Not Just “Rocks for Jocks”: Who Are Introductory Geology Students and Why Are They Here?

Gilbert, Lisa A.; Stempien, Jennifer A.; McConnell, David; Budd, David A.; Kraft, Katrien J. van der Hoeven; Bykerk-Kauffman, Ann; Jones, Megan; Knight, Catharine C.; Matheney, R. K.; Perkins, Dexter; Wirth, Karl

doi:10.5408/12-287.1

Cited by 34 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 36 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The backgrounds in science that participants described suggest considerable divergence in their preparation and interest. The information participants provided corroborates the findings of Hoisch and Bowie (2010), who describe the wide range of academic backgrounds and personal familiarity with the geosciences that students bring to introductory courses, and those of Gilbert et al (2012), who document a range of reasons for students' enrolling in the introductory courses. The diversity of background and interest poses a difficult challenge to instructors as they try to determine an appropriate level of rigor and thoroughness for the course.…”

Section: Background In Sciencesupporting

confidence: 61%

“…One challenge is determining the correct degree of rigor and the balance between foundational and more advanced concepts. The problem of determining the ideal level of rigor is particularly acute in the introductory environmental science/studies courses because of the wide range of academic backgrounds and personal familiarity with the subject matter (Hoisch & Bowie, 2010) that students bring and the variety of reasons that impel students to enroll in the introductory courses (Gilbert et al, 2012). Some students choose introductory environmental science/studies courses to fulfill distribution requirements.…”

Section: Studies Part 1 Section 1 Instructional Barriers Influencingmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Studying Science

Johnson-Thornton¹

2014

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Although nearly equivalent percentages of black and white students entering college aspire to earn degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), a much smaller percentage of black students than white undergraduates complete STEM degrees (HERI, 2010). Thirty-six percent of black undergraduates who initially pursue STEM fields and go on to earn bachelor's degrees switch to non-STEM majors, and 29.3 percent leave college before graduating, a rate 10 percentage points higher than that of their white counterparts (19.8 percent) (Chen, 2013). In the environmental sciences, of the 4,802 degree recipients in 2010, 81 percent (3,879) were white and only 2 percent (97) were black (NSF Table 5 -7, 2010). As has long been recognized, America is producing too few scientists and far too few from the groups historically underrepresented in higher education. The situation is especially acute in the environmental sciences. Interventions designed to address these disparities have concentrated on programmatic and pedagogical enhancements, but most lack a theoretical explanation for the positive outcomes they claim to achieve.This study employed interviews with fifteen black and white undergraduates who enrolled in introductory environmental science/studies at a selective liberal arts college. Applying the theory of Community of Practice, along with insights and concepts from Critical Race Theory and Stereotype Threat, the study shows how interactions with faculty and peers affected the extent and quality of involvement students had with the field of environmental sciences. Looking at the factors that discouraged students from participating in the Community of Practice of the environmental sciences, the study draws conclusions about effective practices and makes recommendations for attracting students from underrepresented groups to scientific fields and the careers for which degrees in those fields can prepare them.iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

show abstract

Section: Background In Sciencesupporting

confidence: 61%

Section: Studies Part 1 Section 1 Instructional Barriers Influencingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Studying Science

Johnson-Thornton¹

2014

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The variable "STEM major" was an expected predictor of increased posttest scores because that group of students has a declared interest and presumed ability in the sciences. Student motivation to learn the material, their score on the Geoscience Interest Survey, was also expected to be a valuable predictor, because motivation is ranked as the most important driver for student learning by many postsecondary geoscience educators (Gilbert et al, 2012). While the results of this study show that student interest is a statistically significant predictor of student learning, it is not a major driver of increased posttest scores.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 44%

“…Gender and ethnicity were considered as predictor variables because of the nation-wide and decades-long concern over low numbers of minorities in STEM fields (Ashby, 2006;National Research Council, 2011;Chang et al, 2014). Gender and ethnicity had no significant impact on gains from pre-to posttest scores, and these variables were also not significant predictors of student interest and motivation to learn the geosciences (Gilbert et al, 2012;Bursztyn et al, 2017). (Bursztyn et al, 2017).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of student learning using augmented reality Grand Canyon field trips for mobile smart devices

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…Introductory Earth science courses, for example, have a history of being perceived as "easy" in the United States, and have acquired a reputation of requiring qualitative rather than quantitative skills (Manduca et al 2008). Gilbert et al (2012) surveyed 1057 students in introductory geoscience courses across seven universities and found 73% (N=765) enrolled to fulfill a degree requirement. Of students who had not yet declared a major, approximately 80% reported they were "not very likely" or "definitely not" planning on pursuing a major in one of the natural sciences (Gilbert et al 2012).…”

Section: Foundations Of Mathematics Self-efficacy Attitudes and Anxmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Quantitative Reasoning for College Science (QuaRCS) Assessment 2: Demographic, Academic and Attitudinal Variables as Predictors of Quantitative Ability

Follette¹,

Buxner²,

Dokter³

et al. 2017

Numeracy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this article, we explore the ability of demographic and attitudinal variables to predict student scores on the Quantitative Reasoning for College Science (QuaRCS) Assessment. Variables measured by the assessment include: students' academic choices and plans, attitudes and perceptions regarding mathematics, self-reported effort level, and basic demographics such as age, race/ethnicity, gender and disability status. As in previously published numeracy studies, we find significant score deviations according to gender, race/ethnicity, and disability status; however, the effect size of these correlations pale in comparison to the effect size of affective/ attitudinal variables on QuaRCS score. A large number of variables with significant effects on QuaRCS score make the data well-suited to dimension reduction, and Factor Analyses reveal that a majority of affective variables can be collapsed into three underlying factors, which we call numerical self-efficacy, numerical relevancy and academic maturity. These three composite variables alone account for 32.4% of the variance in QuaRCS score. Two additional affective variables -self-reported effort and calculator usage -add 15.9% to the regression model. Together, these five variables account for nearly half of the variance in QuaRCS score. In contrast, academic and basic demographic variables, account for only 0.3% and 0.1% of the remainder, respectively. Furthermore, most demographic variables (including race and gender) do not have a significant effect on the regression model once affective variables have been accounted for. Kate Follette is a NASA Sagan Postdoctoral Fellow at the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology at Stanford University. This work was begun as a graduate student at the University of Arizona, and was supported by an NSF Transforming Undergraduate Education in STEM grant (NSF-DUE # 114-0398) and an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. She taught general education astronomy courses as an adjunct instructor at Pima Community College from 2009-2014, and will be an assistant professor at Amherst College beginning January 2017. Her science research focuses on finding and characterizing young extrasolar planets, as well as the disks of gas and dust from which they form.Sanlyn Buxner is an assistant research professor in the Department of Teaching, Learning and Sociocultural Studies at the University of Arizona. She teaches introductory science and research methods courses and supports institutional assessment of graduate and undergraduate programs. Her research includes examining science literacy and quantitative literacy in undergraduate science students and studying the impact of research and industry experiences for K12 teachers on classroom practice and student outcomes.This article is available in Numeracy: http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/numeracy/vol10/iss1/art5Erin Dokter is an associate professor of practice in the Office of Instruction and Assessment at the University of Arizona, where she serves as the Coordinator for th...

show abstract

Not Just “Rocks for Jocks”: Who Are Introductory Geology Students and Why Are They Here?

Cited by 34 publications

References 36 publications

Studying Science

Studying Science

Assessment of student learning using augmented reality Grand Canyon field trips for mobile smart devices

The Quantitative Reasoning for College Science (QuaRCS) Assessment 2: Demographic, Academic and Attitudinal Variables as Predictors of Quantitative Ability

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About