Promoting collaboration and discourse in asynchronous online courses is challenging; students need something engaging to talk about, a communications medium in which to fluidly discuss it, and a social environment that supports discourse. We designed a fully online introductory geoscience lecture and lab course called Geology Goes Hollywood that…

The study reported here concludes that the laboratory does help students in their geology lecture course work even though the content emphases are different. (MDR)

Discusses modifications of the usual lecture approach for a environmental geology course by including class discussion, class projects, and group projects which are designed to help students see the relevance of geology to their lives. Author claims that in this interactive approach both instructor and students become more actively involved in the…

Compared are two approaches to inservice geology instruction for elementary and secondary school earth science teachers. The benefits of the combination of lecture, laboratory, and field work are emphasized. (CW)