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100% while oceans courses are mostly different
Never from both (Table 2). Systems are listed as
Frequency * * a topic in six geology syllabi and none in
responses to either oceans or Earth science.
80% “How often did Learning outcomes were included
your students...” * * in 78 syllabi. The number of learning
All intro courses * * *
Earth science * outcomes ranged from three to 20 per
Geology * course, and typically consisted of
60% Oceans phrases that included one or more action
* Once or twice * verbs (e.g., “describe the processes and
byproducts of weathering”). Instructors
use lower cognitive-level (Krathwohl,
40%
* 2002) action verbs most frequently,
*
primarily describe, identify, and explain
(Fig. 4). In comparison, the action verbs
*
20% in the high school-level PEs (Table S1
* [see footnote 1]) are more evenly distrib-
Three or more times
* uted across all cognitive levels (Fig. 4).
Distinguish Nine syllabi included a learning outcome
0% observa- focused on systems (specifically an
Formally Conduct Read the Work with Use tions from Work as
present statistical primary geospatial algebraic interpreta- part of a Earth system—not the solar system or
analyses literature data equations tions team ecosystem); ten included a learning out-
Figure 2. Histogram showing frequencies of use of practices for all intro- come that referred to human activity
ductory courses and for Earth science, geology, and oceans courses. and/or society. The majority of these use
Asterisks indicate statistically significant differences in proportions
(p < 0.05) between discipline areas. high cognitive-level action verbs like
evaluate and synthesize.

more times” can be considered the thresh- to do so than those who teach geology. Assessment
old for distributed practice, a strategy that While most ask students to address a Of the 152 syllabi, 136 included infor-
has been shown to increase knowledge problem of global or national interest, mation about the relative contribution of
and skill acquisition and retention in a those who teach oceans are 15%–20% different types of student work to the
variety of fields (Benjamin and Tullis, more likely to do so than those who teach final grade (Table 3); the proportions
2010). About 45% of instructors engage geology (Fig. 3). Those who teach oceans did not vary significantly between Earth
students in distinguishing observations courses are also significantly more likely science, geology, and oceans. Exams
from interpretations three or more times, to include aspects of systems thinking, dominate the assessment strategies;
while few ask students to formally pre‐ such as analyzing feedback loops, dis- exams and quizzes together contribute
sent their work or conduct statistical cussing a change that has multiple effects an average of 60% to a student’s final
analyses. Respondents who teach oceans throughout a system, and describing a grade (Table 3), though the variability is
courses ask their students to read the system in terms of its parts and relation- high, with a standard deviation of 20.7%
primary literature, work with geospatial ships. The overall likelihood of asking and a range from 0% to 100%. In-class
data, and use algebraic equations more students to engage in high-level systems- activities are included by about a third of
frequently than respondents who teach thinking behavior, such as building pre- instructors, and homework is factored in
geology courses. A majority ask students dictive models, exploring systems behav- by about half, but both constitute a small
to work repeatedly in teams, with the ior using computer models, and making proportion of the grade, generally less
greatest frequency reported by those who systems visible through causal maps is than 20%.
teach Earth science (Fig. 2). low (Fig. 3).
Another set of questions asked instruc- DISCUSSION
tors whether they make use of various Syllabus Analysis The surveyed population appears to
activities (Fig. 3). Less than half The number of topics listed in course represent a comprehensive and large sub-
responded that they engage students in syllabi ranged from 10 to 30, with a mean set of those teaching introductory geosci-
collecting and analyzing their own data of 17.5. When controlled for the number ence courses in the United States based
and/or addressing uncertainty, while just of weeks (10 weeks for quarters, 15 for on the number of responses and the
over half ask students to access and inte- semesters), courses averaged 1.2 topics reported number of students enrolled.
grate information from different sources per week. The most common topics are Though they consist of a much smaller set
or describe quantitative evidence in sup- listed in Table 2 in order of popularity; covering several years, syllabi appear to
port of an argument. Few engage students within syllabi, the order and specific represent a reasonable subset of respon-
in working on local problems or environ- phrasing were highly correlated with the dents due to the similarity in distribution
mental justice issues, but those who teach required textbook. Geology and Earth by institution type (Table S4 [see footnote
oceans and Earth science are more likely science topics overlap by two-thirds, 1]) and course disciplines (Table 1).

6 GSA Today | October 2019