Chapter 14: Student-Centered Visualization in General Education Introductory Geoscience Classes

Introductory geology courses fulfill general education science requirements in many higher education systems, so many undergraduates take geology courses because the subject matter involves descriptive approaches and a more qualitative approach is appealing to the students who self-identify as “non-science minded”. One of the greatest challenges in teaching introductory geology is to help students visualize multi-scale processes and synthesize ideas to form geologic models. Visualizations are central to geosciences education, and the effectiveness of visualization in enhancing student learning in the geosciences has resulted in a significant body of resources and best practices literature, (SERC, n.d.).

Geology is a very visual discipline, requiring interpretation of data such as rock structures, fossils, landforms, surface and internal processes, which all can be represented and enhanced with visual supports (Kastens, 2010). Undergraduate-level textbooks and their ancillaries can make introductory geology courses appealing with eye catching imagery, interactive maps, animations, and re-constructions in two or three dimensions. The benefits of these visual learning tools as highly interactive opportunities have been examined and discussed by geoscience educators and widely promoted across academia. We propose to extend this discussion of instructor-driven visual interactions into ways to develop cognitive rigor through student-generated visualizations. Established visualization techniques in the undergraduate geology curriculum are helpful to student recognition, and our research attempts to extend this knowledge by asking, “How effectively can students make connections among geologic concepts using concept mapping?”