Using Problem-Based Learning to Deliver a More Authentic Experience in Paleontology

ABSTRACT

This study is a research project focused on the implementation of problem-based learning in an honors, paleontology-oriented, Earth Science course. The course, the Age of Dinosaurs, is taught at the University of Texas at Dallas to undergraduates from a range of majors who seek core-curriculum science credit. All class work is centered on fossils and rock samples selected from a research collection accumulated from dinosaur-bearing beds in the Chihuahuan Desert of West Texas. A list of goals for the course was prepared during the design phase for the class. This list was used as a Likert scale questionnaire following completion of the course and dissemination of grades. Results from the goals questionnaire and from the official course evaluations present highly favorable responses to the course and to the problem-based learning methodology. Students provided free-response assessments and advice that influenced the next offering of this course.

Key words::

• problem-based learning
• paleontology
• paleoecology
• honors