Laura Lukes

Creating a Community of Practice Around Geoscience Education Research: NAGT-GER

The Journal of Geoscience Education (JGE) has been a valued scholarly dissemination outlet for geoscience education researchers and practitioners for over three decades. This community of scholars ...

What Motivates Introductory Geology Students to Study for an Exam

ABSTRACT There is a need to understand why some students succeed and persist in STEM fields and others do not. While numerous studies have focused on the positive results of using empirically validated teaching methods in introductory science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) courses, little data has been collected about the student experience in STEM courses. The aim of this study was to capture and characterize the student perception of their motivation to study for an exam in a geoscience class. Students enrolled in introductory physical geology courses (n = 42) at 5 different institutions (seven instructors at two research universities and three community colleges) were interviewed using a semistructured protocol. The interview data were analyzed using a grounded theory approach. The resulting emergent themes included goal orientation and emotion. All students report a performance component to their motivation, where a learning task is a means to an end, such as earning a grade. However, most high performing students (70%) also reported their motivation was also oriented towards a mastery goal, where a learning task itself serves as an end, such as satisfying curiosity, more frequently than low performing students (18%). The majority of students (81%) also described an emotional component to their motivation. Contrary to existing models, most students indicated they were motivated to engage in exam preparation as a way to avoid experiencing negative emotions. These resulting insights to student motivation have implications both for course design and instructional practices in similar introductory courses.

Building creative thinking into the STEM undergraduate classroom experience using large databases: The Paleobiology Database example

Undergraduate research experiences have been linked to increased student recruitment and retention in STEM, particularly within traditionally underrepresented populations. However, research experiences can be cost prohibitive due to the infrastructure necessary to conduct experiments or collect field data. Existing, large scientific databases can be leveraged to provide students (including students in online courses) with authentic research experiences without the logistical costs. The Paleobiology Database (paleobiodb.org) is one of many publicly available (and free) scientific databases. This project describes authentic research activities which engage students at several 4 and 2-year institutions in the southeastern United States use the data available in the Paleobiology Database to engage in the creative process of developing their own research questions, hypotheses, and investigations. Once produced an evaluated, these research activities will be made available to instructors across the world on the Paleobiology Database website, which will also encourage educators to create and post their own activities as well.

Modification of the LF transmit site at dixon to support RF propagation and ionosphere research

There remains significant interest in understanding the spatial and temporal effects ionosphere disturbances have on radio wave propagation. In particular, RF propagation in the low frequency bands from 30 to 300 kHz is susceptible to ionospheric variations caused by volcanic and seismic activity as well as ionosolar eclipses. These variations modify the Earth-Ionosphere waveguide resulting in changes to the amplitude and phase difference along different transmission paths. The goal of this paper is to determine the feasibility of using an existing LF transmitter to support ionosphere-radio wave propagation studies in the future.

Faculty and Student Perspectives on Redesigned Learning Spaces at Mason

Mason is reimagining learning spaces on our campuses to foster active and collaborative student learning. This commitment is part of our strategic plan goals for innovative learning and supporting teaching and scholarship excellence. While we currently have 12 classrooms intentionally designed to support active learning, both the Peterson Health Sciences Building and the Robinson rebuild offer significant opportunities for increasing the number of these learning spaces. As part of this initiative we have created an iterative design and implementation process that leverages faculty and student experience feedback. This poster will highlight preliminary findings (e.g., satisfaction, sense of community and connectedness, types of learning experiences, etc.) from both our faculty and student surveys from the 2015-2016 academic year.