Lecture Tutorials: A method to increase interactivity during

lecture

Karen M. Kortz

and

Jessica J. Smay

Overview

• What are Lecture Tutorials?

• Assessment of Lecture Tutorials

Lecture Tutorials

• Worksheets students complete in pairs after a short lecture

• Written to combat misconceptions and difficult topics in Intro Geo

• Starts with basic questions and works towards more application-type questions

• Can be used in any size class

Ex. Lecture Tutorial: Seafloor Ages

Seafloor Ages7) Two students are debating about the

relative ages of the rocks in the Atlantic Ocean.

Student 1: The oldest rocks are located at E because it is the farthest from a continent. The rocks would take a really long time to get to the middle of the ocean.

D E F

Student 2: But divergent boundaries are found in the centers of oceans. This means that rocks at E are really young. D is farthest from the divergent boundary, so that’s where the oldest rocks are.

With which student do you agree? Why?

Seafloor Ages13) You are reading a proposal

requesting money to search for evidence of a crater that caused a mass extinction on Earth 245 million years ago. The team is proposing to search a poorly explored area of the floor of the Atlantic Ocean between South America and northern Africa. Would you fund this project? Use the ages of the seafloor to support your answer.

Age, millions of yrs

180

154

132

120

84

48

33

100

Map of the ages of the seafloor in the Atlantic Ocean

Using Lecture Tutorials

• ~20 minute lecture• Optional: Students are posed a conceptually

challenging question on the lecture material• The class breaks into pairs and work through the

Lecture Tutorial worksheet• Professor “debriefs” the activity highlighting the

common problems• Optional: Students are posed a new

conceptually challenging question• Return to lecture mode

How Lecture Tutorials Are Helpful

• Require significant mental effort from the students during lecture

• Allow for social interactions to help students learn

• Address diversity of learning styles• Give students and instructor immediate

feedback

Development of Lecture Tutorials

• Originally created in physics and astronomy

• Based on topics faculty often cover

• Address misconceptions

• Confront naïve or inaccurate ideas

• Designed for easy implementation into existing traditional lecture courses

• Tested multiple times

Lecture Tutorial Assessment

• Before Their Use:– Peer-reviewed (content, approach, wording)

• During Their Use:– Walk around classroom listening to discussions– Answer student questions (and make notes)– Pre-post multiple choice questions (e.g. Geoscience

Concept Inventory (GCI) by Julie Libarkin)

• After Their Use– Examine student responses– Student questionnaires and evaluations– Student interviews

Where Can I Get Lecture Tutorials?• W.H. Freeman

– Workbook available with 37 Lecture Tutorials

– Samples Lecture Tutorials available

• SERC – Additional tips,

directions, and info– Examples Lecture

Tutorials available