Geological time, biological events and the learning transfer problem

Abstract

Comprehension of geologic time does not come easily, especially forstudents who are studying the earth sciences for the first time. This projectinvestigated the potential success of two teaching interventions that weredesigned to help non-science majors enrolled in an introductory geology classgain a richer conceptual understanding of the geologic time scale. Our researchcentered on the results of those interventions since we hypothesized that studentswho correctly answered exam questions on relative geologic time early in thesemester would be able to respond with equal facility to exam questions at the endof the semester that asked them to apply relative geologic time to associatedbiologic events.

The instructor of the course began this study by using the Decoding theDisciplines model (Pace & Middendorf, 1998). During the first step of the model,the instructor identified the place where a majority of students in previous classeshad the greatest difficulty; that is, in addressing the relative geologic time scale.Next, the instructor articulated the mental moves an expert geologist makes whensolving problems using the geological time scale. During lecture the instructormodeled those very same mental tasks for students. Students were then given theopportunity to practice those mental tasks by creating their own personaltimeline. Later in the course students completed the second intervention, acategorization grid that also functioned as a classroom assessment of theirlearning. Students were given exams after both interventions were completed.

Results from the first and second interventions indicated that studentswere able to understand the conceptual framework of the relative geological timescale. On an exam administered after both interventions were completed, 66% ofthe students answered correctly the questions about relative geologic time, anindication that they had gained conceptual knowledge of the subject. In contrast,only 36% of students answered correctly the exam questions at the end of thesemester that focused on relative geologic time with associated biologic events.Pearson Chi-Square tests with P<0.05 were used to test our hypothesis.Statistically significant results at P=0.00 were attained for all tests, indicating thehypothesis can be rejected.

We conclude that a second, more prevalent, underlying problem exists fornon-science majors, one that Thorndike and Woodworth (1901), Byrnes (1996),Bransford, Brown, and Cocking (2000) and Bransford and Schwartz (2001)describe as the learning transfer problem. Similar problems have been discussed as a knowledge transfer problem (Graham et al., 2006). Learning transfer isproblematic for students using the geological time scale and calls for additionalclassroom interventions – interventions designed and scaffolded to providestudents the opportunity to practice the set of difficult mental moves required toapply biological events to the relative geological timeline

Bibliographic data

Johnson, C. C., Middendorf, J., Rehrey, G., Dalkilic, M. M., & Cassidy, K. (2014). Geological time, biological events and the learning transfer problem. Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 115-129.Johnson, C. C., Middendorf, J., Rehrey, G., Dalkilic, M. M., & Cassidy, K. (2014). Geological time, biological events and the learning transfer problem. Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 115-129.

External source

https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/josotl/article/download/4667/19473/