Key Statement:
Enhancing learning experience’s through service-learning in a geology undergraduate class.
Keywords:
Service Learning, Geology, Rock Identification
Abstract:
Preparing students to adeptly identify rocks across the three rock families in a single semester can be challenging. To mitigate this, service learning was introduced in partnership with a local countertop company. The second author and students visited the site and each student selected a different rock sample to study its texture, mineral composition and origin over the semester producing a flyer that was given to the company. The end of semester rock identification exam scores showed that students who took the course with the service learning component scored higher compared to those who took the course without service learning.
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HEAR IT FROM THE AUTHOR:
TRANSCRIPT:
This poster is on a service-learning project where an upper-level undergraduate geology course partnered
with a countertop manufacturing company. Each student selected a different rock type used to
manufacture countertops and then made a flier that was shared with the community partner, describing
how the rock was likely formed including the minerals and textures. Test scores of students who
completed the service-learning project were higher than those from students who took the course without
the service-learning component. Service-learning projects can enhance students’ rock identification skills
and benefit local communities.
LEARNING OUTCOMES:
1- Describe experimental and hands-on teaching in computer architecture
2- Explain the benefits of hands-on learning for a complex topic such as computer architecture.
3- Assess student success and summarize student attitudes and outcomes related to concept-understanding, self-learning, retention and teamwork.