Measuring Student Engagement, Knowledge, and Perceptions of Climate Change in an Introductory Environmental Geology Course

Karen S. McNeala, Jacob M. Sprya, Ritayan Mitraa & Jamie L. Tiptonba Department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Science, North Carolina State University, 2800 Faucette Drive, Raleigh, North Carolina 27696-8208, USAb Department of Geosciences, Mississippi State University, PO Box 5448, Mississippi State, MS, 39762, USAABSTRACTThis research examines a semester-long introductory environmental geology course, which emphasized climate science using an Earth systems approach and employed a multipronged teaching strategy comprising lecture, movie viewing, class dialogues, and journaling. Evidence of student engagement during various pedagogical approaches (e.g., movie viewing, lecture, and class dialogues) was measured using skin sensors on a subset of student participants in order to gauge student engagement. Results indicated that students are more engaged during movie viewing and dialogue than during lecture, with measurable increases when climate solutions and local impacts were covered. Qualitative data including journal entries and transcripts from student dialogues were analyzed to determine patterns about student climate change perspectives and discourse for which students' self-reflections supported quantitative measures. Measurement of student pre– and post–climate change knowledge, confidence, and perceptions revealed that the combined pedagogical approach supported student learning gains about climate science.