the planet they were studying, not only because they were interested in the planet, but also because it allowed them to put what they were discovering about their areas or processes into a more global perspective. And they particularly enjoyed the freedom to follow whatever path their exploration led them to. It is this last aspect which may represent the most important outcome from these courses. Learning to explore, to seek, to question, etc., is quite different from learning about exploration. It requires a willingness to go out into the unknown, to probe the darkness not just of the dataset, but of one's ignorance. Each trip builds confidence, and in the process develops an appetite for just such exploration.

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