Rights statement: This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of Geoscience Education on13/01/2021, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/10899995.2020.1855040
Accepted author manuscript, 724 KB, PDF document
Final published version
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Using benchtop experiments to teach dimensional analysis and analogue modeling to graduate geoscience students
AU - Jones, T.J.
AU - Ehlers, T.A.
N1 - This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of Geoscience Education on13/01/2021, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/10899995.2020.1855040
PY - 2021/9/30
Y1 - 2021/9/30
N2 - The need for geoscience students to develop a quantitative skillset is ever increasing. However, this can be difficult to implement in university-style lecture courses in a way that is both manageable for the instructor and does not involve lengthy, potentially repetitive, question sheets for the students. Here, a method for teaching dimensional analysis, basic fluid dynamics, and the interpretation and scaling of experimental data is presented for a graduate student audience. The proposed method utilizes simple fluid dynamic benchtop experiments that require a small amount of teaching space and use readily available, low cost materials. Our analysis of student performance through pre- and post-tests demonstrates that students have a better knowledge of dimensional analysis, data interpretation and experimental design after the series of practical sessions compared to instruction through a single, passive lecture. We therefore show that simple benchtop experiments can be an effective way to improve and integrate quantitative learning into a graduate geoscience class.
AB - The need for geoscience students to develop a quantitative skillset is ever increasing. However, this can be difficult to implement in university-style lecture courses in a way that is both manageable for the instructor and does not involve lengthy, potentially repetitive, question sheets for the students. Here, a method for teaching dimensional analysis, basic fluid dynamics, and the interpretation and scaling of experimental data is presented for a graduate student audience. The proposed method utilizes simple fluid dynamic benchtop experiments that require a small amount of teaching space and use readily available, low cost materials. Our analysis of student performance through pre- and post-tests demonstrates that students have a better knowledge of dimensional analysis, data interpretation and experimental design after the series of practical sessions compared to instruction through a single, passive lecture. We therefore show that simple benchtop experiments can be an effective way to improve and integrate quantitative learning into a graduate geoscience class.
KW - Fluid dynamics
KW - active learning
KW - analogue experiments
KW - dimensional analysis
KW - particle settling
U2 - 10.1080/10899995.2020.1855040
DO - 10.1080/10899995.2020.1855040
M3 - Journal article
VL - 69
SP - 313
EP - 322
JO - Journal of Geoscience Education
JF - Journal of Geoscience Education
SN - 1089-9995
IS - 3
ER -