Introducing Geosciences in a blended Education Master degree

Abstract

The aim of the project was to introduce the subject of geosciences to a group of teachers without previous knowledge of the subject. Since the students of module presented here work full time, the master was designed in a blended format. While all students had completed their university education, none had done any geoscience studies/courses before making the starting level basic for the whole course. Contents and activities were carefully selected to provide a good introduction to geosciences giving the students the basic concepts and letting them apply them in a problem based strategy. Students reported that besides the blended nature of the course collaborative learning was necessary and key to their learning process. They also reported the contents of the course to be clear, organized sufficient and interesting. We view the module as a success since all students reported enjoying the module and building novel knowledge in the field of geosciences. Additionally since the students are in turn teachers we were very happy to learn some of them will implement geosciences in their activities in the future.