Using an Internet-Based Help Site with GIS-Generated Images to

Enhance Student Understanding of Laboratory Exercises

Mike Phillips

Illinois Valley Community College

This project was initiated as part of the GIS Access workshop sponsored by the National Science Foundation.

Physical Geology

Introductory science course for college freshmen.

Spring 2001 student background66% of the students had not had a college lab science course

84% of the students had not had a geology course

Lab portion of course is “open,” students must visit the lab on their own time and complete the labs with limited assistance.

ConcernsLow course grade correlates strongly with low lab completion ratesLab completion rates are effected by:

Students’ ability to manage timeStudents’ perception of lab’s value

• Point value of exercise• Value for test preparation

Students’ ability to understand the lab• Students stop work on a lab if they reach a point where they

feel they cannot answer or do not understand a question

Understanding the Lab Exercises

Solution: Create a web-based help site to guide student inquiry.

Use text to clarify key points and direct students to resources

Use GIS to annotate maps and aerial images

Understanding the Lab Exercises

Students working at home or in the lab will be able to access information that will help them through material that has caused confusion for other students in the past.

Lab Help Site: http://www.ivcc.edu/phillips/courses/gel1008/lab_help/map-plab.htm

Development Model

Identify difficult questionsUnclear wording

New concepts

Poor student performance

Identify key “sticking points”

Develop lab help page content

Types of pagesGuided practices

Series of figures with textGuides students through difficult areaBased on exercise or similar examples

Annotated figures & textIdentify key features on maps and imagesIndicate features to be identified for exercises (to overcome difficultly worded text)Direct students to other resources (esp. textbook)Clarify meaning of questions (i.e. When the question asks for the name of a “landform.”)

Guided Practice:Delineation of a Drainage Basin

Map-based exercise.

Guide students through a portion of the lab exercise. (organized in steps)

The remainder to be completed by the student.

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DrainageBasinDelineation

IdentifyStream &Tributaries

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DrainageBasinDelineation

IdentifyAdjacentRivers,Tributaries

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DrainageBasinDelineation

IdentifyDrainageDivide

Annotated Figures & Text:Coastal Features and Processes

Highlight key features on maps and images

Clarify terminology used in text

Refer students to supporting materials in the textbook

Development of images

Map or image scanned in as a JPEG file

Each overlay drawn as a theme

Layouts used to set up imagessteps displayed as a sequence of layouts

Layouts exported from GIS as JPEG files

JPEG files were placed on the web pages

Future Goals

Develop more help pagesConvert some help documents to an internet map server

Allows for more active inquiryStudents will be able to click on question-related themesFewer pages necessaryEasier access to specific help topics

Thanks

Russ Schubert (Roane State CC) & Terry Brase (Kirkwood CC), GIS Access Team Leaders

Gail Hobbs (Pierce College) & Ann Johnson (ESRI), GIS Access Principal Investigators

National Science Foundation