ONLINE FIELD TRIPS AS TOOLS FOR CRITICAL THINKING

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ONLINE FIELD TRIPS AS TOOLS FOR CRITICAL THINKING

• DAWES, Ralph Wenatchee Valley College1300 Fifth
  StreetWenatchee, WA 98801rdawes_at_wvc.edu

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To become knowledge for the student, ideas must

• Be based on experience
• Be based on observations
• Be articulated in words
• That is, the students experience, the students
  observations, the students words

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Pedagogical Design the Virtual Field Sites must

• Fit into theoretical context
• Apply theory to real geology

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Critical Thinking
Observation
Analysis
Conclusion
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How the virtual field sites work
Overview Image
Captions
Thumbnail images
Stratigraphic Column
Location Map
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Weekly Exercises

• Portions of each weekly learning exercise refer
  to virtual field sites.
• Week 2 Lab

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Results

• Understanding the basics
• 70-90 success rate
• Advanced or critical level
• 50-90 success rate
• Term projects
• 25 A, showing multiple critical abilities
• 50 B or C, showing mixture of basic abilities
  and limited critical abilities

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More Results Student Course Evaluations

• Virtual field sites favorite part of course
• Virtual field sites provide motivation for
  looking at geology in person

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Future Possibilities

• Improve virtual field sites
• More clearly illustrate basics
• Allow more detailed observations for critical
  analyses

• Improve rest of class Web pages
• More graphically driven
• More interactive

Thank you!

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Theoretical Contexton Web pages

• Lectures
• Geological basics
• Specifics of Pacific Northwest geology
• Consistent styles and formats
• Built-in glossary links
• Web links to outside sources
• Back

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Insight and Understanding

• Enabled, engaged and encouraged by
• Weekly guided discussions
• Open discussions

• Refined, challenged and assessed by
• Weekly open-book quizzes
• Weekly learning exercises
• Term project

• Back

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The Basics

• Terminology and Definitions
• For example
• Types of unconformities
• Geologic structure symbols on maps
• Eras, periods and epochs

• Back

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Advanced or critical level

• Identifying rock types
• Recognizing unconformities
• Recognizing geologic structures
• Writing geologic history from the evidence
• Etc.

• Back

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Term Project

• Pick a field site of exposed geology
• Take pictures, collect samples
• Identify rocks, structures
• Make a stratigraphic column
• Write a geologic history

• Back