1. This work is supported by the National Science Foundation’s Transforming Undergraduate Education in STEM program within the
Directorate for Education and Human Resources (DUE-1245025).
CAN YOU FEEL THE EARTH MOVE UNDER YOUR
FEET?
A new way to play with data

2. WHAT EXPERIENCE DO YOU HAVE WITH THE
GROUND MOVING?

3. IN PAIRS
Take out the suit of cards your pair is assigned,
along with the Joker and overview map cards.
• What are the data you are looking at?
• Look for patterns:
– What changes across your suit’s region?
– What are two “events” that have occurred here?
• What questions/comments do you have?
Be prepared to present your results to the group

4. • Open your second pack of cards and take out
the same suit (so each in the pair have one
copy)
• Rearrange into two groups of three so that
there is one person per group with each “suit
of data” (diamonds, clubs, spades)

5. IN YOUR NEW GROUPS
• Compare datasets and patterns
– How are the similar?
– How are they different?
• What questions/comments do you have?
• How were the data collected?
• What hazards to society are evidenced by
these data?
• What are some mitigation measures that can
be taken?
Be prepared to present your results to the group

6. GPS MOVEMENTS COMPARED TO “STABLE” EASTERN
NORTH AMERICA

7. ON YOUR OWN…
• What is something that you learned in this
exercise?
• Reflect on your comfort level and ability to
read GPS data. How has it changed, if at all?
• Describe the strategies that geoscientists
employ to investigate questions about ground
movement, and how these are different from
and similar to other kinds of scientific
investigations.

8. WHAT DID WE JUST DO?
Time to talk about instructional strategies.

9. WHAT DID WE JUST DO?
• I asked you about your experience with
ground movement
• You spent time looking at data
• You described your findings and speculated
• I did a bit of lecturing
• You applied what you learned to your region
• You reflected on your learning and I assessed
ENGAGE
EXPLORE
EXPLAIN
EXTEND
EVALUATE

10. A MORE “TRADITIONAL” APPROACH
• Explain
• Explain some more
• Direct some exploration
• Explain, perhaps in frustration
• Evaluate

11. 5E LEARNING CYCLE

12. 5E learning cycle

13. MAIN IDEA: ACTIVE LEARNING
• Students are engaged, working with real data…
• …using geoscientific thinking
• …in support of your learning objectives
• …developing their metacognitive skills
• …and their communication skills
• …to scaffold their ability to address
interdisciplinary problems.

14. METACOGNITION
THINKING ABOUT THINKING
• Learning about how people learn
• Developing awareness of one’s own learning process
• Monitoring and assessing one’s own learning
• Managing one’s motivation and attitudes
• Making adjustments to one’s learning process
What did we do that could be called a
metacognitive strategy?

15. METACOGNITION
THINKING ABOUT THINKING
• Learning about how people learn
• Developing awareness of one’s own learning process
• Monitoring and assessing one’s own learning
• Managing one’s motivation and attitudes
• Making adjustments to one’s learning process
Self-regulated learning
cycle
Student attitude survey: Attitudes towards
geoscience careers, sustainable behaviors,
etc.

16. WHAT CAN YOU DO TO SUPPORT STUDENTS’ SELF-
REGULATION OF THEIR LEARNING?
• Provide opportunities for students to self-
evaluate their own learning
• Create an environment that fosters learning
how to learn
• Encourage behaviors that foster learning to
learn
Great! Um… how?

17. OPPORTUNITIES FOR STUDENTS TO SELF-EVALUATE THEIR
LEARNING
Low effort (class/activity-level):
• Think-Pair-Share
• Retrieval practice
• End-of-class “muddiest point” or “1-minute papers”
Moderate effort (activity/unit-level):
• Reflective Prompts
• Exam Wrappers
• Learning Journals
Committed effort (course level):
• Classroom notebook

18. CREATING AN ENVIRONMENT THAT FOSTERS LEARNING TO
LEARN
• Reward effort over ability (allow for revisions)
• Encourage self-comparison over social
comparison (use exam wrappers)
• Model and provide graphic organizers and
other organizational structures
• Be explicit: spend time discussing how these
activities help them learn

19. ENCOURAGE BEHAVIORS THAT FOSTER LEARNING TO LEARN
• Encourage questioning and help-seeking
– Frequent use of think-pair-share
– Frequent use of reflective questions
• Encourage goal-setting
– Proximal: exam or module wrappers
– Distal: classroom journals
• Be explicit: spend time discussing how these
activities help them learn
Short activity on metacognition

20. LEARNING STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES…
MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT RUBRIC
• …support stated learning objectives and goals.
• …promote student engagement with the
materials.
• …develop student metacognition.
• …provide opportunities for students to practice
communicating geoscience.
• …scaffold learning.
Must score 13/15

21. SERC’S PEDAGOGY IN ACTION SITE
• http://serc.carleton.edu/sp/library/pedagogie
s.html