Engaging Critical Thinking in Marine Science: The Paleoclimatology-Oceanography Hybrid Course

Introductory Oceanography courses taught at Minority Serving Institutions (MSI's) are often offered as a three-credit course excluding lab to fulfill the science requirement of the university-wide General Education Curriculum. The engagement of sixteen college professors in 50 hours of training and mentoring by an instructional expert team of professors and marine scientists involved in Science Education and Outreach at the 2015 MSI-REaCH Workshop provided new insight on design strategies for the design of an oceanography-paleoclimatology hybrid course in a blended environment. The integration of paleoclimatology and oceanography in a blended learning environment could make it a very attractive option for (1) increasing student enrollment in the oceanography; (2) enhancing student education and awareness on the impending consequences of climate change; and (3) engaging participation in hands-on exercises in a virtual environment while earning three course credits. The overall objective of the oceanography-paleoclimatology hybrid course is to engage student participation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) through elements of inquiry-based learning. The pedagogy includes (1) face to face instruction; (2) online modules and resources; (3) the dynamics of group interaction; (4) use of a variety of software and information technologies to analyze and solve problems in science, mathematics and technology; (5) images, visualizations, animations, and videos; (6) data linkages between maps to chemical, physical, and biological data; (7) linkages to processes, scales, and time; (8) analyzing relationships between factors (i.e. cyclic, direct, linear, inverse); (9) formulation of multiple working hypotheses; and (10) the data to explain the impact of the oceans and atmosphere on climate change and civilizations.

Keywords: STEM, pedagogy, oceanography, paleoclimatology