Using an engagement lens to model active learning in the geosciences

Abstract

Active learning research emerged from the undergraduate STEM education communities of practice, some of whom identify as discipline-based education researchers (DBER). Consequently, current frameworks of active learning are largely inductive and based on emergent patterns observed in undergraduate teaching and learning. Alternatively, classic learning theories historically originate from the educational psychology community, which often takes a theory-driven, or deductive research approach. The broader transdisciplinary education research community is now struggling to reconcile the two. That is, how is a theory of active learning distinct from other theories of knowledge construction? We discuss the underpinnings of active learning in the geosciences, drawing upon extant literature from the educational psychology community on engagement. Based on Sinatra et al. engagement framework, we propose a model for active learning in the geosciences with four dimensions: behavioral, emotional, cognitive, and agentic. We then connect existing literature from the geoscience education community to the model to demonstrate the current gaps in our literature base and opportunities to move the active learning geoscience education research (GER) forward. We propose the following recommendations for future investigation of active learning in the geosciences: (1) connect future GER to our model of active learning in the geosciences, (2) measure more than content learning, (3) document research methods and outcomes with effect sizes to accumulate evidence, and (4) prioritize research on dimensions of active learning essential to the geosciences.

Keywords:

• Active learning
• geoscience education research
• engagement
• discipline-based education research

Acknowledgements

This manuscript was prepared as part of a transdisciplinary, collaborative effort to define a theory of active learning (Lombardi et al., in press). The authors gathered virtually during the summer of 2019 to prepare a white paper on a GER perspective to be included with perspectives of other researchers from psychology, science education, and discipline-based education researchers (DBER), in developing a manuscript for Psychological Science in the Public Interest (PSPI).

Disclosure statement

The authors acknowledge that no financial interest or benefit has arisen from the direct application of our research for this manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

The lead author’s effort was supported, in part, by the National Science Foundation under Grants #1640800 and #1835950.