Sneaking Mathematical Concepts Through the Back Door of the Introductory Geology Classroom

Abstract

Students who are taking introductory geology courses only to fulfill a science requirement often cite the absence of math as a factor in their decision to take geology rather than chemistry, physics, or astronomy. Typically these students have poor high school backgrounds in math and science, and feel much more comfortable with a course that is perceived as a descriptive science rather than a quantitative one. In many introductory geology classrooms, unfortunately, this student perception is a true reflection of the way their course is being taught. Any overt introduction of mathematical concepts, therefore, is likely to be met with widespread resistance. Recent national initiatives in science education have emphasized the integration of concepts from mathematics as part of an interdisciplinary problem-solving approach to science. However, simply introducing mathematical formulae and plugging in proscribed numbers to get a predetermined answer does not meet this need. Mathematical concepts must be slipped in covertly, as geologically based steps in the problem-solving process, in such a way that a geologically relevant answer may be obtained without students ever realizing that they were working a math problem. The key to successfully integrating mathematical concepts into geology courses, without alienating students, is to emphasize deriving geologically significant results as opposed to calculating them. On a conceptual level, numerical estimates derived through sound mathematical reasoning often provide equally valid and much more palatable results than an insistence on precise answers with a certain number of significant figures. For students who likely will never take another math or science course, it is critical, from a scientific literacy standpoint, to gradually and painlessly bring them to an understanding that geology is indeed a quantitative science.