Program

Note: This workshop has already taken place. Presentations and outcomes are linked from the program below.

All sessions are in the Alumni Guest House (AGH) Meeting Room unless otherwise indicated

Thursday, May 12

5:00-6:00 pm: Gallery Walk: Linking Assessments to Goals
6:00-7:30 pm: Reception and Dinner
7:30: After Dinner Discussion: Challenges and Opportunities in Geoscience Assessment

Friday, May 13

8:30-9:45 am

Panel: Cutting Edge Questions and Tools in Assessment

Holly Taylor (Tufts University) - How Do They (or You) Know What They Know? (PowerPoint 817kB May17 05)
Edys Quellmalz (SRI International) - Supporting Geoscience Assessments with an Assessment Resource Management System (ARMS) (PowerPoint 2MB May17 05)
Bob Filson (Green River Community College) - Informal Classroom Assessment (PowerPoint 12.5MB May17 05)

9:45-10:45 am

Poster Session

An Application of Concept Mapping for Instruction and Assessment (Acrobat (PDF) 111kB May10 05): Dave Dempsey
Geological Map Problem-A Method for Assessing Critical Thinking? (Acrobat (PDF) 120kB May9 05): Robert Filson
Assessing Students Knowledge about Global climate Change Using Concept Maps (Acrobat (PDF) 728kB May10 05): Catherine Gautier
Using an Integrated Approach to Teaching Hazard Management (Acrobat (PDF) 128kB May6 05): Sue Heard
Interactive Presentations: Jenelle Hopkins
Assesing the Skills of Future Citizens: The Literacy Survey (Acrobat (PDF) 480kB May11 05): Jimm Myers
Coordinated, Innovative Designs for International Information Communication Technology Assessment in Science and Mathematics Education (Acrobat (PDF) 3.9MB May9 05): Edys Quellmalz and Dan Zalles
Assessment in the Sciences: A Cognitive Perspective (Acrobat (PDF) 22kB May6 05): Panayiota Kendeou and David Rapp
Sense of Place and Place-Based Geoscience Learning: Assessment in the Cognitive and Affective Domains (Acrobat (PDF) 5.8MB May10 05): Steve Semken

10:45 am-12:00 pm

Panel: Cutting Edge Questions and Tools in Assessment

Joanna Bullard (Loughborough University) - Flexible Assessment for Flexible Learning
Federica Raia (City College of New York of CUNY) - How Do We Know How Students Approach Complexity (Acrobat (PDF) 381kB Apr18 06)
Janice Gobert (The Concord Consortium) - Making Thinking Visible: Assessing Students Knowledge and Reasoning in Plate Tectonics (PowerPoint 1.6MB May17 05)

12:00-1:30 pm

Lunch: Language and Dining Center

1:30-3:15 pm

Developing New Assessments - Small Group Activity

We will break into groups of 4-5 people to develop model assessments for different geoscience topics. Each group will have both geoscientists and educators. The goal is to create assessments that demonstrate the aspects of design the group feels are most important. Each group will create a model assessment on a specific geoscience topic with annotations discussing the important design elements.

Group Report Outs

Streams: An End of Unit Activity (Microsoft Word 24kB May18 05)
Earthquakes, Plate Tectonics, and People (Microsoft Word 25kB May18 05)
Understanding Time Frames in Geosciences (Microsoft Word 28kB May18 05)
Understanding Time Frames in Geosciences (2nd Group) (Microsoft Word 55kB May18 05)
Writing for Revealing Topographic Understanding (Microsoft Word 30kB May18 05)
Assessment of Spatial Reasoning Needed to Comprehend Geologic Histories (Microsoft Word 24kB May18 05)

3:15-4:00 pm

Poster Session

What do you see? (Acrobat (PDF) 8.5MB May10 05): Paul Bierman and Christine Massey
Classroom Performance Systems (Acrobat (PDF) 114kB May3 05): Mike Giordano
Communication in Science Inquiry Project (CISIP): A Collaborative Project between Science, Writing, and English as a Second Language (Acrobat (PDF) 9.9MB May10 05): Kaatje Kraft
Evaluating a Nigerian Petroleum Lab Using Focus Groups (Acrobat (PDF) 271kB May11 05): Jimm Myers
ConcepTests and Peer Instruction: A Simple Way to Assess Teaching and Learning in Geoscience Courses (Acrobat (PDF) 979kB May10 05): David Steer and David McConnell
Fostering and Assessing Critical Thinking in the Geology Classroom (Acrobat (PDF) 24kB May10 05): Meg Streepey
Formative Assessment: Reducing Math and Related Test Anxiety in a Geology Class for Non-Science Majors (Acrobat (PDF) 258kB May9 05): Vanessa Svihla
Geoscience and Data literacy: Dan Zalles

4:00-5:00 pm

Panel and Development of Summary List (Microsoft Word 26kB May18 05): Best Practices for Developing and Using Observations and Assessments to Successfully Guide Teaching

Ed Nuhfer (Idaho State University) - A Fractal Thinker Looks at Learning, Observing and Assessing (PowerPoint 2.4MB May17 05)
LeeAnn Srogi (West Chester University) - Observing and Listening to Students as Part of Authentic Assessment
Priscilla Laws (Dickinson College) - Using Discipline Specific Action Research to Inform Curriculum Development and Classroom Practice (PowerPoint 118kB May18 05), Supporting Word Document (Microsoft Word 165kB May18 05)

5:00-5:30 pm

Where are we now? What have we learned? What will we do tomorrow?

7:00 pm

Dinner on the town

Saturday, May 14

Continental breakfast available at the Country Inn

8:30-10:00 am

Panel: Moving Forward with Community Tools for Understanding Learning

Karl Wirth (Macalester College) - The Value of a National Effort to Understand Geoscience Learning (PowerPoint 16.6MB May17 05)
David McConnell (University of Akron) - Hey, Technology Boy; Its the Message, Not the Medium (PowerPoint 305kB May17 05)
Miriam Fuhrmann (American Institutes for Research) - The Effective Use of Well-Constructed Multiple-Choice Items in Geoscience Assessments (PowerPoint 415kB May18 05)

10:00-10:45 am Poster Session

The Twisted Pathway to Assessment Development (Acrobat (PDF) 550kB May18 05): Scott Linneman
The Geology of War - A Service Learning Project in an Environmental Geology Course (Acrobat (PDF) 845kB May12 05): Dave Mogk
The Role of E-Portfolios and Concept Maps in Outcome- and Assessment-Based Geoscience Curricula (Acrobat (PDF) 791kB May11 05): Daniel Murray
Innovations and Assessment in the College Science Classroom (Acrobat (PDF) 8.8MB May12 05): Dexter Perkins and Karl Wirth
Delivering and Assessing Data Rich Assignments in a General Education Oceanography Delivering and Assessing Data Rich Assignments in a General Education Oceanography Course (Acrobat (PDF) 2.8MB May6 05): Bill Prothero
Student Difficulties in Developing Rich Mental Models of Complex Earth & Environmental Systems (Acrobat (PDF) 11.2MB May18 05): Bruce Herbert

10:45 am -12:00 pm

Moving forward with Community Projects (Simultaneous Sessions)

Utility of Knowledge Surveys and their Design (PowerPoint 2.7MB May18 05)
Dexter Perkins (University of North Dakota), Karl Wirth (Macalester College), Ed Nuhfer (Idaho State University)

Knowledge surveys are indispensable tools for instructors and for students. They aid instructors as they design courses. The surveys also facilitate mid-course corrections to promote better learning and provide robust and reliable measures of learning outcomes. The surveys provide students with full disclosure of the course objectives and serve as study guides. By making learning more "visible" they help students develop self-assessment skills. Knowledge surveys also provide fundamental information that can guide curriculum development/modification, and that can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of alternative pedagogies. In this session we will work in groups as we examine the utility of knowledge surveys and review the ways they are created and used.

The Effective Use of Well-Constructed Multiple-Choice Items in Geoscience Assessments: Developing Mulitple Choice Items (PowerPoint 207kB May18 05)
Mimi Fuhrman (American Institutes for Research)

Using Concept Sketches to Assess Student Understanding
Julia K. Johnson (Arizona State University) and Stephen J. Reynolds (Arizona State University)

A concept sketch is a simplified sketch that is concisely annotated with processes, concepts, and interrelationships, in addition to labels of features. When used as an assessment tool, concept sketches provide a way to determine whether students understand the big-picture, as well as the details. They serve a similar function to essay questions, but are more authentic to the discipline and are much easier to grade. Research indicates that such sketches promote better student comprehension of the system under study and permit students to better use this knowledge to investigate the underlying processes and principles.

12:00-1:30 pm

Lunch Discussions: Language and Dining Center

Assessing courses and curriculum
Assessing on line resources
Fundamental Skills in geoscience
Organizational principles/outreach dissemination
Engaging students in assessing their learning

1:30-2:30 pm

Looking Forward: Ideas, Products, Plans: Where are we now, What do we do next? Develop working groups for next step planning.

2:30-4:30 pm

Small Group Work Time

Primer on Geology and Cognitive Science (Microsoft Word 25kB May18 05): Steve Reynolds, Holly Taylor, Janice Gobert, Julia johnson

Affective Learning (Microsoft Word 40kB May18 05): Bill Slattery, Dexter Perkins, Meg Streepey, Karl Wirth, Jim McDougal, Steve Semken, Dave Mogk, Ed Nuhfer, Mike Giodano, Dave Dempsey, Catherine Gautier, Federica Raia, Paul Bierman

100 Difficult Concepts (Microsoft Word 36kB May18 05): Mary Savina, Priscilla Laws, Vanessa Svihla

ConcepTest: David Steer, David McConnell, Jimm Myers

Aaron Yoshinobu, Dan Zalles, Christine Massey, Erin Klauk, Mimi Fuhrman, LeeAnn Srogi, Dan Murray, Scott Linneman, Jenelle Hopkins, Kaatje Kraft, Bob Filson, Bruce Herbert, This group drafted a geoscience strand map, Geoscience Concept Map (Acrobat (PDF) 46kB May18 05), to articulate an understanding within the geoscience community as to what common knowledge and skills are important for students to master by the end of a program (for majors) or an introductory geoscience course (for non-majors). An additional purpose for the map was to provide guidance for departments who are developing or designing curricula and courses. The group then reorganized and refined into a second strand map, called the Geoscience Concept Crystal (GCC). The group envisions at least two important applications of the Geoscience Concept Crystal: 1. as a guide for curriculum and course development; and 2. the development and evaluation of assessments aligned with the map and therefore the most important knowledge and skills in geoscience.

The group presented a paper and a poster at the 2005 GSA Meeting. FUHRMAN, Miriam; SROGI, LeeAnn; KRAFT, Katrien J.; LINNEMAN, Scott; YOSHINOBU, Aaron S.; and ZALLES, Daniel; THE GEOSCIENCE CONCEPT CRYSTAL: A MAP TO FACILITATE DEVELOPMENT OF WELL-ALIGNED UNDERGRADUATE GEOSCIENCE CURRICULA AND ASSESSMENTS; Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 37, No. 7, p. 223 Earth as a System: a sample visual course map (Microsoft Word 230kB Nov17 05) Sample GCC Assessment Items (Microsoft Word 686kB Nov17 05) Concept Crystal Application in a large lecture setting (Microsoft Word 38kB Nov17 05) Geoscience Concept Crystal GSA Poster 1 (PowerPoint 87kB Nov17 05) Geoscience Concept Crystal GSA Poster 2 (PowerPoint 40kB Nov17 05)

4:30-5:30 pm