Assessment : 2013 - 2014 : Educational Programs :
Geology BS
3 Goals 3 Objectives 3 Indicators 3 Criteria 3 Findings 3 Actions
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GOAL: Sufficient Knowledge Of Geology To Qualify For A Bachelor Of Science
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Objective
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Successful Completion Of An Externally Evaluated Geology Field Camp
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All SHSU Geology majors must attend a six credit, externally evaluated capstone Field Camp as a required component of their degree program. Such field camps are typically open to suitably qualified upper level students from geology programs situated anywhere in the country. They are conventionally evaluated using a letter grade system which the Department of Geography and Geology converted to a ranking system.
SHSU Geology students must be nationally competitive at this capstone task as indicated by at least 60% of our participants achieving at least a Limited Mastery ranking.
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Indicator
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Successful Completion Of Field Camp
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All students must attend a six credit hour Field Camp that is externally evaluated on the following basis: Mastery, Limited Master, Adequate Comprehension, Limited Comprehension, and Very Low Comprehension. Students are free to choose from a very wide range of applicable courses, each of which offers slightly different emphases in terms of geographical location and course structure. ALL courses offer a capstone-like review with Mastery reflecting mastery of taught and examined modules as well as high levels of precision in final field review stand-alone projects. A ranking of Limited Mastery reflects mastery of one or more modules but with some imprecision; a ranking of Adequate Comprehension reflects broad comprehension but demonstrates a lack of sophistication in the use of basic course material; rankings of Low Comprehension and Very Low Comprehension reflect low levels of understanding and effort and indicate inappropriate general preparation prior to field camp participation.
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| Criterion |
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60% Of Students Will Achieve At Least A Limited Mastery Ranking By The External Evaluator Of The Field Camp
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60% of students will achieve at least a limited mastery ranking or better by the external evaluator of the Field Camp.
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| Finding |
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Field Camp Results From External Evaluator
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Not everyone has had their grades transferred to SHSU at the time of this entry. We were not able to have our usual field camp director provide us with an evaluation because only one student went to that field camp this year. That student, however, did achieve a mastery ranking at the University of Missouri field camp. Three other students achieved mastery level at other field camps, and two students achieved limited mastery at other field camps. Therefore, of the six students reporting, 100% achieved at least limited mastery ranking by an external evaluator of a field camp.
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Actions for Objective:
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Response To External Evaluation Based On Field Camp Performance
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Our response to the feedback from students and field camp directors over the past number of years was to develop an introductory field methods course. Dr. Joseph Hill offered this course Fall 2013. The difficulty with offering the course during a regular semester was that all the field trips had to be run on weekends, sometimes having to leave Thursday afternoon. This was a major disruption to student schedules. Therefore, we decided to try offering it again during May minimester 2014. This way they were able to focus on field methods in places like Palo Duro Canyon and New Mexico. Anecdotal feedback from students taking field camp is that the introductory field methods course put them at an advantage over many other students at the various summer field camps.
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GOAL: Deliver Core Curriculum Education Appropriate To The Geology Discipline
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Objective
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Apply Basic Components Of Geology
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Students completing the core curriculum courses will demonstrate an understanding of the basic components of a geological perspective and will recognize geological themes.
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Indicator
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Core Curriculum Geology Comprehensive Exam
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All students enrolled in core curriculum geology classes complete a final comprehensive exam related to the foundations of geology.
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Average Of At Least 75% Accuracy
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The average score of core curriculum geology students will be at least 75% on the final comprehensive exam.
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| Finding |
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The average score score was approximately 66%, with a range from 58% to 71% from section to section. Only 78% of students answered the factual knowledge questions correctly, 90% answered the tentative nature of science questions correctly, and 68% appear to understand that nature is governed by physical laws. 66% answered the logical constructs based on factual knowledge questions correctly compared to 66% last year. 73% showed an understanding of the logic of science. Graph interpretation skills also improved to 59% compared to 42% last year.
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Actions for Objective:
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This is the last time that we will administer this particular exam, now that we will be accessing student learning outcomes associated with the revised core curriculum. The objectives, indicators, etc. will all change in response to the changing demands on the core curriculum.
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GOAL: Development Of A Geologic Knowledge Base
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Objective
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After completing Geology 3404, students will be able to recognize minerals.
Every geology student must take Geology 3404, Mineralogy. One of the objectives of this course is to be able to recognize minerals, which is a skill that will be needed when they take the capstone geology field course.
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Indicator
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Final Mineral Practical Exam
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Students completing Geology 3404, Mineralogy, must take a final practical exam that requires the recognition of minerals.
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60 percent of the students will be able to recognize 15 or more of the 30 minerals presented to them on the final mineral practical.
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| Finding |
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70% of the students were able to recognize 15 or more of the 30 minerals presented to them on the final mineral practical, up from 57% last year.
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Actions for Objective:
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Mineral Practical Performance
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The students were required to focus on learning the distinguishing properties of the minerals, rather than memorizing the look of the minerals. The students are allowed to use charts with the physical properties of the minerals during their exam. This may be detrimental since they know they can use the chart and may rely on the chart too much. The format of the course is changing this upcoming semester because there are too many students for the current format. Last Fall there were 32 students, which was just too many to help all at once in lab settings. This upcoming semester there will be two lab sections, each limited to 24 students. Additionally, the material will broken up compared to the old format. The old format was 8-11 Tuesday and Thursday, and the three hours straight of mineralogy undid some students I believe. The new format will be an 8-9 lecture MWF, with an 80 minute lab on Tuesday and Thursday (two sections: 8-9:30 TuTh and 9:30-11 TuTh). It is hoped that student attention span will be better able to cope with the shorter time segments.
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Previous Cycle's "Plan for Continuous Improvement"
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Field Methods will be offered for the first time during Fall, 2013. This course and a review of regional geology concepts for students attending field camp next summer will hopefully improve student performance in field camp and improve their abilities for their future endeavours. A number of core curriculum revision measures (required by Fall, 2014) will be tested in our general core curriculum courses. Mineral recognition will once again be a priority, but will be challenging this year because the class is very large.
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Update on Previous Cycle's "Plan for Continuous Improvement"
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The introductory field methods course was offered Fall 2013 and during the May minimester 2014. Based on anecdotal responses from students and their performance in external field camps, the introductory field methods course is providing a solid field experience. Our field methods course is also helping in our advanced courses because students have actually experienced what is being addressed in lecture and lab. No revised core curriculum measures were tested this past year as we were sidetracked getting new faculty, staff, and facilities established. Mineral recognition improved despite the class being the largest mineralogy class ever taught at SHSU.
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Plan for Continuous Improvement
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Student performance in the summer field camp will continue to be monitored since the field camp course is the capstone course for Geology majors. Hopefully, a larger number of students will enroll at the University of Missouri field camp because we get very useful feedback from the camp director. The introductory field methods course will only be offered during the May minimester. We start implementing the revised core curriculum measures in our freshman geology courses, and until instructed otherwise we will track our progress within the OATDB. Mineral recognition will continue to be emphasized, but with a look at how much of this skill carries over into the Petrology course (GEOL 3305).
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