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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
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