Cooperative-Learning Activities in Large Entry-Level Geology Courses

Most presently taught elementary physical and historical geology courses are inadequate as a foundation for advanced work and underaimed as environmental appreciation courses. It is recommended that physical geology be split into two courses: (1) an earth materials and interior course, and (2) geomorphology. It is further recommended that historical geology be split into (1) stratigraphy, and (2) paleontology.

In the Earth sciences, the need for virtual field experiences (VFEs) is rapidly expanding. Not only has the pandemic increased the need for VFEs for use in Earth science courses that had to be adapted for remote teaching, but ongoing accessibility challenges also necessitate the development of alternative options to in-person field experiences. Towards that end, the EPICC (Eastern Pacific Invertebrate Communities of the Cenozoic) TCN (Thematic Collections Network) produced a series of virtual field experiences that explore various aspects of the Astoria Formation, a Miocene-aged unit located on the scenic central Oregon Coast. The Astoria Formation VFE can help educators and their students explore the ecological, geological, and scientific forces that shape the fossil record along the Oregon Coast. As one module of the project, the EPICC VFE outreach team created a taphonomy-focused VFE, From death and decay to database and display: the journey of a fossil through time and space, designed to explore the process by which dead organisms become fossils. Place-based learning features heavily in this module through extensive use of photographs of modern faunal assemblages from Oregon Coast tidepools and beaches as well as in situ fossils of similar ecosystems preserved in the Astoria Formation. To help instructors implement this activity, a student guide was developed with active learning activities that can be modified for either classroom or lab activities. This learning tool is appropriate for a wide range of educational levels, from instructors of grades 7-12 to college instruction, in which ready-made VFEs can be integrated into physical and historical geology courses.

College students taking Historical Geology courses often have great difficulty interpreting underlying structural relationships from the outcrop patterns shown on geologic maps. A series of cut wooden blocks is traditionally used to demonstrate the connection between various outcrop patterns and their corresponding structural configurations as well as the effect of streams and other surface features on those patterns. Such blocks are quite limited, however, in that they show only a pre-selected set of circumstances and are by necessity “after-the-fact” representations. A common layer cake, after appropriate modifications, provides a better block in that it can show the progressive development of particular outcrop patterns. A moist pound cake (or other dense, coherent cake) is prepared according to specifications and cut into smaller blocks as needed. Dipping beds, folds, faults and differential erosion can be easily and effectively demonstrated. Stream valleys can be carved into the blocks at any desired...

Incorporating Writing into a General Educational Historical Geology Course

Situation during the Covid-19 pandemic in Indonesia has made online learning one of the main solutions for student education. Students need digital literacy to support the achievement of 21st century competencies and learning outcomes in online learning. The purpose of this study was to analyze the correlation between digital literacy and 21st century skills, namely communication skills and collaboration skills, as well as student learning outcomes in the classroom. A structural equation model was created to clearly describe the correlation between these variables. The sample consisted of 89 students from one of the universities in Indonesia who were asked to fill out a questionnaire designed to access digital literacy, communication skills, and collaboration skills, while learning outcomes data were obtained from tests. The results show that digital literacy is positively and significantly correlated with learning outcomes, communication skills, and collaboration skills. This finding provides an explanation that the higher the digital literacy of students, the higher the communication skills, collaboration skills, and student learning outcomes. The results show that digital literacy is positively and significantly correlated with learning outcomes, communication skills, and collaboration skills. This finding provides an explanation that the higher the digital literacy of students, the higher the communication skills, collaboration skills, and student learning outcomes. The results show that digital literacy is positively and significantly correlated with learning outcomes, communication skills, and collaboration skills. This finding provides an explanation that the higher digital literacy of students, the higher communication skills, collaboration skills, and student learning outcomes.

Students need critical thinking, creativity, communication and collaboration skills to face and adapt to social change, so that students can survive and compete well in social life. The aim of the research is to describe the critical thinking, collaboration, communication and creativity skills of high school students in biology learning. The research was carried out in August-September 2023. The research population was high school students in Magetan Regency. The research sampling technique was cluster sampling and the research sample was 539 high school class students. Data collection techniques used questionnaires on critical thinking skills, communication, collaboration and creativity. This research instrument is a questionnaire in the form of a questionnaire with 5 Likert scales. Quantitative descriptive research data analysis techniques. The research results show that high school students' critical thinking and creativity skills are in the medium and low categories compared to communication and collaboration skills. The results of the research can be used as a reflection for teachers or future researchers as a follow-up to empower students' critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity skills in implementing the Merdeka Curriculum.

Ironically, the newest members of a college faculty often are assigned what may well be the most difficult course to teach in the journalism repertoire--the large lecture classes in introduction to mass communication.The size of these classes and the dizzying array of subjects to be covered make them notoriously hard to teach. Senior professors typically pass the course to their younger and less experienced colleagues at the first opportunity, anxious to be relieved of an assignment that has come to be as welcomed as the queen of Spades in the game of Old Maid.I eventually came to see two steps an essential to teaching a large mass communication class. One, you have to take advantage of the drama and excitement that bigness produces. You need to stage a performance, or let someone else do it, preferably the students. Two, you have to do something quite opposite. You have to counteract the bigness in order to establish an intimacy in the class. You need to build a genuine relationship between yourself and the students, which is a tall order because there's only one of you and at least a hundred of them.For this kind of teaching, journalism professors have a ready model, if they would only recognize it, in the mass circulation dailies earlier in this century, which faced similar problems with their readers. And for a teacher who wants to reach more than the 20 good students who show up in any large lecture class, there is no better mentor than Joseph Pulitzer, who in one of his most famous statements said, want to talk to a nation, not to a select committee.THE LESSONS OF PULITZERThe inheritor of the hijinks and homeyness of the Penny Press, Joseph Pulitzer evolved a formula that woke up the sleepers in his audience with newspapers that were at once gaudy and serious. The variety in The New York World showed how multifaceted sensationalism can be at its best. Pulitzer had big headlines, color and cartoons, an intellectual editorial page, great investigative articles, and enough stunts to choke a circus.He said, yes, when Bly proposed going into Blackwell's Insane Asylum as a patient in order to expose conditions there. No one had ever gone undercover in a mental hospital before, much less a woman. Mental hospitals weren't even considered fit subjects for journalism, although Pulitzer's readers formed the poverty population from which its patients were drawn.Pulitzer faced some of the same problems that any professor does entering a big lecture hall jammed with a cross-section of a state's college population. Most of the people in his audience were immigrants or the children of immigrants. They were poorly educated and used to receiving information by the spoken word. They were not fundamentally print-oriented. They did not see their lives reflected in many of the existing publications in New York before Pulitzer's arrival. They were not interested in the prestige topic of the day, i.e. politics.Our students come from school systems: weaker than we would like them to be. They are often the first generation to go to college, or the children of the first generation. In a class of 100, at least one student will not know what era or purposefully means in an exam question and will be brave enough to ask. Some of them do not know why the Nazis killed the Jews, or even that they did. Most are television-oriented, not print-oriented. Many of their interests are not discussed in their classrooms.STREET SALES AND ACADEMIAJournalism professors rarely have a kind word to say about sensationalism, but Bly's undercover story of Blackwell's Insane Asylum has electrified every college class I have tried it on. It has the drama that a mass circulation audience demands--our gal Nellie in the clutches of truly evil nurses, who drive the delicate Miss Tillie Mayard insane with their cruelty. Most of the investigative stories that Pulitzer ran in The World were about problems that his readers faced themselves. …

This study aims to analyze the effectiveness of the Introduction, Conection, Application, Reflection, and Extension (ICARE) learning model in order to improve students' communication and collaboration skills. This research method is quantitative research with a Quasi-Experiment Design approach. Data collection techniques used in this study were observation, tests and documentation. Collecting data in this study is a documentation technique. This method is used to obtain research data in the form of a list of student names, subject syllabus, even semester final exam questions grid, objective questions and even semester final exam answer keys. The ICARE learning model can improve students' communication skills and student collaboration skills. Each stage in the ICARE model leads students to complete knowledge. Complete knowledge with good skills can optimize students' communication and collaboration skills. Seeing the development of the learning model used with its modification and implementation taking place in such a complex and directed manner, the ICERE learning model is considered capable of being a solution that can be used in the learning process primarily to see communication and collaboration skills so that it has bargaining power as a solution in current learning

Collaborative learning methods have been widely applied in online learning environments to increase the effectiveness of the STEM programs. However, simply grouping students and assigning them projects and homework does not guarantee that they will get effective learning outcomes and improve their collaboration skills. This chapter shows that students can improve their learning outcomes and non-technical skills (e.g. collaboration and communication skills) through the cyber-enabled learning environment. The data was collected mainly from software engineering and object-oriented design classes of both graduates and undergraduates. The authors apply a blended version of education techniques by taking advantage of online environment and classroom teaching. Based on the study, the authors show that students can improve their collaboration and communication skills as well as other learning outcomes through the blended version of learning environment.

This research presents practical and innovative practices in the form of proposed class activities for college-level learning designs (assignments) focusing on collaboration and communication skills through behaviorist learning theory and social learning theory approaches. These two skills emphasize 21st-century competencies with the integration of Education 5.0. and Social Emotional Learning concepts. So, the main objectives of this paper are (a) how students are prepared to understand concepts and practice collaboration and communication skills and (b) form project assignments suitable for collaboration skills and active thinking from the themes understood. A qualitative method utilizes a literature review approach to investigate the process of developing project-based learning plans for classroom activities. Analysis of the discussion focuses on collaboration and communication skills through behaviorist learning theory and social learning theory approaches. The results of the learning design and class assignments show that collaboration and communication skills can be achieved through repeated continuous project assignments and feedback from colleagues in the class and lecturers. To hone collaboration and communication skills, repetitive project assignments, reinforcement, and rewards should be considered when designing special assignments for early semester students to equip them with people skills in an increasingly connected and rapidly evolving global landscape. Apart from that, this approach from the two theories in project assignments makes students accustomed to cooperation, time management, and communication. In conclusion, students need to convey ideas in oral and written form. Higher education needs to provide opportunities for students to participate in collaborative projects, group discussions, and presentations and be strengthened using digital communication technologies.

An analysis of student evaluations of an introductory physical geology course over a five year period showed generally positive feedback from the students about the overall nature of the course. In particular, instructional and pedagogical traits were assessed as being of importance in contributing to the satisfaction of the students with the course.

Written quiz responses of 653 students in three separate courses are analyzed in detail. There has been relatively little research on student learning of thermodynamics in physics courses at the university level. A recent study by Loverude et al. has made it evident that students at the introductory level (and beyond) face many significant difficulties in learning fundamental thermodynamic concepts such as the first law of thermodynamics. I have been engaged in an ongoing project with T. J. Greenbowe to investigate student learning of thermodynamics in both physics and chemistry courses. As part of that investigation, a short diagnostic quiz has been administered over the past two years in the calculus-based introductory physics course at Iowa State University (ISU). This quiz focuses on heat, work, and the first law of thermodynamics. At ISU, thermodynamics is studied at the end of the second semester of the twosemester sequence in calculus-based introductory general physics. This course is taught in a traditional manner, with large lecture classes (up to 250 students), weekly recitation sections (about 25 students), and weekly labs taught by graduate students. Homework is assigned and graded every week. Thermal physics comprises 18-20% of the course coverage, and includes a wide variety of topics such as calorimetry, heat conduction, kinetic theory, laws of thermodynamics, heat engines, entropy, etc. The diagnostic quiz used in this study is shown below; it has been administered in three separate classes. The version shown here was administered in May 2001; the other two versions (December 1999 and December 2000) had very minor variations from the one shown here. (There were one or two additional questions on these quizzes which are not discussed here.) The 1999 and 2000 classes were taught by the same instructor, using a different textbook in each course. The 2001 course was taught by a different instructor, using the same text that was employed in the 1999 course. Both instructors are very experienced and have taught introductory physics at ISU for many years. The quiz was administered in two different ways: in 1999 and 2001, it was given as a practice quiz in the final recitation session (last week of class). In almost all cases it was ungraded; one instructor used it as a graded quiz. In 2000 the quiz was administered as an ungraded practice quiz in the very last lecture class of the year. This p-V diagram represents a system consisting of a fixed amount of ideal gas that undergoes two different processes in going from state A to state B:

This study analyzes students initial perceptions of their collaboration and scientific communication skills. This method of research was descriptive research with a qualitative and quantitative approach. The subjects of this study were students of class XI MIPA.1 MAN 1 Siak in the 2022/2023 academic year. The data collection technique used in this study was a questionnaire via Google Forms. Data on students collaboration and scientific communication skills perceptions were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The results of data analysis for indicators of collaboration skills are 2.13 in the low category, and scientific communication skills indicators were 1.92 in the low category. From the results of the data analysis, it can be concluded that students initial perceptions of their collaboration and scientific communication skills are in a low category. It is because of students not being used to learning in groups in class due to the online learning process for approximately two years in a row. The lack of training in student collaboration skills results in low scientific communication skills. That is because the essential subjects taught in the emergency curriculum during the pandemic barely touched the real of scientific communication skills.

The 21st century is a century that is full of challenges. Advances in technology that are increasingly developing make humans have to be ready to accept various kinds of changes. Various competencies needed by students in the current era of globalization are often referred to as 21st-century skills, and the concept of education is known as 21st-century learning. Based on the times, the current assessment refers to 21st-century learning, which is related to critical thinking, creative thinking, communication skills, and collaboration skills. The application of 21st-century learning cannot be separated from 21st-century assessment. The purpose of the study in this paper is to determine whether the teachers were familiar with and applied 21st-century learning assessment or not, especially in learning English. This research used a descriptive qualitative research method by collecting data through observation, interviews, and documentation. The results of the study indicate that of the four 21st-century learning indicators, English teachers have started implementing 21st-century learning assessments. It can be concluded that English teachers have begun to adjust their assessment rubrics according to the indicators that exist in each type of skill possessed by students, namely critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and communication skills.

The increasing complexity of sexual and reproductive health research is strengthened by interdisciplinary collaboration. While technical proficiency receives significant attention in research capacity-strengthening, the development of core collaborative skills, such as communication, teamwork, conflict resolution, and leadership, remains underemphasized. The Center for International Reproductive Health Training at the University of Michigan (CIRHT-UM) integrated collaborative skills training into a comprehensive research-capacity strengthening program for health professionals in Zambia, combining technical research instruction with explicit interpersonal skill development. This study explored CIRHT-UM participants’ experiences, perceptions, and outcomes related to collaborative research skills developed during a health research capacity strengthening program in Zambia. Data were collected in June 2025, following completion of the training and seed grant activities, to explore participants’ experiences, perceptions, and outcomes related to collaborative skill development during the program, using a qualitative phenomenological approach, through nine in-depth interviews and three focus group discussions with 28 Zambian professionals, including lecturers, nurses, midwives, physicians, and public health practitioners, who received CIRHT-UM seed grants. Thematic analysis, informed by Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory and Gearing Up frameworks, enabled exploration of ecological influences and readiness factors in collaborative skill development to capture barriers, enablers, application, and impacts of training. Thematic analysis generated four key themes: (1) expansion of professional networks and interdisciplinary exposure; (2) barriers created by hierarchies, siloed work, and inequities; (3) growth in communication, leadership, and problem-solving skills; and (4) influence of environmental constraints and systemic supports on collaboration. Participants reported increased confidence and teamwork abilities, but highlighted ongoing challenges from heavy workloads and limited institutional support. Focus groups emphasized organizational barriers, while interviews provided deeper insights into personal growth and readiness for collaboration. Embedding collaborative skill development within a research training program in Zambia enhances both personal growth and research quality. Egalitarian team environments, structured mentorship, and peer learning were identified as critical facilitators, while entrenched hierarchies and lack of protected time remained significant barriers in Zambian academic and clinical environments. Purposefully designed, inclusive, and well-supported collaboration initiatives improve team effectiveness and professional satisfaction. Sustained institutional policies, research training, and adaptive team structures are essential for lasting interdisciplinary engagement. While these strategies may be relevant to other low-resource or sub-Saharan African contexts facing similar barriers, their impact is closely tied to specific local conditions and institutional structures. Future adaptation should be tailored to each country’s unique setting, workforce, and policy landscape for research training programs that intentionally cultivate collaboration to drive innovation and improve health outcomes.